A cross-cultural study on the life skills of preschool children in Turkey and Rwanda

The purpose of this cross-cultural study is to examine the similarities and differences between Turkish and Rwandan preschool children's life skills, to see how life skills are supported in both countries, and to determine the opinions and suggestions of educators and field experts on the subject. In this mixed-method study, quantitative data were obtained through the Preschool Life Skills Scale. The research data were collected from the teachers of one hundred children from both countries determined by purposive sampling method through Google form, a web-based data collection tool. Google form was used because it was difficult to reach the participants in the sample group during the pandemic and quarantine period. The qualitative data of the study consisted of data obtained through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with fifteen teachers from both countries. Qualitative data were categorized in line with the principles of content analysis and reported according to the sub-problems of the research. In the interviews with the participants, the framework of the interview was determined by taking into account the life skills identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). SPSS 25 package program was used to analyze the quantitative data of the study. Normality tests were performed and parametric or nonparametric tests were used according to the distribution. As a result of the analyses where the significance level was determined as P<0.05, it was concluded that the life skills levels of children in Turkey differed significantly from the life skills levels of children in Rwanda according to the data obtained from both countries. This differentiation in favor of the children in Turkey was found both in the sub-factors and in the overall scale of Preschool Life Skills. Accordingly, it was concluded that the life skills levels of children living in Turkey and Rwanda are different from each other. The life skills that participants from both countries emphasized as common in their views on preschool life skills were examined as social and emotional skills, problem solving and creative thinking skills, and decision-making skills. Teachers in both countries emphasized the importance of keeping children's motivation high and being a good model for them in order to develop life skills in early childhood. Teachers also emphasized that reinforcement of children's life skills behaviors by both teachers and parents is important for the development of skills in children. Keywords: Preschool education, Early childhood education, Life skills, Preschoolers, Social skills