Quality of monitoring child\u27s developement and progress in planning and evaluating educational work in preschool

Vzgojiteljice naj bi pri načrtovanju dejavnosti izhajale iz opazovanja otrok, poznavanja njihovega razvoja in napredka. Kurikulum za vrtce (1999: 18) opredeljuje, da je poznavanje otrokovega razvoja bistveno za »oblikovanje koncepta predšolske vzgoje v vrtcu« (prav tam), saj naj bi se nenehno spraševali, ali prepoznamo otroka kot posameznika, njegove kompetence in zmožnosti, ter ali ga vidimo kot aktivno vključenega akterja svojega lastnega razvoja (prav tam). V teoretičnem delu magistrskega dela sem predstavila ključne poudarke iz življenja in dela v vrtcu še pred uvedbo Kurikuluma za vrtce (1999) ter po spremembah, ki so sledile izidu Bele knjige o vzgoji in izobraževanju (1995). Osvetlila sem pogled na razvoj in učenje otroka ter pojasnila pomen aktivnega učenja v oblikovanju spodbudnega okolja za razvoj »kompetentnega otroka« (Batistič Zorec, 2009: 37). Osredinila sem se na načrtovanje in evalvacije vzgojiteljic, ob tem sem bila usmerjena v pridobivanje informacij o posameznem otroku. Poudarila sem pomen načrtovanja dejavnosti na podlagi ugotavljanja in upoštevanja individualnih značilnosti posameznih otrok v oddelku, ustrezno podporo njegovemu razvoju ter pomen otrokovega aktivnega sodelovanja v procesu spremljanja lastnega napredka (Batistič Zorec in Prosen, 2017). V magistrskem delu sem raziskala, kako pogosto in na kakšen način vzgojiteljice načrtujejo in evalvirajo vzgojno-izobraževalno delo. Za zbiranje podatkov sem uporabila deskriptivno metodo kvalitativnega raziskovanja. Podatke sem pridobila z analizo dokumentov (priprav in evalvacij vzgojnega dela, drugih zapisov o posameznem otroku) ter s pomočjo polstrukturiranega intervjuja. Vzgojiteljice poudarjajo pomen kakovostnega spremljanja razvoja in napredka otrok, vendar analiza dokumentov priprav, evalvacij in zapisov o otrocih kaže, da imajo vzgojiteljice še vedno veliko težav pri načinih in tudi vsebini opazovanja. Ob tem se kaže napredek v razmišljanju vzgojiteljic, kajti v raziskavi, ki so jo opravili B. Kroflič s sodelavci (2002) je bila evalvacija uvrščena na najnižje mesto med kazalniki kakovosti. V intervjujih so, v raziskavo vključene vzgojiteljice, poudarile pomen sodelovanja s sodelavko v oddelku, vlogo vodstva in načine ter oblike sodelovanja s starši. Z raziskavo in ugotovitvami želim doprinesti k večji kakovosti dela na področju načrtovanja in evalviranja vzgojnega dela v vrtcu. Rezultati so uporabni za kritični razmislek in podporo pri avtonomnem odločanju vzgojiteljice o vsebini in pomenu kvalitetne evalvacije. Menim, da so uporabni tudi za druge strokovne delavce, zlasti vodilne in svetovalne delavke ter delavce, ki imajo priložnost usmerjati in izobraževati vzgojiteljice na tem področju.Activities planned by preschool teachers should be based on observation of children, understanding of their development and progress. Preschool Curriculum (1999:18) defines understanding of child\u27s development as essential for »defining the idea of preschool education« furthermore, issue whether a child should be recognized as an individual with inherent competence and abilities and as an active participant of his/her own development should be under constant professional scrutiny. Theoretical part of master\u27s thesis presents the most important aspects of life and and work in preschool before Curriculum (1999) was adopted, it also presents the changes prompted by The White Paper On Education in the Republic of Slovenia (1995). I shall enlighten the view upon the development and learning of a child and explain the importance of active learning in an environment devised for stimulating the development of a »competent child« (Batistič Zorec, 2009: 37). I focused on the planning and evaluation process conducted by preschool teachers, with a specific emphasis on the obtaining of information about each individual child. I emphasized the importance of activities being planned after establishing and considering individual characteristics of children in a group, furthermore, I emphasized how important it is to provide appropriate support in accordance with child\u27s development and to consider the importance of child\u27s active involvement in the process of monitoring their own development (Batistič Zorec and Prosen, 2017). Master\u27s thesis brings about the examination of how frequently and in what way preschool teachers plan and evaluate education process. Whereas teachers underline the importance of qualitative monitoring of child\u27s development and progress, the analysis of lesson plans, evaluation and notes about children indicates many problems with the manner and the content of monitoring preschool teacher are still confronted with. However, it needs to be pointed out that there is a progress in the consideration of preschool teachers, especially in comparison with the research conducted by B. Kroflič et associates (2002), which placed evaluation at the very bottom of quality indicators. Preschool teachers included in my research highlighted the importance of cooperation with a preschool teacher in the same group, the role of school leadership and different ways and forms of parent-teacher cooperation. In order to collect data a descriptive method of qualitative research was employed. Data was obtained through analysis of documents such as lesson plans and education process evaluation, other notes on individual children and a semi-structured interview. I conducted this research in order to contribute to the higher quality of work in the area of preschool education process planning and evaluation. Findings should invite to critical thinking and serve as a support for autonomous decision-making of preschool teacher regarding the content and the importance of qualitative evaluation. I believe the findings could be useful for other education staff, especially school leadership and education counsellors as well as other professional workers, who have the opportunity to direct and educate preschool teachers in this area of expertise