Versatile evaluation of preschool education institutions in terms of sustainability

In the research, sustainability in preschool education institutions is examined in terms of economic, social and environmental dimensions; It was aimed to evaluate the opinions of preschool teachers, children and families about sustainability. Nested design, one of the mixed method designs, was used in the research. The study group cansists of 20 public and private pre-school education institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Education, 68 teachers, 192 children aged 48-72 months and their parents. Data collection tools are "School Observation Form", "Teacher Scale for Educational Practices for Sustainable Development", "Family Interview Form on Sustainable Development", "Child Interview Form on Sustainable Development". As a result of the researc, it was determined that whilethere was no significant difference in economic and social sustainability between private and public kindergartens, the average of private kindergartens was higher in environmental sustainability. It was determined that private kindergarten teachers had higher ESD scores than public school teachers and that there were significant differences in environmental sustainability practices. It has been determined that children love plants, protect them, care abaot planting activities, save money, have knowledge of energy use and recycling, look positively at the idea of making friends, like to share, and mostly do not discriminate in choosing friends. Families' knowledge of the definition and scope of sustainability and the benefits of sustainable buildings is not sufficient; they give examples of sustainability related to resource saving, saving electrivity and water, recycling waste, consuming as much as needed, keeping the environment cleans and protecting. Most of the families' physical characteristics, dressing style, religion ıt was determined that while they expressed positive opinions about the diversity of cultures, lifestyles and ethnic differences, they expressed negative opinions about the diversity of sexual identities.