Pre-school education in Turkey during COVID-19 pandemic: Process analysis

The aim of this study is to analyze the experiences of pre-school teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic which occurred in 2019, the problems and the solutions from the experiences as well as educational policies in our country, and also to present the impact of the pandemic process on pre-school education in Turkey. In this study, case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. In this pattern, the focus group method and document analysis were used for data collection. The focus group studies were carried out via three webinars. The sample group of a focus group interview consists of principals, teachers, and parents from official and private pre-school institutions, agents in the Ministry of Education and non-governmental organizations in addition to academicians. Overall, 53 people were involved in the group. In sample selection, a purposive sampling technique was preferred. Likewise, decisions and regulations made by the Ministry of Education were analyzed following stages approach. Besides, studies concerning distance education in pre-school programs were examined with data analysis. To examine the results of the data, descriptive and content analyses were used. As a result of the analysis, six major problems which are in order of family, teacher, child, environment, schedule, and others during the webinar were recorded, and proposed solutions accordingly. It was found that scientific research conducted during the pandemic emphasized that distance education experiences led pre-school education to increase equality of opportunities and have a negative impact on children in terms of social, emotional, and physical development. As the decisions and regulations taken by the ministry of education were examined in this process, it was concluded that school closures and re-openings were affected by various factors, but also revealed that there were variances in pre-school institutions concerning whether to distance or face-to-face education. All things considered, several solutions were offered in that projects can be developed for pre-school children to access to education during distance education or extraordinary situations. On the other hand, for those who do not have access to online education, there is a need to find out alternative suggestions. Keywords: Distance education, early childhood, preschool period