engleski

Attitudes of Parents Whose Children Attend Kindergarten on Early Childhood And Preschool Teacher Profession

The process of professionalization, which is at work in modern society, is manifesting through tendencies of the increasing number of occupations to be recognized as a profession. Changing position in the status hierarchy of occupations is associated with increasing salaries and educational levels required to enter the profession. Changes in the professional socialization of early childhood and preschool teachers taking place over the last forty years has been an illustrative example of such efforts. The educational criterion entering the profession has grown from a four-year high school, over the two-year and three-year professional to three years of university education to the beginning of the decade when a two-year study at the graduate level was launched, which makes the early childhood and preschool teacher profession equated with most socially recognized profession. The paper analyzes the attitude of the public on the social status of the early childhood and preschool teacher profession through the attitudes of parents who have children in kindergartens. The objectives of the paper are: to determine parents’ attitudes about early childhood and preschool teacher work and professional socialization of early childhood and preschool teachers ; to determine parents’ attitudes on the current and desirable reputation of early childhood and preschool teacher profession in relation to other professions in society and to investigate the relationship of those positions with socio- demographic characteristics of the parents (sex, age, level of education, work activity, regional affiliation). The study was conducted on a sample of parents whose children attend kindergartens (N = 450) in Gorski Kotar and Rijeka. The sample in Gorski Kotar were parents from public kindergartens (N = 198), while in Rijeka included parents from public and private kindergartens (N = 252). The survey was conducted through questionnaires constructed for research purposes. The results revealed that respondents found that the early childhood and preschool teacher profession is underestimated more than six other occupations offered, or that its social status should be significantly higher than the existing one. There was a connection between sex and education of the respondents and their perception of early childhood and preschool teacher profession. Female and more educated respondents were more likely to recognize the widening gap between the current and desired status of early childhood and preschool teacher occupation. Regional differences were observed in the assessment of the current status, while a desirable social status was higher compared to the assessment of the current social status of the respondents from both regions.

social status of the early childhood and preschool teacher profession, attitudes of parents, Gorski Kotar, Rijeka

Ovaj rad je financiralo Sveučilište u Rijeci projektom „Kultura odgojno-obrazovne ustanove kao čimbenik sukonstrukcije znanja” voditeljice izv. prof. dr. sc. Lidije Vujičić pod brojem 13.10.2.2.01.