Description of the condition of visual art education status in preschool period in the examples of private instutitions in turkey that apply Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio Emilia approaches

Preschool is a period where a child, who is full of curiosity and excitement, is most enthusiastic to learn everything about the world, as well as has the extraordinary learning power and strength to achieve this learning. Scientific research shows that the fastest cognitive development occurs in the pre-school period, compared to the development throughout the whole human life. In addition to the development, the importance of pre-school education is also of great importance if it is thought that the education in this period is more permanent and the basis of the child's personality is laid. It can be claimed that the ideas about the education of children date quite early. However, understanding the importance of formal education and the related studies in this area can be considered as fairly new. Since the opening of Friedrich Froebel's School in 1837, named Children's Garden, which can be considered as the first kindergarten, significant progress has been made in preschool education. Various methods and approaches have been developed for preschool education. It can be said that Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio Emilia are among the most important and proven approaches that have been applied worldwide for many years. Moreover, these three approaches, notably Montessori, are the most adopted ones in Turkey. In this thesis, how the private pre-school educational institutions in Turkey adopting these three approaches plan their visual arts education, their physical conditions and the content of art activities are analyzed. The research sample consists of schools which are thought to be the best in the application of the approach they have adopted and also agree to interviews and observation. While choosing these schools, expert opinions were collected and at the same time, the schools that claim to successfully implement the approach they adopted as stated in their own social media addresses and internet sites, were preferred. As a result of this study, it can be concluded that the schools have been consistent largely with the approach they adopted, in terms of the internalization of the philosophy as well as their physical characteristics and their art education have been shaped accordingly. In the two schools adopting the Waldorf Approach, the emphasis was on the spiritual and therapeutic aspects of art. In the three schools adopting the Montessori Approach, the importance of visual arts in the preparation of the child to primary school and the development of the child's manipulative skills have been emphasized. It was determined that in two of these three schools, there were branch lessons designated for visual arts education apart from the Montessori standards and moreover in one of them it was mandatory to attend branch lessons. In the two schools inspired by Reggio Emilia, it was determined that art was an important expression of the child and as a result there were projects initiated in line with the child's interests thus helped the child to express himself/herself using various art forms.