Вестник ТГПУ им Л.Н. Толстого №3 2005

СОТРУДНИЧЕСТВО № 3, 2005 Sona Kotatkova DETERMINING THE CURRENT CZECH KINDERGARTEN This paper determines the course of the kindergarten as characterized by humanistic tendencies, democratization, focus on the individual and acceptance of differences among children. It compares the general objectives of the kindergarten and the educational goals of directing the development of children, presenting ties between Bloom taxonomy of goals and the goals of preschool education. It brings up the results of a survey of how teachers see children and kindergartens. 1. Determining The Czech Kindergarten When considering the course of development of the current kindergarten I shall use fundamental documents and specialized articles as well as a long-term analysis of a change in the treatment of children in kindergartens, which is based on several years’ cooperation with teachers in educational centers in different locations in the Czech Republic on one hand and a survey of how teachers see kindergartens on the other hand. I have taken two samples from the latter for illustration. The kindergarten, or the primary educational establishment for children, is not isolated: It reacts and will remain sensitive to genera! changes in school education on both the Czech and European scales. In the last 15 years, the treatment of children and their families by kindergartens has clearly started to focus on the personality throughout the educational process. This not only means great belief in and support of children being independent individuals but also belief in the formative process in a group of children whose quality needs to be enhanced in a professional manner. This course is based on the humanistic notion of education and psychology, which has influenced educational theory and practice since the second half of the 1960s. We have been starting to implement the theory over the last 15 years. I say “we” because this course has been greeted with quite a natural response from the majority of teachers at preschool establishments as well as institutes training the teachers. Kindergarten teachers have been working hard to incorporate and implement humanistic principles. They are interested in continuing their education and concentrating on the theory important for their everyday work. Following social changes after 1990, kindergartens found their bearings quickly and, I am sure, quite convincingly compared to other levels of the educational system. In this respect we have set out on our journey and are neither on a crossroads nor a roundabout nor a siding as regards determining the future development course of preschool establishments. After 2000, this was proven by the objectives of the Framework Educational Program for Preschool Education (hereinafter FEP PE) that is subject to practical examination. There would be no such fundamental humanistic orientation in the FEP PE without ten years of a naturally taken course together with free transformation and independent competencies. More than ten years of being left alone searching, trying and examining issues helped most kindergartens to change in a natural way and brought about their transformation. After 1990, the opportunity to allow kindergartens, or more precisely, teachers and directors, scope for seeking and taking their course to replace the educational and disciplinary model of the past years bore fruit. The search for the core of the educational work with preschool children underwent a process from below, i.e., from educational practice. Only after that the FEP was made. Although it still is and will be subject to alterations of different kinds, its fundamental principles reflect the opinions of the large majority of teachers.