Preschool Teachers' Opinions Towards to Multicultural Education

Abstract

It is almost impossible to talk about a monocultural society in the world that exist diversity and differences. Cultural diversity also makes its presence felt in schools, as in every atmosphere. Pre-school institutions, where children leave their home environment and are involved in the educational environment for the first time, are the places in which each child brings the cultural diversity of himself and his family, and in which peer interaction first occurs and develops. For these reasons, it is important to determine the views and practices of pre-school teachers about multiculturalism and its applications. In this study, a phenomenological research model, one of the qualitative research methods, was used by interviewing 23 preschool teachers working in official independent kindergartens in the city center of Diyarbakır. Data were collected through interviews with teachers, and content analysis was used in the analysis of the data. So far as the results of the research; it has been determined that the number of teachers who make arrangements in terms of multiculturalism in their classrooms is quite low, and the teachers who do not make arrangements for this, justify that the children in their classes are from Diyarbakır province or its surroundings, and ignore the cultural diversity of the province they work in. It was designated that all of the participants included the issues of respect for differences in their plans, and due to the pandemic, the diversity of teachers' activities for multiculturalism and respect for differences decreased. It has been determined that teachers focus on different themes and subjects due to the limited education period during the pandemic process. All the teachers participating in the study emphasized that it is more effective to address cultural issues in face-to-face education, however it was determined that they could not associate some of their practices with multiculturalism and respect for differences.

A Study on the Perception of Turkish and Syrian Children of Each Other in Preschool Period: "Tell Me About Your Friend"

“…are among the basic questions that children aged 3-6 seek answers to. Therefore, the preschool education environment not only facilitates the child's adaptation to society in a balanced way (Kuru, 2016;Ateş & Şahin, 2021;Haktanır, 2014) but it also offers significant opportunities for the children to get to know different cultures. In this process, they observe the differences and similarities between people and begin to form a unique perception of personal and social identity including distinctive features such as gender, ethnicity, age, and status with an increasing awareness as of birth (Robinson & Diaz, 2006;Nsamenang, 2004).…”