THE PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND ROLE PERCEPTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS IN ATTICA-GREECE’S MUNICIPAL EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTERS
Abstract
Early childhood center is concerned as the first environment of children second to their home, in which they socialize and come into contact with organized learning. Their holistic development and well-being are directly linked to preschool structures that implement high-quality education programs. The role of early childhood education and care educators is crucial in determining the quality provided (Foti & Sidiropoulou, 2019).
The purpose is to clarify the frame of the professional habitus and to enrich its understanding. Also, to further investigate if new questions will raise with regards to early childhood education and care educators, extending to students, studies and fellow workers as well as babies, toddlers and their families. All the information collected could be used for decision-making on redefining the aims of the early childhood education sector as well as the early year educators training organizations babies. The followed method was a quantitative approach, using the methodology of questionnaires. The analysis will be descriptive and will include basic descriptive measures (e.g., mean, standard deviation, mode, etc.), as well as frequency tables. Furthermore, we will compare the mean scores by analyzing their variance using One-Way ANOVA. In total, the analyzed questionnaires were 248. From these questionnaires, it appears that early childhood education and care educators select the title that suits their profession depending on the school they graduated. The pedagogical part of their profession is influenced by their studies and the interaction among colleagues. The importance of the pedagogical team and cooperation is recognized. Cooperation with parents is sought. Specialized help to manage children with physical issues is required. They stand in favor of all forms of future training. Compared to the past, the educational level is evaluated as higher. They are more interested in the essence of their educational work and not so much for appearances through events. To conclude, early childhood education and care educators love their profession and fully understand the importance of their work. They keep evolving in terms of their educational level and understand the necessity of their professional development. They desire to be educated in various ways. The results of this research are important to be further used by employment agencies and universities. Given that lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences are often held, it is important to emphasize in-service training and interventions within the actual field of action of the early childhood education and care educators, i.e. the early childhood center.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v10i8.4912
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