Kindergarten through the eyes of parents: priority classes and evaluation of the effectiveness of preschool education
This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Abstract
Background. In the context of the implementation of the Federal Educational Program for Preschool Education, many kindergarten teachers face difficulties in organizing a developing environment, which leads to tension and disagreements within the team. Studying the teachers’ attitudes towards this issue will not only reveal the professional aspects of improving the quality of the educational environment, but also identify areas for working with teaching staff.
Objectives. Identification of the essence and contradictions in the attitude of preschool teachers towards the organization of a developing material and spatial environment.
Sample. The study involved 28 respondents aged 25 to 65, including teachers and specialists from preschool educational institutions in the Ivanovo region.
Methods. The study was based on discursive design and qualitative content analysis of pedagogical essays that expressed the author’s position on the main issues of creating a developing environment in a kindergarten. The analysis of the essays’ content was conducted based on four aspects of the organization of the subject space, including approaches to zoning, the composition and content of corners (activity centers), aesthetic design, and the possibility of children’s participation in changing the space.
Results. It has been revealed that determining approaches to zoning the group’s space presents a particular challenge for modern educators, as they must choose between a clear division of the environment into play areas or a “dispersed” arrangement of materials. Educators have expressed a desire to increase the diversity of the play areas, with a trend towards moving away from unpopular play centers and encouraging children’s initiative and creating conditions for their activities. A separate issue is the difference in approaches to understanding the aesthetics of a kindergarten between educators and supervisors, which can hinder the collaborative creative work of educators and children within the group’s physical space.
Conclusions. The essence of teachers’ attitude to the organization of the developing environment is expressed in the contradiction between the need to comply with formal requirements, which are expressed in the structuredness of the space and its external attractiveness, and the importance of providing conditions for the child’s initiative and activity. Improving professional training and working with pedagogical teams can be carried out by transforming professional values from a superficial understanding of the environment as a system of “correct” corners to the formation of a holistic image of the environment as a space for the developing interaction between the teacher and the child.
References
Bassok, D., Latham, S., Rorem, A. (2016). Is kindergarten the new first grade? AERA open, 2(1), 2332858415616358. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415616358
Bigras, M., Crepaldi, M.A. (2013). The differential contribution of maternal and paternal values to social competence of preschoolers. Early Child Development and Care, 183(6), 843–855. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2012.723444
El’konin, D.B. (1978). Psychology of the game. Moscow: Pedagogika Publ. (In Russ.)
El’konin, D.B. (1996). Psychological issues of preschool play. Psihologicheskaya Nauka i Obrazovanie = Psychological Science and Education, 1(3). (In Russ.)
Karabanova, O.A. (2001). Psychology of family relations. Samara: SIOKPP Publ. (In Russ.)
Kon, I.S. (2003). The child and society. Moscow: Academia. (In Russ.)
Korchagina, I.I. (2018). The views of Muscovites on preschool education of children. Narodonaselenie = Population, 21(1), 136–150. (In Russ.)
Korotkova, N.A. (2010). Forms of play in the educational process of kindergarten. Rebenok v Detskom Sadu = A Child in Kindergarten, (4), 2–9. (In Russ.)
Korotkova, N.A., Nezhnov, P.G. (2014). Monitoring the development of children in preschool groups. Moscow: Linka-press Publ. (In Russ.)
Medical and preventive foundations of the formation of children’s health in the family. (2025). A collective monograph. A.P. Fisenko, P.I. Khramtsova (eds.). Moscow: National Research Medical Center for Children’s Health of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. (In Russ.)
Minkov, M., Dutt, P., Schachner, M., Jandosova, J., Khassenbekov, Ye., Morales, O., Sanchez, C.J., Mudd, B. (2018). What values and traits do parents teach to their children? New data from 54 countries. Comparative Sociology, 17(2), 221–252. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691330-12341456
Minkov, M., Sokolov, B., Lomakin, I. (2023). Evolution of the hofstede model of cultural dimensions: Parallels between objective and subjective culture. Sociologicheskoe Obozrenie = The Russian Sociological Review, 22(3), 287–317. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17323/1728-192x-2023-3-287-317
Pavshenko, E.A., Gani, S.V. (2025). Parental needs in the sphere of preschool child upbringing: structure and content of requests. Pedagogika. Voprosy Teorii i Praktiki = Pedagogy. Theory & Practice, 10(10), 1666–1672. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.30853/ped20250199
Proshkova, Z.V. Kindergartens education influence on primary school students’ educational success in the parent’s assessments. Mir Nauki. Pedagogika i Psihologiya = World of Science. Pedagogy and psychology, 9(5): 22PSMN521. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.15862/22PSMN521
Shabas, S.G. (2017). Partnerships with parents as a condition for the quality of preschool education. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie. Teoriya i Praktika = Preschool Education Today. Theory and Practice, (8), 4–11. (In Russ.)
Shakhmanova, A.Sh., Rachkovskaya N.A. (2025). Improving criteria for measuring and evaluating the quality of preschool education. Mir Nauki, Kul’tury, Obrazovaniya = The World of Science, Culture, and Education, (5), 203–205. (In Russ.)
Shishova, A.V., Zhdanova, L.A. (2019). The role of additional education institutions in shaping children’s health at the stage of preparation for school. Voprosy Shkol’noi i Universitetskoi Meditsiny i Zdorov’ya = Questions of School and University Medicine and Health, (2), 25–31. (In Russ.)
Shiyan, I.B., Le-van, T.N., Shiyan, O.A., Zadadaev, S.A. (2021). The key issues in implementing the Federal State Education Standard for Preschool Education. Results of the National Study of Preschool Education Quality in 2016–2017. Voprosy Obrazovaniya = Educational Studies Moscow, (2), 82–106. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2021-2-82-106
Smirnova, E.O. (2017). The game competence of the teacher. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie = Preschool Education Today, (9), 82–86. (In Russ.)
Smirnova, E.O. (2022). Psychological and pedagogical research of preschool childhood: selected articles. Moscow: Moscow Univ. Press. (In Russ.)
Sobkin, V.S., Kalashnikova, E.A. (2025). On the issue of educational strategies of modern parents of preschoolers: goals and objectives of upbringing. Kazanskij Pedagogicheskij Zhurnal = Kazan Pedagogical Journal, 31(3), 77–99. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.11621/KPJ-25-15
Sobkin, V.S., Marich, E.M. (2002). Sociology of family education: preschool age: Works on the sociology of education. Vol. VII, Issue XII. Moscow: Institute of Sociology of Education» of the Russian Academy of Education. (In Russ.)
Sobkin, V.S., Veraksa, A.N., Bukhalenkova, D.A., Fedotova, A.V., Khalutina, Yu.A., Yakupova, V.A. (2017). The role of socio-demographic factors and parental position in the development of preschool children. Psikhologicheskaya Nauka i Obrazovanie=Psychological Science and Education, 22(2). (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2017220201
Sobkin, V.S., Skobel’tsina, K.N., Ivanova, A.I., Veryasova, E.S. (2013). Sociology of preschool childhood. Proceedings on the sociology of education. Vol. XVII, Issue XXIX. Moscow: Institute of Sociology of Education of the Russian Academy of Education. (In Russ.)
Sobkin, V.S., Khalutina, Yu.A. (2018). Attitude of parents of preschool children to the educational process in kindergarten: satisfaction, assessment of the quality and effectiveness of education. Sovremennoe Doshkol’noe Obrazovanie. Teoriya i Praktika = Preschool Education Today. Theory and Practice, (1). (In Russ.)
Sokolova, M.S., Yakovleva, M.A., Mazmanyants, M.G. (2024). On the issue of teachers’ attitude to children’s play. Voprosy Psikhologii = Questions of Psychology, (5), 26–35. (In Russ.)
Veraksa, N.E., Veraksa, A.N., Veresov, N.N., Sobkin, V.S. (2025). Problem of diagnostic in a cultural-historical context. Klinicheskaya i Special’naya Psihologiya = Clinical Psychology and Special Education, 14(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.17759/cpse.2025140101 (In Russ.)
World Economic Forum. (2020). Schools of the future: Defining new models of education for the fourth industrial revolution. Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society.