Evaluation of preschool education program according to the views of prospective teachers (A case of Ankara University)

The aim of this research is to evaluate Pre-school Teacher Education Program (PSTEP) according to the views of prospective teachers. Study group of the research consists of eight senior prospective teachers in the pre-school teaching department. The participants were asked to express their views on specific questions regarding PSTEP. Semi structured interview was chosen to obtain participants' views on specific questions regarding PSTEP. The data was analyzed with content analysis technique. According to the results of the study, prospective teachers are not satisfied with the rate of the content categories in general. Considering the content of the courses, it is recommended that some courses should be removed; some of them should be combined; the content category of some courses needs to be revised; some new compulsory and elective courses should be added; and some elective courses should be compulsory. In addition, it is stated that most of the courses in the program are not appropriate for pre-school teaching subject area; thus the content of these courses should be reorganized. Moreover, credit hours of the practice of the courses should be increased so that prospective teachers can transfer their theoretical knowledge into practice effectively. Results of the study suggest that PSTEP needs to be reorganized in some aspects to be more beneficial for the students. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.