Findings Of The National Study For The Preschool Education Quality In Russia

Abstract

The results of the first large-scale independent study of quality of preschool education in Russia are presented. The possibilities that educational environment of a preschool group provide for children are analysed. Data were obtained in 2016-2017 by expert observation with the instrument "Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale -revised edition" and extra expert questionnaire for "adult-child" ratio evaluation. In addition, a questionnaire for the teachers of preschool groups was used. With its help, factors that influence the quality of educational environment and its dynamics are identified. The results of two sample clusters (leaders of local ratings and randomly selected preschools) are compared for each year and between years. The quality of preschool education has improved from 2016 to 2017 (but still it is on the minimum level), regardless of the participation of preschools of the cluster in the study. However, in preschools, which took part in the second year, the quality has changed for the better more significantly than in "newcomers". Randomly selected preschools showed better quality dynamics than leaders of local ratings. A correlation analysis is made of the dynamics of each preschool participating in the second year and the factors affecting the quality of educational environment. Most factors, such as age of a teacher, his/her experience, professional training program, being familiar with the instrument of evaluation, doesn't have any significant influence. The awareness of teachers about the results of the assessment significantly influences, and the number of workshops where these results were discussed does not matter.

Preschool Teachers’ Beliefs About Child’s Participation And Its Support In Russian Kindergartens

“…Researchers point out that there is a lack of real participatory practice for young children and very often participation is distorted and turns into "play in democracy", children don't have enough free time and freedom to choose materials, activity and partners, teachers are too directive (Day et al, 2015;Kangas et al, 2016;Shiyan et al, 2018). We often see in practice of Russian kindergarten kind of "sprouts of participation" (for example, children are offered to vote for something only occasionally and it's is in a great contrast to daily life in the kindergarten) instead of regular real participatory practice.…”

Internships in kindergartens as a resource for development of practices with different quality levels

“…Efficiency of investments into improvement of education quality and importance of professional development of teachers are recognized worldwide [1][2]. However, relationship between qualification improvement and development of quality provisions in kindergartens is sometimes inefficient and inconsistent: in some works, it is traced [3][4], in other works, it is not [5][6][7]. In inefficient learning programs, the work with teachers' concepts of good quality is too short and far from analysis of their own practice.…”