Investigating the views of pre- service early childhood teachers regarding mindfulness

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Temel Eğitim Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2018

Öğrenci: FUNDA EDA TONGA

Danışman: FEYZA ERDEN

Özet:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the views of pre- service early childhood teachers regarding mindfulness and its practice in early childhood settings. The participants of the study were 21 pre- service teachers who were senior students in public and private universities in Ankara, Turkey. A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted and the data was gathered through a semi- structured interview. Findings of the current study indicated that pre- service early childhood teachers have some positive views on mindfulness both before and after the definition of it such as leaving the automatic pilot mode, being aware of oneself, or controlling negative emotions. On the other hand, some of the participants have negative views on mindfulness such as need for a long process, being nonjudgmental or lack of thinking about the past or the future. In the current study, it was also found that mindfulness can be applied in early childhood education easily for several reasons such as familiarity between teachable moments and mindfulness. An important finding was that pre- service teachers shared their views as mindfulness has impacts on children in terms of their future lives, cognitive development and social- emotional development; on teachers in terms of personal and professional benefits and; lastly on parents in terms of personal and professional benefits and the relationship in the family. However, this study also revealed that pre- service teachers would like to practice mindfulness in their future practices, but some of them has some hesitations.