The views of the teachers working in early childhood education institutions about visual art and creativity

Creativity is among the most important skills to be developed in pre-school education. It is important to be careful while planning and implementation stages of the activity plans that applied to improve creativity. All activity types can be used as long as being careful during planning and implementation. This study was based on teachers' views on art activities and creativity, art center materials in schools and the types of art activities applied in schools. This study, which aims to determine the opinions of preschool teachers on art and creativity, and the relationship between views and practices, is in a survey model and has been carried out using qualitative methods. The study group of this study consists of 100 preschool teachers working in kindergartens and independent kindergartens in primary and secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the province of Muş and Bulanik in the 2018-2019 academic year, and 20 pre-school teachers who volunteered afterwards. An interview form including open-ended questions developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool in the study. During the data collection process, the teachers who participated in the research were interviewed and the forms were analyzed after the interviews were completed. Descriptive analysis method was used in the analysis of the obtained data. Observations were made after the interviews. Classes of 20 volunteer pre-school teachers were visited; art centers and their materials were examined and art activities in art centers were analyzed according to their types. As a result of the research, according to the definitions given by the preschool teachers in the questions from the form, teachers stated that; they have knowledge in the field of creativity and art; they can transfer their knowledge about characteristics of the creative individual, definition of creativity, the importance of creativity for children, obstacles to creativity, the effect of gender on creativity, activities for creativity, types of art work, the importance of art, classes and development of techniques. They also stated that they included these topics in practice. As a result of the research, it was determined that there are generally art centers in schools, but they are not fully equipped with materials. It was determined that the types of art activities that the teachers stated in the interviews and focused in the practices and the types of art activities on the boards did not match.