Examination of the views of educational constituents on the problems encountered in preschool education and solution suggestions

The aim of this research is to determine the problems encountered in pre-school education and the solution proposals for these problems, based on the opinions of the parents of the students studying in the official kindergarten and kindergarten classes, the school administrators and teachers working in these schools. Case study design which is one of the qualitative research methods was used in the research. The study group of the research consisted of 10 teachers working in these schools, 10 school administrators, and 10 parents who have students in the official kindergartens and independent kindergartens in Tokat Center and Turhal districts and the kindergartens in the villages of these districts in the 2021-2022 academic year. Data were collected by semi-structured interview technique and analyzed by content analysis method. According to the results of the research, it has been concluded that there are various problems in terms of communication, professional competence and personal characteristics regarding education workers. The lack of qualified support personnel in schools affects the education process negatively. In the study, it was concluded that the parents did not have enough knowledge about the structure and aims of pre-school education and they had difficulty in affording the cost of education. Regarding students, it has been observed that technology addiction has increased in recent years, there are behavioral problems among children and their readiness is low. Participants stated that schools and classrooms were physically inadequate, and that they had problems with educational materials, cafeteria, class sizes and student numbers. There are problems in schools in terms of budget and the needs cannot be met. The fact that pre-school education is not compulsory and to be paid causes not every child to benefit from education. The participants also mentioned the problems such as the fact that pre-school education is offered at different levels, the physical opportunities are limited, and the administrators are from outside the field. The participants also talked about the problems arising from the preschool education legislation. These are problems such as the continuous work of pre-school teachers, the lack of full-time education, the dual education, the education of different age groups in the same class. On the other hand, it is also stated that the preschool education program is not up-to-date, different teaching method techniques are not included, the textbooks are insufficient and the same books are used without changing them every year. The interviewed participants suggested that preschool education should be compulsory and free, physical environments should be improved, preschool education institutions should have independent buildings, each school should have a budget, awareness studies should be carried out on the importance of preschool education, education programs should be updated and the legislation should be changed.