Pedagogy Student Attitudes Towards Single Motherhood – Challenges and Perspective

Positive attitudes towards parental competencies of single mothers and family dynamics are necessary to achieve a quality partnership between pedagogues and different family structures. Positive attitudes are a part of the... [ view full abstract ]

Positive attitudes towards parental competencies of single mothers and family dynamics are necessary to achieve a quality partnership between pedagogues and different family structures. Positive attitudes are a part of the social context which determines life quality of single mothers and their children. Prejudices against single mothers can have a direct effect on health, development and life quality of children in their early childhood. The focus of the study was to examine pedagogy students’ attitudes regarding different categories of single motherhood, since pedagogical practice entails working with children from single-parent families and partnerships with single mothers. The research aim was to determine students’ attitudes regarding different categories of single motherhood, as well as to find out whether their pedagogical education affects their attitudes. Additionally, differential analysis was conducted with reference to students’ socio-demographic characteristics. The survey method was used on an appropriate quota sample of first-year undergraduate and graduate pedagogy students in Zagreb (N=110). The results indicate that the pedagogy students generally have a positive attitude towards single motherhood. However, there seem to be differences in regard to the single-motherhood categories. Statistically significant differences were found on independent variables of sex, year of study and the respondents’ family structure. The female students had more positive attitudes then the male, while the first-year graduate students had more positive attitudes than the first-year undergraduate students. Pedagogical education is very important when it comes to shaping attitudes towards different family structures, improving the partnership with parents from different family structures and enhancing the life quality of children. In order to prepare future professionals for their role in terms of empowering and cooperating with different family structures, it is advisable to create study programmes in accordance with family needs in the modern society.

Keywords: single motherhood, pedagogy students, partnership with parents, family pedagogy