Early Childhood and Preschool Education University Students' Views and Assessments Regarding Visual Art and Music Areas

The objective of the system of higher education at teacher education institutions is to prepare students, future early childhood and preschool education teachers, for all segments of their profession, and indicate the importance of art in the early childhood and preschool period. The goal of this paper is to examine students' views and assessment of their own experience in the artistic areas (visual art and music) regarding previous education, and the way students assess their satisfaction with their own personal growth in acquiring knowledge and skills in the visual art and music area in their final year of early childhood and preschool education studies. The study was conducted on the sample of 144 students of the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb, including local branches in Petrinja and Cakovec. The participating students were in their first (N=71), and third year (N=73) of study The results of the research indicated that, regarding their previous education, students assesed their competence in visual art and music areas as good. Using the t-test, it was established that knowledge of the artistic area depends on the type of secondary education they have received. The results of Mann Whitney U-test showed no significant difference between the first and the third year students in their perception of the personality area under the influence of art. Using the Spearman correlation coefficient, correlation was established between the presence of individual functions within visual art and music areas and students' self-assessments of their own progress in acquiring knowledge and skills in the same areas. Students indicated the need for more practical tasks in some activities in visual art and music areas.