The Ignored Side of Early Childhood Teacher Education in Türkiye and the United States: Teacher Educators’ and Pre-service Teachers’ Views on Family Involvement

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 19, 58 - 68

Nur Alacam

Abstract

Family involvement is one of the significant components of qualified early childhood education. Despite the acknowledged significance, it is undervalued in the teacher education curriculum worldwide. The present study aimed to investigate the early childhood teacher educators’ (N=8) and pre-service teachers’ (N=10) views regarding family involvement in Türkiye and the United States. An interview protocol was used to learn the views of teacher educators, and an open-ended survey form was used to investigate it in terms of the pre-service teachers. As a result, interview and survey findings complemented each other in terms of the deficiencies in teacher education regarding the family involvement, and suggestions were provided from both groups of participants to improve it such as providing opportunities to observe the family involvement process and using documentation to create a bridge between home and school. It was highlighted to integrate family involvement into the curriculum and support pre-service teachers regarding theoretical knowledge and practical experience regarding the family involvement.

Keywords

Early childhood education, teacher education, family involvement

Ethical Statement

Ethics Committee Decision This research was carried out with the permission of Ondokuz Mayıs University Publication Ethics Board with the session numbered 2023/1224 dated 27.01.2023.

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