Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Sunum, ss.45, 2022
Visual arts in the early years is a critical outlet for children to express themselves verbally and
non-verbally. Therefore, the way teachers value arts in the classroom or the attitudes teachers hold
toward arts become significant to investigate. In this study, the views of the pre-service teachers
(n=26) who are taking visual arts course was investigated in terms of the benefits of visual arts in
early childhood classrooms, teacher role in preparing a supportive classroom environment, and the
content of visual arts courses in teaching young children. The data was collected through an open-
ended survey and then analyzed through content analysis. The findings indicated the value pre-
service teachers had for visual arts in early years, specifically its benefits for emotional skills. They
also indicated the role visual arts played in nurturing children’s creativity skills and aesthetics
sense. However, the findings also revealed the limited pedagogical knowledge of the pre-service
teachers in relation to teacher role and the content of visual arts courses while working with
children. The results will shade light on the content of the visual arts courses offered in the early
childhood teacher education programs. That is, more emphasis should be given to the pedagogical
content knowledge of pre-service teachers and their understanding in terms of teacher’s role in
providing a supportive environment for visual arts classes.