Browsing by Author "Eerola, Satu"

Goals. The Goal of this study was to research how kindergarten teachers plan activities and when the teachers planning time is realized. This study also aimed to find out what kind of solutions kindergarten teachers have found for challenges regarding planning. Research questions was: 1. How does a kindergarten teacher plan activities? 2. When is a kindergarten teachers planning time realized? 3. What kind of challenges are kindergarten teachers faced with and what kind of solutions have they found in regards to planning? Research methods. This study is qualitative study. Six kindergarten teachers were interviewed for the study, all of them had a University Kindergarten teacher's degree and work experience between one and eleven years. Interviews were conducted with a University of Helsinki e-form inquiry containing both multiple choice and open questions. Multiple choice questions were used to clarify the interviewees starting point and open questions to understand their points of view. Responses were analyzed with theorybased analysis. Results and conclusions. Information regarding the kindergarten teachers’ ways of planning activities was obtained through the open questions. All kindergarten teachers who responded the interview plan activities either alone, in groups or by doing the ground work alone and finishing in groups. Planning time was usually held during outdoor activities, breaks or in the afternoon. The interviewees viewed the main challenges of activity planning as being related to scheduling and challenges regarding staff and child groups. One of the interviewees held her planning time at home cause work list allow it. They felt that the director could easily have an impact on the realization of planning time by work shift planning, which is thought to clarify operations and to be a guarantee of functioning practices.