The relationship between parents’ criteria when choosing a preschool and their socioeconomic level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parents’ criteria when choosing a preschool and their socioeconomic levels. It was conducted as basic quantitative research and used a correlational descriptive research model. This study was conducted with the parents of 207 preschool children at different socioeconomic levels whose children were students at preschools located in different regions of Ankara in the 2015-2016 school year. A questionnaire, developed by the researchers, was used as the data collection tool in this study. In the questionnaire, there were questions and statements about defining parents’ socioeconomic levels and the level of importance for different preschool preference criteria. Data was analysed using descriptive methods. Criteria that were seen as “very important” were the security of the preschool, the teacher’s communication skills, the hygiene of the preschool, the professional competence of teachers and the support given to children in terms of different developmental areas. For parents in the sub, middle and upper socioeconomic levels, the security and hygiene of the preschool were seen as “very important” in our study. The proximity of the preschool to the parents’ work criterion was at the top of the criteria which were characterized as “slightly important”.

Keywords

• Okul öncesi eğitim
• Okul tercihleri
• Sosyoekonomik düzey