Comparison of the quality of physical environments and self care skill routines in center based preschool education (The example of Elazığ)

Preschool education is an important developmental period in which basic skills and fluidity are gained. In order for the gains prepared for these basic skills and habits to be transformed into behaviors, the physical environments of the institutions and routine practices for self-care skills should be arranged in such a way that they can meet the needs of children. The aim of this study was to examine the quality of institutions in terms of physical environment and self-care skill practices in preschool period and the comparison of primary schools within official independent kindergartens and official dependent kindergartens. The study group consisted of 10 independent kindergartens and 10 dependent kindergartens in the central district of Elazığ province in the 2018 - 2019 academic year. In order to determine the quality of institutions, space-furniture and self-care skill practices subscales of Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-3 (ECERS-3) and observation notes held by the researcher were used as data collection instruments. Data were analyzed using SPSS program. For the quality assessment of the institutions, descriptive analysis was carried out and the quality levels were evaluated. Mann Whitney U test was used to determine the differences between institutions and Spearman Brown coefficient was calculated to determine the relationships between dimensions. As a result, differentiation was determined according to the type of institution in the general quality levels of institutions and spaces and furniture and self-care applications. Differences in the sub-dimensions were differentiated in favor of kindergartens in indoor space, space for privacy, child related display, rough motor playground, rough motor equipment, meals and toilet applications. In all subdimensions, the quality scores of independent kindergartens are equal to or higher than the quality scores of dependent kindergartens. This situation necessitates the need to increase the general quality levels and reduce the differentiation between the institutions.