Determining The Physical Environmental Standards in Pre-School Education: An Analysis Based on Stakeholder Opinions

The idea that the experiences of children in the first years of their life has a critical importance is now universal. Pre- school education, with the opportunities provided by today s scientific and technological developments, is not an education just the family can provide. Designed in accordance with the development of the children, with the help of structured and arranged educational settings, the quality of education which will be given by qualified trainers is very important in terms of providing children the best possible beginnings. In order to put this into practise, as in developed countries it is necessary to define quality standards and pre-school education must be configured according to these standards. When the contribution of qualified physical environmental conditions to children education, and their influence on motor skills, physical and emotional development of children are taken into account, determining the standards for this element requires that high priority is given to this area. This research formed the starting point of the determination of the quality standards for the physical environment in pre-school education in Turkey. This study generally aims to determine quality standards that affect quality of system directed to physical environment in preschool institutions providing education to 3-6 years old children on the basis of views of the common dominators of the education parent, teacher and administrator. General screening model has been used in this study and 15 independent public and private pre- school education institutions located in the central districts of Meram, Selçuklu, Karatay depending on Konya Provincial Directorate of National Education formed the study sample. A total of 538 parents and total of 66 teachers and administrators from these institutions were included in this study. All the views of stakeholders were consulted ın order to determine the compliance of the phycical environmental standards consisting 7 size and 80 items. The obtained data were analysed using appropriate SPSS statistical tests. All the proposed statements, as a result of the study were seen “appropriate” as standards by the stakeholders.