Value Education in Estonian Preschool Child Care Institutions

Abstract

For systematic implementation of value education in educational institutions, the national programme ìValues Development in Estonian Society 2009ñ2013î (Ministry of Education and Research, 2009) was prepared in Estonia. However, it was launched only in 2010, and the authors intended to ascertain the values of the heads of preschool child care institutions, teachers and parents as well as their conception of value education. The national programme was updated as ìValues Development in Estonian Society 2015ñ 2020î (Ministry of Education and Research 2015). In 2015, the researchers aimed to investigate if and how values of teachers of child care institutions and their conception of value education had changed. The sample in 2010 included nine respondents related to preschool child care institutions: three heads, three teachers, and three parents. The 2015 sample included 10 teachers. The research was conducted by using a qualitative method, which included semi-structured interviews and video observations of activities that teachers carried out with children. In 2010 and 2015, the values were said to be incorporated in general curricular goals and topics of the year. In 2010, the teachers said that values were not separately designated in the kindergarten curriculum; however, they were incorporated into the curriculum. They did not teach values as a separate discipline; values were highlighted in various activities and situation games. In 2015, it was mentioned that value education was consciously included in activities proceeding from the relevant schooling and education domain and the topic of the week. It may be said that in 2010 value education related topics had not been sufficiently introduced in kindergartens yet. Based on interviews and video observations conducted in 2015, it could be claimed that educators would benefit from a more deliberate approach to value education.

Actualization of Values in Pre-School Education by Implementing Competence-Based Learning Content

“…In pre-school education, a child acquires values during each activity. The child gets experiences on values from the surrounding environment, social contact and active engagement (Ülavere & Tammik, 2017).…”

“…Values cannot be separated as an independent field of learning. The child starts to learn values by observing and imitating an adult, therefore a positive role model of an adult is especially important (Ülavere & Tammik, 2017).…”

Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability after the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring for the Future

“…This group can be exemplified by the papers ìSocial Equality as Groundwork for Sustainable Schooling: The Free Lunch Issueî (Kairiene & Sprindziunas, 2016) and ìGender Identity of Students and Teachers: Implications for a Sustainable Futureî (Badjanova, Pipere, & Iliko, 2017). Two papers adressed the preschool education theory and practice (e.g., ìValue Education in Estonian Preschool Child Care Institutionsî by Ulavere and Tammik, 2017); also the authors of two papers were dealing with theoretical issues and research in pre-service/in-service TE for ESD (e.g., ìEnvironmental Education in Pre-service Teacher Training: A Literature Review of Existing Evidenceî by Álvarez-García et al, 2015). The topics of curriculum development and TE program evaluation were represented by one paper each.…”

“…Similarly as in the previous analysis, the majority of articles (49 or 75.4%) represented some type of empirical papers, 9.2% of all papers integrated both novel theoretical ideas and empirical research (e.g., -ipilova, Ostrovska, Jermolajeva, Aleksejeva, & OÔeh-noviËs, 2017; SalÓte et al, 2016), while 15.4% of papers were conceived as theoretical elaboration on different subjects (e.g., Álvarez-García et al, 2015;Miedema & Bertram-Troost, 2015). With regard to the methodological priorities in empirical studies, exactly like in preceding exploration (Pipere et al, 2015), qualitative research was produced most often (29.2% of papers) (e.g., Carbach & Fischer, 2017;Ulavere & Tammik, 2017), followed by quantitative studies (26.2%) (e.g., Biasutti, De Baz, & Alshawa, 2016;Eslamian, Jafari, & Neyestani, 2017) and mixed methods research (20%) (e.g., Briede, 2016;Jurgena, CÁdere, & Kevia, 2018), showing certain increase in comparison with the previous period of analysis (16.7%). Only four papers (6.2%) contained case studies (e.g., Lekunze & Strom, 2017) in comparison with 13.9% in the previous analysis.…”

The Effect of Early Childhood Education and Care Services in Latvia

“…As we can see from the description above, a number of studies provide strong evidence that educational programs oriented towards sustainability can contribute to well-being of individuals and society (SalÓte, 2009;SalÓte et al, 2018;‹lavere, 2017;Veisson & Kabaday, 2018).…”