Podyanova S.M., Polivanova K.N. Reasons for parents’ dissatisfaction with preschool educational institutions in Moscow
This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Abstract
The relevance of the topic of the article. Modern parents of preschoolers are active participants in the educational process. Their satisfaction is an important criterion for assessing the quality of education. Studying their opinion is an effective tool for systematic improving the quality of preschool educational institutions.
The aim of the study. Identification and description of the reasons for the dissatisfaction of parents of Moscow preschool institutions. Methodology: thematic semi-structured interviews.
Description of the research progress. The sample consisted of 20 mothers of children aged 3 to 7 attending kindergartens of various types and forms of institutions in Moscow. Parents were asked to tell about the choice of kindergarten, subject-spatial environment, daily routine, supervision and care of children, interaction between teachers, children and parents, types of activity, development of speech, thinking and educational program. The spontaneously mentioned causes of dissatisfaction were thoroughly investigated. The thematic framework for the questions was the ECERS international scale and works devoted to identifying the correlation of parental involvement and their level of satisfaction.
Research results. Among the main groups of reasons for dissatisfaction with preschool educational institutions, “interaction” is leading by a wide margin, implying the quality of interaction between children, educators, administration, and parents. It is the reasons for the “interaction” group that become the critical point for transferring children to another preschool. Among the main complaints are: the individuality of the child is not taken into account; tough discipline; strict, rude, unprofessional educators; the authoritarian position of the head towards parents; poor quality of feedback; relationships with peers. The group “types of children’s activity” has the potential to become as significant as “interaction”: when choosing a kindergarten, parents pay attention to the presence and variety of circles, in the private sector they are ready to take their child further for the sake of quality classes. Parents are rather satisfied with supervision, care, compliance with the temperature regime, the subject-spatial environment. The group “development of speech and literacy” stands apart: parents do not mention this topic. They are either poorly informed about the kindergarten program, or consider this aspect unimportant.
Conclusion. Satisfaction of parents as active participants in educational process is one of the important criteria for assessing the quality of preschool education, and dissatisfaction is a marker for the necessary improvements. If the administration and teachers, when assessing the quality, evaluate the group and the kindergarten as a whole, that the comfort and emotional well-being of their own child is important to parents. This means that the individual approach and personal development are at the forefront. The main attention should be paid to the quality of interaction between children, parents and the kindergarten staff and to the quality and variety of types of children’s activity. These studies of the causes of parental dissatisfaction can be useful for heads of preschool educational institutions of various forms of ownership to improve the quality of services provided and develop a marketing strategy.
References
2. Eccles, J., Harold R. (1996) Family Involvement in Children’s and Adolescents’ Schooling. In Familyschool Links: How Do Th ey Aff ect Educational Outcomes? Еdited by A.Booth and J.F.Dunn. 3–34. Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum.
3. Epstein J.L. (1987) Teacher Practices of Parent Involvement: What Research Says to Teachers and Administrators. Education and Urban Society. Vol. 19. No 2. P. 119–136.
4. Federal Law No. 273 of December 29, 2012 “On Education in the Russian Federation” [Electronic resource]. URL: http://273fz.rf/zakonodatelstvo/federalnyy-zakon-ot-29-dekabrya-2012-g-no-273-fzob-obrazovanii-v-rf (data 21.01.2020).
5. Harms T., Clifford R.M. Cryer D. (2016). Shkaly dlya kompleksnoi otsenki kachestva obrazovaniya v doshkol’nykh obrazovatel’nykh organizatsiyakh [Scales for a comprehensive assessment of the quality of education in preschool educational organizations]. Moscow. Natsional’noe obrazovanie Publ. 28.
6. Hoover-Dempsey K.V., Walker J.M.T., Sandler H.M. (2005) Why do parents become involved? Research findings and implications. Elementary School Journal. Vol. 106. 2. P. 105–130.
7. Hornby G. (2011) Parental involvement in childhood education: Building effective school-family partnerships. London: Springer Science & Business Media. 137.
8. Kharchenko K.V. (2011). Udovletvorennost’: metodologiya i opyt munitsipal’nykh issledovanii [Satisfaction: methodology and experience of municipal research]. Moscow. Al’periya Publ. 260.
9. Klyachko T.L., Semionova E.A., Tokareva G.S.
(2019). Doshkol’noe obrazovanie: dostupnost’ i kachestvo. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya pedagogika [Preschool education: accessibility and quality. Domestic and foreign pedagogy]. Vol.1. 6 (63). 20–37. DOI: 10.24411/2224-0772-2019-10040
10. Lyubitskaya K.A. (2020). Roditel’skaya vovlechennost’ v formirovanie obrazovatel’nogo prostranstva detei. Dissertatsiya kandidata pedagogicheskikh nauk [Parental involvement in the formation of the educational space of children. Dissertation PhD in Pedagogy]. Moscow.
11. Mertsalova T.A., Goshin M.E. (2018). Tipy roditel’skogo uchastiya v obrazovanii, sotsial’no-ekonomicheskii status sem’i i rezul’taty obucheniya [Types of parental involvement in education, family socioeconomic status and learning outcomes]. Voprosy Obrazovaniya [Questions of Education]. 3. 68–90.
12. Nisskaya A.K. (2016). Predstavleniya sovremennykh roditelei o doshkol’nom obrazovanii. Kak sdelat’ detskii sad privlekatel’nym? [What do modern parents think about preschool education? How to make a kindergarten attractive?]. Sovremennoe doshkol’noe obrazovanie. Teoriya i praktika [Preschool Education Today]. 9(71). 28.
13. Olmedo A., Wilkins A. (2017) Governing through parents: a genealogical enquiry of education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Vol. 38. Nо. 4. 573–589.
14. Ot universal’noi dostupnosti k sovremennomu kachestvu (2019) [From universal accessibility to modern quality]. Edited by I.V. Abankina, K.N. Polivanova, I.D. Frumin. Moscow. HSE Publ.
15. Polivanova K.N. (2015). Sovremennoe roditel’stvo kak predmet issledovaniya [Modern parenthood as a subject of research]. Psikhologicheskaya Nauka i Obrazovanie [Psychological Science and Education]. Vol. 7. 3. 1–11.
16. Polivanova K.N., Bochaver A.A., Pavlenko K.V.,
Sivak E.V. (2020). Obrazovanie za stenami shkoly. Kak roditeli proektiruyut obrazovatel’noe prostranstvo detei [Education outside the school walls. How parents design their children’s educational space]. Moscow. HSE Publ. 384.
17. Sheridan S.M., Kratochwill T.R. (2007) Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: Promoting Family-School Connections and Interventions. New York, NY: Springer US.
18. Shiyan O.A. Vorobyeva E.V. (2015). Novye vozmozhnosti otsenki kachestva obrazovaniya: shkaly ECERS-R aprobirovany v Rossii [New opportunities in the education quality assessment: ECERS-R scales tested in Russia]. Sovremennoe doshkol’noe obrazovanie. Teoriya i praktika [Preschool Education Today]. 7(59).
19. Sobkin V.S., Khalutina Yu.A. (2018). Otnoshenie roditelei detei doshkol’nogo vozrasta k obrazovatel’nomu protsessu v detskom sadu: udovletvorennost’, otsenka kachestva i effektivnosti obucheniya [Parents of preschool children and their attitude to the educational process in kindergarten: satisfaction, stance on quality and the effectiveness of education]. Sovremennoe doshkol’noe obrazovanie [Preschool Education Today]. 1(83).
20. Sumarokova O.V. et al. (2009). Rezul’taty issledovaniya udovletvorennosti naseleniya kachestvom obrazovatel’nykh uslug na territorii Vologodskoi oblasti [The results of the study of population satisfaction with the quality of educational services in the Vologda region]. Vologda.
21. Xiumin Hong, Wenting Zhu, Dandan Wu & Hui Li (2020) Are Parents Satisfied with Early Childhood Education Service in Urban China? Empirical Evidence from the Validation Study of the Parent Satisfaction with Educational Experiences Scale, Early Education and Development, 31:2, 200–217, DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2019.1651163.