Attitudes of early childhood educators about the importance of creating a stimulating spatial - material environment in the nursery

Kvaliteta prostorno-materijalnog okruženja usko je povezana s kvalitetom odgojno-obrazovnog procesa. Odgojitelji, kao njezini glavni nositelji, svojim implicitnim pedagogijama izravno utječu na cjelokupan proces učenja djeteta jasličke dobi. Stoga je važno njihovo poznavanje prirode učenja i razvoja djeteta u skladu s kojima nude i raspoređuju materijale kojima potiču djetetov cjelovit razvoj, podržavajući pritom njegovu samostalnost u odabiru materijala, suradnika i vremena svog učenja. Istovremeno, razina kvalitete odgojno-obrazovnog rada odgojitelja leži u kvaliteti i kontinuiranosti profesionalnog usavršavanja. Na uzorku od 104 odgojitelja provelo se kvantitativno istraživanje kojim se pokušalo dobiti uvid u stavove odgojitelja o važnosti kreiranja poticajnog prostorno-materijalnog okruženja u jaslicama. Koristeći online anketni upitnik dobio se uvid u njihovu sliku o djetetu, kvaliteti nuđenih materijala i razini profesionalnog usavršavanja te se došlo do sljedećih zaključaka. Odgojitelji, bez obzira na dob, godine radnog staža i odgojne skupine u kojoj rade, smatraju važnim prostorno-materijalno okruženje u jaslicama učiniti poticajnim te takav stav raste s porastom dobi djeteta. Stoga bi u budućnosti valjalo organizirati podršku odgojiteljima kroz kvalitetnije i kontinuiranije oblike profesionalnog usavršavanja koji će osnažiti odgojitelje u mijenjanju implicitnih pedagogija i svakodnevne odgojno-obrazovne prakse.The quality of the spatial and material environment is closely related to the quality of the educational process. Early childhood educators, as its main bearers, with their implicit pedagogies directly influence the entire learning process of a child of nursery age. Therefore, it is important for them to know the nature of the child's learning and development in accordance with which they offer and distribute materials that encourage the child's holistic development, while supporting his independence in choosing the materials, collaborators and timing of his learning. At the same time, the level of quality of educational work of early child educators lies in the quality and continuity of professional development. A quantitative research was conducted on a sample of 104 early childhood educators, which tried to gain insight into the attitudes of educators about the importance of creating a stimulating spatial and material environment in the nursery. Using an online questionnaire, an insight was gained into their image of the child, the quality of materials offered and the level of professional development, and the following conclusions were reached. Educators, regardless of age, years of service and educational group in which they work, consider it important to make the spatial and material environment in the nursery stimulating and such an attitude grows with the age of the child. Therefore, in the future it would be worthwhile to organize support for early child educators through better and more continuous forms of professional development that will empower educators in changing implicit pedagogies and everyday educational practices