VIEWS OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS ON USING OUT-OF-SCHOOL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS IN PRESCHOOL EDUCATION

Abstract

The aim of research was to reveal the views of preschool teachers on using out-of-school learning environments in preschool education. It was a qualitative research conducted by phenomenological method and 11 preschool teachers from Turkey were included in it. The research data was obtained by interview and the interview form prepared by the researcher was used in the interviews. The data was analyzed by using descriptive and content analysis techniques. According to the findings, preschool teachers described the out-of-school learning concept in compliance with the literature as the ‘learning performed anywhere out of classroom/school’. It was considered that out-of-school learning environments had advantages for children in developmental, cognitive and social-emotional terms and for teachers in terms of education processes, vocational and personal development. However, these environments had disadvantages for children in safety, social-emotional, development and in environment-related terms and for teachers in process-related and social-emotional terms. The teachers stated that environment, parent, teacher-based problems and safety problems were experienced in the activities performed in these environments. It was determined that the teachers mostly did not consider themselves competitive in conducting activities in these environments due to the lack of knowledge and experience. In the research, some recommendations were made based on the results.