The Role of Professional Knowledge and Skills of Preschool Teachers in Building and Developing Partnerships with Parents / Uloga profesionalnih znanja i vještina odgojitelja u izgradnji i razvijanju partnerstva s roditeljima

Partnership is considered one among the most important factors in educational work. For its formation and improvements, appropriate competences are expected. In this research we seek to highlight the need to strengthen the professional knowledge and skills of preschool teachers for building and developing partnerships with parents seen as a higher form of collaboration. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of parents and preschool teachers about their mutual cooperation and partnership. The sample consists of 203 parents and preschool teachers working in kindergartens in the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County. Hypotheses were set with regards to recognition or knowledge of cooperation and partnership concepts, the assessment of the role of preschool teachers as partners by parents and preschool teachers in mutual cooperation and partnership, and the assessment of the importance of cooperation through the participants’ own responsibility. Once the data was analysed, the obtained results showed that both groups of respondents did not consider the role of preschool teacher as partner as one that was the most important. Also, the results of the research have shown that parents, but also preschool teachers, do not understand the difference between the concepts cooperation and partnership. Although both parties have agreed on the importance of a partnership or the collaborative relationship, there is also a small number of participants who consider such a relationship irrelevant or less important. Keywords: cooperation; lifelong learning; parents; partnership; preschool teachers. - Partnerski odnos smatra se jednim od najvažnijih cimbenika odgojno-obrazovnoga rada za ciju se izgradnju i unaprjeđenje ocekuju odgovarajuce kompetencije. U ovom istraživanju želi se ukazati na potrebu osnaživanja profesionalnih znanja i vjestina odgojitelja za izgradnju i razvijanje partnerstva s roditeljima kao viseg oblika suradnje. Stoga je cilj istraživanja bio ispitati percepcije i stavove roditelja i odgojitelja o njihovoj međusobnoj suradnji i partnerskom odnosu. Uzorak cini 203 roditelja i odgojitelja koji rade u vrticima na podrucju grada Zagreba i Zagrebacke županije. Postavljene su hipoteze koje se odnose na (pre)poznavanje pojmova suradnje i partnerstva, procjenu uloge odgojitelja kao partnera od strane roditelja i odgojitelja u međusobnoj suradnji i partnerstvu te procjenu važnosti suradnje kroz vlastitu odgovornost sudionika. Rezultati dobiveni nakon analize podataka pokazuju da obje skupine ispitanika nisu ulogu odgojitelja kao partnera procijenile najvažnijom. Također, rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da roditelji, ali i odgojitelji, ne shvacaju razliku između pojmova suradnje i partnerstva. Iako su se obje strane složile o važnosti partnerskoga/suradnickoga odnosa, postoji i manji broj onih koji smatraju takav odnos nevažnim ili manje važnim. Kljucne rijeci: odgojitelji; partnerstvo; roditelji; suradnja; trajno ucenje.