Family in Focus – Research into the Attitudes and Practices of Preschool Teachers in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Inclusive practice in education institutions implies that differences are excluded, not just by respecting and tolerating them but also by designing educational activities aimed at creating a supportive and inclusive environment, especially in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Preschool teachers who know how to communicate very well show their respect towards parents, take their worries, feelings and questions into account as important indicators which deepen the mutual understanding necessary for ensuring the child’s optimal development. The role of preschool teachers thus becomes more complex and demanding, which means that they continuously need to learn new things, develop new competences, and consequently improve the partnership based on reciprocity and togetherness. The aim of this paper is to establish the specificities of inclusive practice through self-assessment of preschool teachers’ (N=438) competences for cooperation with parents, and the Questionnaire about the inclusive practise and partnership cooperation between preschool teachers and parents during the out-of-the-ordinary life circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was used for that purpose. The obtained results are presented in the form of basic descriptive values, the Pearson correlation coefficient and the ANOVA test were used to support them statistically, and the post-hoc analysis (Fisher's LSD test) was performed in order to establish the differences. The results have shown that the preschool teachers, who obtained more professional development, consider themselves more competent in online work and think they are better at giving instructions and feedback to parents via digital media. The study indicates the significance of preschool teachers’ lifelong training, which should help them acquire new competences for the partnership with parents as viewed from the perspective of educational inclusion.