A comparative analysis of the metaphoric perceptions of school administrators and preschool teachers about preschool education

This study is intended to reveal the perceptions of school administrators and preschool teachers about preschool education through metaphors. For this purpose, the metaphors obtained for preschool education were studied comparatively. The study was conducted based on one of the qualitative research patterns, phenomenology. Data from the study were collected through an open-ended written interview form. Data were collected on a voluntary basis from school administrators and preschool teachers working in public schools affiliated with MEB'in Pazarcık District of Kahramanmaraş province in the 2020-2021 academic year. The study group consisted of 27 school administrators and 36 preschool teachers. The collected data were analyzed and interpreted by analyzing the content. The collected metaphors and explanation phrases were read over by two different coders in order to increase reliability and transferred to a draft form. Metaphors developed by school administrators are grouped under 11 categories. These categories were created from a total of 56 different metaphors. These metaphors were repeated 71 times. The most repeated categories after the categorization process based on the common features and similar explanations of the metaphors developed by school administrators are as follows; Feeling Home, Preparing for the Future, Initiating, Forming, Producing and Working. Metaphors developed by preschool teachers are grouped under 12 categories. A total of 55 different metaphors have been developed in these categories. And these metaphors have been repeated 92 times. Preschool teachers and a similar categorization developed by the metaphor of the common features of descriptions of the process, the following categories have been established; producing and laboring, shape, the initiator, That feels like home, fun. In the light of the findings, it was suggested that administrators should closely follow the difficulties experienced by teachers in their classroom activities, and that pre-school teacher candidates should receive self-awareness training for their profession. These recommendations are grouped under two headings for practitioners and researchers.