Building the profession: professional ethics and preschool teacher’s education

Profesionalna etika je područje u kojoj se odgajatelji ne osjećaju sigurno. Da bi nužno ojačala svoj društveni status, odgajateljska profesija mora jačati i područje profesionalne etike. Iako formalno obrazovanje ne postoji, dijelovi profesionalne etike mogu se pronaći u ishodima učenja i kompetencijama pojedinih kolegija na Učiteljskim fakultetima u Hrvatskoj. Istraživanje je provedeno u akademskoj godini 2012/2013 među 33 odagajteljica upisanih u prvi semestar prve godine diplomskog studija Ranog i predškolskog odgoja i obrazovanja pri Učiteljskom fakultetu u Rijeci. Glavni ciljevi istraživanja bili su ispitati stavove odgajatelja o profesionalnoj etici, kao i da utvrditi da li edukacija o profesionalnoj etici može utjecati na razvoj svijesti o istoj. Pripremljeni upitnik korišten je u u dva mjerna ciklusa, prije i poslije edukacije, dok je t-test za zavisne uzorke korišten za usporedbu rezultata mjerenja. Kvalitativni podaci prikupljeni su otvorenim pitanjima.Professional ethics is an area in which teachers do not feel confident. It is necessary to develop the status of the teacher profession in the society, which cannot be done without strengthening the ethics. Formal education on professional ethics does not exist, but its fragments can be interpreted in terms of the learning outcomes and competency courses at the Faculties of Teacher Education in Croatia. This research was conducted in the academic year 2012/2013 among 33 female preschool teachers enrolled in the first semester of the first year of graduate studies of Early and Preschool Education at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka. The main aims of the research were to investigate the attitudes of preschool teachers on professional ethics, as well as to determine whether the teaching course could raise awareness on professional ethics among preschool teachers. A questionnaire was prepared and two measuring cycles were conducted, one before and one after the teaching course, while the t-test for paired samples was used to compare the results of the measuring. Qualitative data were also gathered through open-ended questions