Browsing by Subject "early chilhood education"

The purpose of this study was to examine the pedagogical use of illustrative material in early childhood education. While pictorial material is widely used in early childhood education, there is little research on the topic. The application of pictorial material in supporting communication and structuring everyday function is gaining recognition in early childhood education. The aim of this study was to investigate the pictorial environment of day care centers and the experience of using pictorial material in interactions with children from the kindergarten teachers perspective. Furthermore, the study examines how kindergarten teachers use pictorial material in early childhood education and how they plan the pictorial environment. The research design was qualitative. The research material was collected by theme interviews and photographic documentation. The data included 15 interviews of kindergarten teachers and 613 photographs of their classes. The research material collected end of 2010 in a city in southern Finland. The method used in analyzing both the interviews and the photograph material was theory-guided content analysis. The pictures displayed in the day care environments particularly emphasized everyday functions such as day or week schedules, dressing, eating and play in day care groups. In addition, children's artwork was on display in every classroom. The study suggests that the kindergarten teachers find the pictorial material essential particularly when teaching children with special needs and children who speak Finnish as a second language. However, the teachers noted that they considered the pictorial material beneficial to all children. Kindergarten teachers used pictorial material in everyday life, principally to structure function, guide children's play and support language development. Especially within integrated special groups the communication and participation through pictorial material was seen essential. Kindergarten teachers highlighted that the pictorial environment planning is based on child oriented, function oriented or aesthetic perspectives. The key emphasis in planning the environment is the needs of a particular child or group of children.