Browsing by Author "Sihvo, Anna"

The National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care by the Finnish national agency for education was released in august of 2017. At the same time, local curriculums for early childhood education came into effect. The goal of this study is to describe the conceptions of kindergarten teachers on the The National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and the possible changes that may come with the document. The conceptions are being presented by kindergarten teachers from one day care center located in the metropolitan area. The theoretical frame of reference focuses on the main changes in early childhood education from the 21st century. The theoritical chapter also sheds light on the process of curriculums in early childhood education. The study was conducted with the methods of focused interview. The interviews were done with three kindergarten teachers, all of who worked at the same day care center located in the metropolitan area. The interviewees were chosen so that they had at least five years of experience working in early childhood education. This ensured that they had the ability to put the changes prior to the National Core Curricul for Early Childhood Education and Care into perspective. The material collected from the focused interviews was analysed with inductive methods. In the interviews, the kindergarten teachers disclosed matters such as problems with resources, the expectations conserning the teachers in early childhood education and the whole field, and the progressive responsibility of kindergarten teachers. The pervasivity of early childhood education and good collaboration and communication with the parents were matters that the interviewees valued. As a guiding document, the National Core Curricul for Early Childhood Education and Care was seen as ambigious, and the need for a more consistent guidance was brought up. The conceptions of kindergarten teachers on the National Core Curricul for Early Childhood Education and Care vary and the effect of the document can be seen as fairly realative and individual. Based on the interviews it can be concluded that as an obligatory document, the National Core Curricul for Early Childhood Education and Care is fairly ambigious and that differences in quality between different day care centers can be fairly big.