Investigation of opinions and implementations of preschool teachers regarding to the field of motor development

The aim of this study was to determine the opinions of the preschool teachers working at the schools in the Central district of Bolu province, regarding to the field of motor development within the 3-6 ages preschool educational curricular; and also to introduce their implementations about this issue. The explanatory sequential design among the mixed models in which both quantitative and qualitative methods used together, was applied in this study. In order to select the preschool teachers to incorporate into the investigation, criterion sampling method was used. For the quantitative section of the research, a survey developed by the researcher was implemented to 148 teachers working at standalone preschools and nursery classes of primary schools regulated by the Ministry of Education, in the fall semester of 2014-2015 academic year. For the qualitative section of the research, data was collected by using semi-structured focus group discussion and observation form. A total of 16 teachers, joined the focus group interviews. Additionally, observation was made about fundamental movement skills at the classes of 6 teachers. Data obtained through the survey was analyzed in percentage and frequency. Data obtained after the focus group discussions and observations in class was interpreted and analyzed by using content analysis technique. More than half of the preschool teachers, who graduated from different universities, having different year of profession, working at different kinds of schools and having different number of students in class evaluated aims, behavior objectives (indicators), content, teaching-learning process and assessment and evaluation factors of preschool curriculum, as favorable. Teachers considered the motor field part of preschool curriculum to be clear and instructive for teachers. On the other hand although they declared that some terms are not clear, but the curriculum was flexible. The teachers identified motor development as fine and gross muscle (motor) development and not much used field; whereas they identified the importance of movement activities as enjoyable and supportive for learning in other fields (interdisciplinary), providing knowledge about their body and spending their excessive energy. The participant teachers said that they generally offered movement activities composed of dance and folk dance and children liked mostly the competitive games, drama activities, activities including moving and musical activities. On the other hand, it was found that the participant preschool teachers did not spend sufficient time for movement activities. The teachers said that the space in the schools was not enough for implementation of the movement activities and more than a half of them said that they used the available areas effectively. Besides, they specified that the usage of garden (outdoor space) was also not adequate because of various reasons. The main difficulties faced during the implementations were determined as attitude of parents, age and development features of the students, physical conditions, security problems and lack of teacher qualifications. Additionally, it was determined that the teachers mostly used ball, rope and mat for movement activities; and they seriously had trouble with supplying of materials. As a result, the participant teachers stated that they did not consider themselves to be sufficient to implement movement activities in their classes. Only one third of the teachers considered their undergraduate education to be supportive for implementation of these activities. Keywords: Preschool, Motor development, Teacher, Opinion and implementations