Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (Mar 2015)
How Students of Preschool Education Perceive Their Play Competences – An Analysis of Their Involvement in Children’s Play
Abstract
Preschool teachers play a very important but highly sensitive role in preschool children’s play. It is therefore very important to build their play competences in a quality way. As this is not easily achieved, the main objective of the present study was to analyse the roles of students of preschool education in children’s play. The study included 36 students enrolled at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Rijeka, Croatia. Through a qualitative analysis of the students’ preparations for their practice, it was determined that the majority of students use didactic play and play with rules with children. Although the students demonstrated the expected role in children’s play, which positively influenced the educational work and the overall well-being of the children, some of the students were not decisive. Thus, the question arises as to how to improve the acquisition of play competences in students of preschool education.
