engleski

Elements of Adult-Centrism in the Educational Practice of Kindergartens

The quality of educational work with children is determined by understanding children and the quality of communication and relationships with children. In kindergarten practice, there are often elements of adult-centric practice, focused on adults instead of children. These elements are noticeable at the level of planning and implementation of educational activities, shaping the spatial and material context of kindergartens, understanding the role of teachers in educational activities with children and analyzing educational activities. They reduce or prevent opportunities for the development of participatory practice, i.e. they prevent children from enjoying their participation rights in the selection of activities, the manner of participating in activities, the duration of activities, the selection of partners (teammates) and the like. Or in other words, they thwart their opportunity to co-construct the curriculum, which is characteristic of modern preschool curricula. Teachers are trained in different ways to recognize the elements of adult-centrism in educational work. However, their willingness to recognize these elements also depends on the kindergarten where they work, i.e. on the culture within the kindergarten. Kindergartens that carry out continuous, exploratory, reflective, discussion-oriented professional development of teachers are much less adult-centric than kindergartens that do not have such training. The paper presents qualitative research carried out in kindergartens where professional student practice is performed.

Adult-centrism, educational practice, participation rights, teacher

nije evidentirano