Determining The Parents Perceptions Towards Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine the parents’ perceptions toward early childhood education. The participants of this research consist of 43 parents whose children are currently attending pre-school institutions in Sakarya. Semi-structured interview form was used to obtain qualitative data from the participants of this research. Inductive analysis method was use to analyze the data. The results that were obtained revealed that parents believe pre-school education has contributed to their children’s development in many areas such as; social and academic. Together with that, parents stated their expectation in the direction of preparation to primary school and increase in terms of contribution to social and academic developments. Parents pointed out that; pre-school education has positive effects on their children’s development in terms of adapting to social life and interpersonal relations, academic success, development of self confidence, and compliance to social rules. Parents gave their suggestions to provide more academic instructions, increase the number of social activities and spread the usage of computers for education. Comments on the results were done in the conclusion and discussion section to finalize the research.