Views of Future Preschool Teachers on Creativity

The first part of this paper focuses on creativity, the factors that influence creativity, and on creativity in education, with a special emphasis on preschool education. In the second part, we present the results of an empirical research study in which we wanted to identify the views and positions of future preschool teachers on creativity, factors of creativity, and children’s creativeness. The study showed that future preschool teachers mainly believe that not all people are creative, and neither are all children. But they believe that creative children have many opportunities to develop their creative potential in kindergarten. They consider family to be the most important factor in fostering and developing a child’s creativeness

Views of future preschool teachers on creativity

V prvem delu prispevka pišemo o ustvarjalnosti, o dejavnikih, ki vplivajo na ustvarjalnost, ter o ustvarjalnosti v vzgoji in izobraževanju, pri čemer posebej izpostavljamo predšolsko obdobje. V drugem delu prispevka predstavljamo rezultate empirične raziskave, v kateri smo ugotavljali, kakšna so stališča študentk, bodočih vzgojiteljic, do ustvarjalnosti, do dejavnikov ustvarjalnosti in ustvarjalnosti pri otrocih. Ugotavljamo, da pri bodočih vzgojiteljicah predšolskih otrok prevladuje mnenje, da vsi ljudje niso ustvarjalni, prav tako po njihovem mnenju niso ustvarjalni vsi otroci, imajo pa ustvarjalni otroci v vrtcu veliko možnosti za uresničevanje svojih ustvarjalnih potencialov. Po mnenju anketirank je najpomembnejši dejavnik v razvoju ustvarjalnosti družina.The first part of this paper focuses on creativity, the factors that influence creativity, and on creativity in education, with a special emphasis on preschool education. In the second part, we present the results of an empirical research study in which we wanted to identify the views and positions of future preschool teachers on creativity, factors of creativity, and children\u27s creativeness. The study showed that future preschool teachers mainly believe that not all people are creative, and neither are all children. But they believe that creative children have many opportunities to develop their creative potential in kindergarten. They consider family to be the most important factor in fostering and developing a child\u27s creativeness

What do preschool teachers\u27 professional biographies reveal about interweaving of profession and creativity?

Na področju proučevanja ustvarjalnosti se v zadnjem času porajajo dileme v zvezi z metodološkimi vprašanji proučevanja tega pojava. Hkrati je pri proučevanju ustvarjalnosti mogoče zaznati tudi premik od tradicionalnega, psihometričnega pristopa k bolj kvalitativnemu pristopu. K slednjemu sodi tudi t. i. kvalitativna raziskava življenjska zgodovina, ki se na pedagoškem področju usmerja na učitelje in vzgojitelje, na njihov pogled na delo in življenje in je kot taka nekakšna osebna refleksija. V pričujočem prispevku predstavljamo potek in rezultate take raziskave, ki se je usmerila na vzgojiteljice, ki so bile prepoznane kot ustvarjalne, pri tem pa nas je zanimalo, kako vključene vzgojiteljice opredeljujejo in doživljajo prepletenost lastnega poklica in ustvarjalnosti. Na podlagi kvalitativne analize zbranega gradiva predstavljamo nekatere ključne dejavnike ustvarjalne poklicne poti vzgojiteljic.In the field of research in creativity, some dilemmas regarding methodological approaches have arisen. Consequently, a shift from the traditional, psychometric approach to a more qualitative approach has been in progress recently. The so-called life history research is a type of qualitative research, which, in the field of educational research, focuses on teachers and preschool teachers, on their perspective of work and lifeit can be a sort of a personal reflection. In the paper, we present the process and the results of such research, which included preschool teachers who had been identified as creative. The aim of the research was to establish how preschool teachers define and experience the interweaving of their own profession and creativity. The results of qualitative analysis thus show some of the key factors of preschool teachers\u27 creative career

Stavovi odgajatelja prema slikovnicama homoseksualnog sadrzaja

Inclusion refers to the respectful acceptance of diverse modes of being, including sexual orientation as one of the means of its multiple expression. Aimed at the portrayal of the current trends in a highly diversified society, picture books with their explicit homosexual content are growing in popularity. It is evident, however, that the pragmatics of their kindergarten use is still controversial, largely motivated by teachers\u27 attitude to homosexuality as such. The purpose of the presented study, undertaken among the teachers from the Istrian County, was to determine educators\u27 orientation towards homosexually-charged picture books and identify opinion differentiating factors influencing their perception, such as teachers\u27 service length or the degree of the respective urbanization or rurality of the area they inhabit. A questionnaire was devised as a means of data collection. The research results indicate that the pool of 127 respondents was neither fervently pro-or against both the picture books with homosexual content and their kindergarten use as such. Although with no significant statistical differences in the service length, teachers with more extensive in-service experience find it easier to accept homosexual content of the picture books in question but are more reluctant to incorporate their use into their teaching practice. As expected, the higher the level of urbanization of the area educators represent, the more accepting they are. Conversely, the more rural teachers\u27 immersing surrounding, the lower openness to diversity on their part, translating into their diminished readiness to use the discussed homosexually explicit material. Close analytical reading of the study results reveals that for the previously mentioned inclusion to become an integral part of the teaching practice, the system of education has to undergo major changes to provide professional development opportunities for teachers and equip them with necessary tools for the skilled handling of such sensitive matter as homosexuality proves to be.Inkluzija uključuje prihvaćanje i poštivanje različitosti, među koje spada i homoseksualnost. S ciljem upoznavanja različitosti u društvu nastaju i različite slikovnice, među njima i slikovnice homoseksualnog sadržaja, pri čemu je njihova uporaba u vrtićima ovisna o tome kakva stajališta imaju odgajatelji prema homoseksualnosti. Analiziramo rezultate empirijskog istraživanja čiji je cilj bio utvrditi kakvi su stavovi odgajatelja istarske županije spram slikovnica homosekusalnog sadržaja i postoje li razlike u stavovima u smislu radnog staža odgajatelja i toga žive li odgajatelji u urbanoj ili ruralnoj sredini. Podatci su bili sakupljeni uz pomoć upitnika koji je izrađen za ovo istraživanje. Rezultati pokazuju da odgajatelji (N = 127) nisu ni izrazito naklonjeni kao ni izrazito nenaklonjeni slikovnicama homoseksualnog sadržaja, a osjećaju nelagodu pri njihovoj uporabi. Među njima nema ni statistički značajnih razlika u vezi s radnim stažem, a ipak rezultati pokazuju da odgojitelji s duljim stažem bolje prihvaćaju slikovnice takva sadržaja, dok istovremeno osjećaju veću nelagodu pri njihovoj uporabi. Očekivano, slikovnice više prihvaćaju odgajatelji iz urbanih sredina, a odgajatelji iz ruralnih sredina osjećaju više nelagode. Da bi odgajatelji djelovali u pravcu inkluzije, potrebno je osigurati da se u sustavu obrazovanja i stručnog usavršavanja odgajatelje i ostale pedagoške djelatnike opremi kompetencijama za suočavanje s tabuiziranim temama, među koje ubrajamo i homoseksualnost

New challenges in education and schooling: an example of designing innovative motor learning environments

The aim of this study is to address the key topical challenges in modern teaching from the perspective of competences. A special focus is placed on examining innovative early childhood education, which is defined as the basis – acquired through innovative methods – for quality development of hereditary motor skills and performance of body movement patterns. The study looks at which factors the respondents consider important in terms of innovative teaching of motor skills, which teaching practices they apply in their work, and the correlation between the reported importance rating of individual factors and the common practice in this particular area. The study included 132 preschool teachers, 73 (55.3%) of whom work in Slovenian and 59 (44.7%) in Croatian preschools, who completed an online questionnaire. The results show that the preschool teachers believe the most important factor in innovative teaching of motor skills is coherence of the child’s overall development and that the child-oriented practice has been rated as the most important self-reported innovative teaching practice. The highest correlation (r¼0.679) was obtained between creativity and innovativeness and implementing childoriented practice and between practising innovative approaches and practising professional competences (r¼0.673)

Kako strokovni delavci vrtca vrednotijo stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje kot element svojega profesionalnega razvoja

The study focuses on preschool teachers’ in-service training at selected Slovenian kindergartens. The paper presents the results of qualitative case-study. The research aimed to find out how preschool teachers evaluate in-service training received as a part the professional development and how the in-service training is regulated in their kindergartens. Data was collected via focus groups and semi-structured interviews, and processed in accordance with qualitative analysis principles. Results show that preschool teachers believe that in-service training is an important part of their professional development. Preschool teachers also believe they receive enough opportunities for in-service training within the selected kindergartens, but they also point out that in-service trainings should be differentiated according to the level of their professional development and current needs. The lack of financial resources and workload were reported as the two major barriers encountered in in-service training.V prispevku se osredotočamo na stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje vzgojiteljev predšolskih otrok. Predstavljamo rezultate kvalitativne študije primera, ki je bila izvedena v izbranem javnem slovenskem vrtcu. Cilj raziskave je bil ugotoviti, kako strokovni delavci v tem vrtcu vrednotijo izpopolnjevanje kot del profesionalnega razvoja ter kako je stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje v tem vrtcu urejeno. Podatki so bili zbrani z metodo fokusnih skupin in s polstrukturiranimi intervjuji, obdelanimi po načelih kvalitativne analize. Glede na rezultate vzgojitelji menijo, da je stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje pomembno za njihov profesionalni razvoj. Prav tako vzgojitelji menijo, da imajo v izbranem vrtcu dovolj možnosti za stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje, pri čemer pričakujejo diferenciacijo izpopolnjevanja glede na individualno raven profesionalnega razvoja in trenutne potrebe. Kot največji oviri za stalno strokovno izpopolnjevanje navajajo pomanjkanje finančnih sredstev in preobremenjenost

Building teacher competence: the role of university teachers and mentor teachers

In the chapter Building teacher competence: the role of university teachers and mentor teachers, Tina Štemberger and Sonja Čotar Konrad address the question of building teacher competence within the system of initial teacher education in Slovenia. It first focuses on the concept of teacher competence and on the system of initial teacher education in Slovenia, with a particular focus on teacher educators’ role. Teacher educators — university-based teachers and mentor teachers—are regarded as role models to prospective teachers and an important factor in the process of developing teacher competence. Therefore, strong cooperation and partnership between these two groups should be established, including the design of pre- and in-service programmes for (future) teachers.Collection name: LIBRARY "PEDAGOGICAL THEORY AND PRACTICE" 5

Attitude towards inclusion: an important factor in implementing inclusive education

In the paper Attitude towards inclusion: an important factor in implementing inclusive education, Vanja Riccarda Kiswarday and Tina Štemberger focused on preschool teachers’ inclusive competences. The research, in which 124 preschool teachers were included, aims to establish how they value and assess their competences for inclusion, whereby competences are understood on three levels: attitude, knowledge, and skills. The authors also checked whether preschool teachers with longer work experience and those who had attended in-service training for inclusive settings assessed their inclusive competences higher than others with less experience did. The survey results indicate that preschool teachers see themselves quite competent for work in inclusive settings – they rated themselves high in all three dimensions of inclusive competences. It turned out that there are differences in the assessment of skills and knowledge: teachers with 10 - 20 years of service rated these dimensions higher, but no difference could be noticed between teachers in relation to inservice training for inclusive settings.Collection name : Library „PEDAGOŠKA TEORIJA I PRAKSA” 4

The Motif of Motherhood in Paintings by Women Surrealists

Zaključna naloga obravnava motiv materinstva v slikah nadrealistk. V nadrealističnem gibanju je bilo več žensk kot v katerem koli gibanju do takrat, kljub temu pa je njihovo delo pogosto ostalo v senci moških nadrealistov. Nadrealistke ponavadi niso bile prisotne pri moškem razpravljanju o ženskosti in so se pogosto zatekale v svojo lastno resničnost. Čeprav si najpogosteje niso želele otrok in družinskega življenja, so se vseeno bolj videle v vlogi Velike Matere kot v vlogi femme-enfant, ki so jim jo pripisovali nadrealisti. Vloga žensk v gibanju in prepričanju nadrealistov o materinstvu se kažejo tudi na obravnavanih slikah: Varuhinja feniksov Leonor Fini, Varuhinja jajca Leonore Carrington, Nebesna kaša Remedios Varo in Materinstvo Dorothee Tanning. Interpretacija slik v zaključni nalogi se opira na literaturo, ki so jo brale posamezne avtorice, njihova literarna dela in biografske podatke. Na izbranih slikah nobena izmed obravnavanih avtoric ni upodobila klasične ljubeče matere, saj so motiv priredile svojemu dojemanju materinstva in materinske vloge.The final thesis focuses on the motif of motherhood, present in paintings by women Surrealists. Although there were more women in the Surrealism movement than in any other movement up to that time, their work remained in the shadows of male Surrealists. For the most part, the women Surrealists were not part of the male discussion of femininity and thus often turned to their own realities. Although most did not show a desire for children and family life, they nevertheless saw themselves more in the role of the Great Mother than in the femme-enfant role attributed to them by the Surrealists. The role of women in Surrealism and their beliefs about motherhood are reflected in the paintings of the aforementioned artists: The Guardian of the Phoenix by Leonor Fini, The Guardian of Egg by Leonora Carrington, Celestial Pablum by Remedios Varo, and Maternity by Dorothea Tanning. The interpretations of the paintings, is drawn on the literature that each artist had read, their literary works, and biographical data. None of the selected paintings depicted a classic loving mother, because they each adapted the motif according to their own perceptions of motherhood and what the role of a mother meant to them