Open AccessHow Students of Preschool Education Perceive Their Play Competences – An Analysis of Their Involvement in Children’s Play
Author(s) -
Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić,
Vesna Katić
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ceps journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 2232-2647
pISSN - 1855-9719
DOI - 10.26529/cepsj.162
Subject(s) - preschool education , psychology , qualitative analysis , quality (philosophy) , developmental psychology , mathematics education , early childhood education , pedagogy , qualitative research , sociology , social science , philosophy , epistemology
Preschool teachers play a very important but highly sensitive role in preschool children’s play. It is therefore very important to build their play competences in a quality way. As this is not easily achieved, the main objective of the present study was to analyse the roles of students of preschool education in children’s play. The study included 36 students enrolled at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, Croatia. Through a qualitative analysis of the students’ preparations for their practice, it was determined that the majority of students use didactic play and play with rules with children. Although the students demonstrated the expected role in children’s play, which positively influenced the educational work and the overall well-being of the children, some of the students were not decisive. Thus, the question arises as to how to improve the acquisition of play competences in students of preschool education.