IKIMOKYKLINIO IR PRIEŠMOKYKLINIO UGDYMO PASKIRČIŲ HIERARCHIJA LIETUVOJE
THE HIERARCHY OF THE PURPOSES OF PRE-SCHOOL AND PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN LITHUANIA

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the findings of an empirical study carried out in lithuania. the aim of this study was to determine transsubjective understanding of the purpose of pre-school and pre-primary educa¬tion, and to evaluate how the participants of educa¬tion – pedagogues, children’s parents, and special¬ists – perceive different purposes of such education. The study was based on two theoretical perspectives: the paradigm of child centered education, and the concept of community management. A quantitative written questionnaire-based inquiry of the participants of pre-school and pre-primary education was performed, consisting of 14 socio-demographic items (independent variables) and 44 content items (dependent variables). In total, 4,690 filled ques¬tionnaires were received from 79 pre-school and pre-primary educational institutions. Factor analysis was performed in order to validate the reliability and validity of the findings, and to group the dependent variables. Pre-school and pre-primary education in Lithu¬ania is experiencing contradictions between the purposes and the real life. these contradictions are systemic, since they are characteristic more of the system of pre-school and pre-primary education rath¬er than individual persons or institutions. The major¬ity of the participants of pre-school and pre-primary education (pedagogues, children’s parents, and spe¬cialists) were satisfied with the assurance of the mini¬mal of children’s education – i.e. the most important thing for them was that the children were occupied and safe under the supervision of people with educa¬tional experience and qualification – the pedagogues. A large part of the parents were oriented towards the competition-based model of education. The parents exerted pressure on the pre-school and pre-primary educational institutions to ensure that these institu¬tions prepared their children for school by teaching writing, reading, and the ability to successfully com¬pete for the “place under the sun”. According to such parents, the purpose of pre-school and pre-primary educational institutions is their children’s prepara¬tion for school rather than the development of their dignity, self-perception, and self-determination. Only the parents from groups that are seen as alternative to the traditional ones strongly expressed the principles of child-oriented pedagogy and rejected those of the adult-dominated pedagogy, although these groups were not very similar in other value-based aspects. The absence of the child’s voice – also called the child’s perspective or vision – in kindergartens is an especially problematic issue. The parents and the pedagogues did not see a child’s opinion as important in making decisions concerning the aims and the or¬ganization of education. the children neither have the power to participate in the decision-making processes nor are they seen as experts of their situation. Keywords: Pre-school and pre-primary educati¬on, purposes of education.

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