Evaluation of the quality of early childhood classrooms in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of two types of Turkish early childhood education programs: private and public preschools. 1 1. The term preschool is used to address the educational settings visited, which are preparatory classes starting one year before primary schools. Three public and three private preschools in a district of Istanbul were randomly selected. The quality of preschools was assessed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale developed by Harms et al. The preschools were visited by the researcher and were observed for a nine‐hour school day. Observations indicate that activities such as daily routines, parent–teacher interactions, personal and professional needs are more appropriately handled by private preschool teachers than public preschool teachers. Shortcomings exist in both types of preschools in their physical class arrangements, authoritarian teacher child interactions, poor teacher–student ratio, and emphasis on structured and paper–pencil activities. Results suggest the need for Turkish preschool programs to be more child and family centered.