Preschool teachers' opinions, attitudes and beliefs about technical education

Nowadays it is hard to imagine life without technical and technological knowledge. Knowledge of all machines and devices has become not only an important part of our lives, but a key factor of modern society. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the opinions, attitudes, and beliefs of educators and educational assistants regarding technology and technical education. Through this work, we aimed to familiarize all educators and their assistants with the importance of incorporating technology and technical education into their daily lives. In the theoretical part we addressed the position of technology and technical education in kindergarten. We mentioned the connection of technology with the kindergarten curriculum and pointed out some examples of activities connected with other areas (movement, language, art, society, nature, mathematics). We described the importance of integrating technology and technical education into the educational process itself and formulated specific guiding and global goals. We have also addressed the conceptual dimension of technology in the preschool period and have emphasized the importance of the presence of the educator or an adult in the implementation of technology and technical education. We have also analyzed four foreign studies that give us a good insight into the situation of technology in the world. In the empirical part, we analyzed the data collected with a questionnaire. In the survey, we analyzed the responses of 135 educators and educational assistants. We asked them about their opinions, attitudes, and beliefs about technology and technical education. We have found that some educators are comfortable planning and implementing technology activities, getting ideas from journals and encyclopaedias, and believe that it is important to connect fields with technology. However, there are also a few who are afraid of children's possible questions that they cannot answer, who do not feel comfortable doing so, and who are afraid of handling tools and equipment. We have noticed that in the field of technology and technical education, as well as the possible opinions and attitudes of educators and teachers, especially on Slovenian soil, there has not been enough research