Obrazovanje vaspitača za partnerski odnos sa porodicom

Abstract

A partnership between preschool educators and parents is a necessity of modern preschool education. The pillars of the initiation and development of this process are certainly preschool teachers who have the necessary competencies. Basic education and training must provide educators with the opportunity to develop these competencies and adopt positive attitudes about them. Our paper aims to examine how future preschool educators estimate their competencies for establishing partnerships with parents. The research sample comprised first-year and fourth-year students of five education and pedagogy faculties in Serbia, or, more precisely, students involved in preschool teacher training programs (156 students). A scaling technique and an assessment scale as an instrument were applied. The results show that future preschool teachers have, for the most part, positive attitudes about competencies that allow teachers to establish and maintain positive relationships and communication with parents, provide support, and jointly participate in educational activities, as the basis for partnership. The fourth-year students assessed their competencies higher than the first-year students. The teachers’ competencies for supporting parents in involving children in extracurricular preschool activities in their local communities were assessed as the least developed.