Browsing by Subject "daycare centre"

The aim of this study is to describe the expectations and experiences related to the promotion of the pedagogical competence of kindergarten teachers in multilingual and multicultural day-care centres, the operations of which have been supported by raising the number of kindergarten teachers from one to two in the care groups. This was enabled by the "positive discrimination funding" offered to those City of Helsinki day-care centres where the number of multilingual and -cultural children exceeds 30%. Three main questions emerged as the research questions. 1. What kind of expectations do kindergarten teachers in a multilingual and multicultural day-care centre have at the beginning of the enhancement of their pedagogical competence? 2. What kind of experiences have kindergarten teachers in a multilingual and multicultural day-care centre acquired during the enhancement of their pedagogical competence? 3. What similarities and differences exist between the expectations and experiences of kindergarten teachers with respect to the enhancement of their pedagogical competence? The sub-questions of the two main questions relate to the activities of the care group, collaboration with the work community, cooperation partners and parents, and any other expectations and later experiences. The study is qualitative, and interviews served as the method for collecting information. The informants included six kindergarten teachers working in three day-care centres of city. Theme interviews as a research method were carried out twice for each informant; one in the autumn and one in the spring. Results include such aspects as small-group pedagogy, the pedagogy of play, child observation, activities planning, teamwork and cooperation with the other kindergarten teacher working in a Finnish-as-a-second-language setting in the area. In contrast, the development of professional identity and the processing of professional and pedagogical competence are already mentioned as expectations by two kindergarten teachers, but identified as experiences by several of them.