An investigation of preschool teachers' views on values education activities

The aim of this study is to examine preschool teachers' views on values education and their practices. In this study, case design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The Teacher Interview Form, which was developed by the researcher and received expert opinion, was used in the study. The study group of the research consists of 32 preschool teachers working in Elazığ in the 2022-2023 academic year. The data obtained through semi-structured interviews were analyzed by content analysis. According to the results of the study, teachers find values education important, but they think that there are inadequacies in practices. The most frequently taught values are respect, love and sharing, while values such as generosity and equality are taught less frequently. Teachers mostly evaluate whether students acquire values through observation. It was concluded that the family is the biggest factor in the process of acquiring values, while the school and the environment play a complementary role. The materials used were mostly storybooks, puppets and videos/films, but these materials were found to be insufficient. It was also concluded that teachers and parents should be given training and seminars by experts in their fields, the education program should be updated, the Ministry of National Education should provide material support to schools and activities should be increased.