Values Education and Evaluation of Activities in Preschool Education Program in Turkey

This study aims to evaluate the views of preschool teachers about values education and activities in the preschool education program. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. The study group of our research consists of 15 pre-school teachers working in Nevşehir, Turkey. The data of the study were collected with semi-structured interview and analyzed by content analysis. The result of the research demonstrates that the teachers evaluated the values education in five main categories as “creating the foundation”, “educational process”, “behavior”, “responsibility” and “rules”. Some participants found the values education in the pre-school curriculum sufficient. The values that children learn most easily are love, respect, responsibility, tolerance, sharing, honesty and cooperation. In classroom practices, it was concluded that they generally teach the concepts of values education by using visual materials. The majority of the teachers participating in the research suggested that there should be cooperation with the family, teacher, school and environment regarding the values education in the pre-school education program. They also suggested that extra-class activities should be included in the program, in-service training, material support and practical activities should be given more time.