Analysis of Parents’ Opinions and Expectations About Preschool Education

Abstract

This study focuses on parents whose children are getting preschool education and aims to analyze these parents’ opinions and expectations about preschool education. The study uses phenomenological design, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The study group consists of 20 parents whose children go to state kindergartens in the Bakırköy, Bahçelievler, Küçükçekmece, and Avcılar districts of Istanbul. The study group was chosen using the convenience sampling method. The data for the study were collected through semistructured interviews. The acquired data were analyzed through descriptive analysis. Parents are informed about preschool education by their surroundings, teachers, and various publications. The expectations of parents about preschool education are mostly socialization, adaptation to the environment, peer relationships, and emotional development. It is important for the parents that the teacher is knowledgeable, cheerful, fair, and someone who can contribute to their children by offering quality education. As for the improvement of preschool education, parents expect free education and qualified teachers. As a result, the themes of the study were determined to be: critical development period, social-emotional development, teacher competence in a safe environment, and experienced teacher.