Abstract:

In many countries, especially in Turkey, the profession of pre-school teaching is perceived as a female profession.Official data also support this situation. Therefore, the opinions of parents about male preschool teachers are very important.This study was carried out to determine the views of parents on male teachers working in pre-school education institutions.The sample of the study conducted with the case study method consists of the parents of 13 preschool children.The whole sample selected by the purposive sampling method consists of parents whose children are educated by a male preschool teacher.Semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tool in the research.The data obtained from the study were analyzed using content analysis.As a result of the research, it was determined that the gender of the preschool teacher was not important according to a significant part of the parents.In the study, it was determined that all of the parents participating in the research had the opinion that male preschool teachers had strengths., it was also determined that most of the parents were of the opinion that male preschool teachers would make significant contributions to the development of both girls and boys, especially in the social-emotional field. It has been determined that male preschool teachers especially support the development of girls in subjects such as being a role model for the opposite sex, getting to know the opposite sex better and decreasing their shyness towards boys.Increasing the number of male preschool teachers in pre-school education institutions is among the recommendations of the study.

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