Distance education experiences of pre-school teachers: A mixed method study

The purpose of this study is to examine the distance education experiences of preschool teachers. In accordance with this purpose, the research was designed using the exploratory sequential design in which quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques, which are mixed method types, are used sequentially. In this regard, the survey design, which is one of the quantitative research methods, in order to determine the perceptions of preschool teachers towards distance education; case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used to determine the views of preschool teachers about distance education. The situation examined within the scope of the research is the distance education experiences of preschool teachers. The study group of the research consist of preschool teachers working in different provinces of Turkey and different types of institutions (independent preschool, private preschool, public preschool, private kindergarten), participating in the study voluntarily. In the research, "Distance Education Perceptions Scale of Preschool Teachers" developed by the researcher and semi-structured interview form were used as data collection tools. For the validity studies of the scale developed in the study, 300 teachers within the scope of EFA and 417 teachers, within the scope of CFA, were reached. The interviews were conducted with 15 preschool teachers from 7 different geographical regions of Turkey. The scale was filled out by teachers through the Google Forms application and the interviews were done with teachers and researchers via the Zoom application. In the analysis of quantitative data within the scope of the research, descriptive statistical values, ANOVA and independent groups t test; content analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. As a result of the analysis of the quantitative data obtained from the research, it was found that the preschool teachers' perceptions of distance education were under the medium level and the distance education perceptions of preschool teachers did not differ significantly according to the variables of graduate status, type of school they work, type of institution they work, professional experience and duration of distance education. determined. As a result of the analysis of the qualitative data obtained from the research, it was found that teachers preferred face-to-face education type compared to distance education, there were problems such as an increase in the use of technology in distance education in children during the epidemic process, and both teachers and children had various problems such as lack of technological devices, connection problems, lack of materials in distance education. It has been determined that they have problems and that teachers use various applications such as Google Meet, Microsoft Team, Zoom, WhatsApp and EBA in distance education. In addition, teachers stated that distance education is not suitable for pre-school period, but it provides benefits such as continuation of educational activities and maintaining child-child, child-teacher communication in extraordinary periods such as natural disasters and epidemics, and that distance education is mostly aimed at supporting children's social emotional development areas and self-care skills. He stated that they are planning activities and, thanks to the flexibility feature of the MoNE 2013 re-school Curriculum, they include the acquisitions, indicators and concepts they need while planning distance education activities. In line with the results obtained from the research, suggestions were made to increase the effectiveness of the distance education process in the preschool period.