Kindergarten as Protective Factor in Development of Pre-school Children Who Live in Various Risk Life Conditions

Taking into account the importance of protective factors in the development of children growing up in risks, this research is aimed at analyzing the relationship between risk assessment of these different conditions and a... [ view full abstract ]

Taking into account the importance of protective factors in the development of children growing up in risks, this research is aimed at analyzing the relationship between risk assessment of these different conditions and a kindergarten as a protective factor. Risk conditions in childhood are operationalized through these categories: children with disabilities, children who are members of Roma minority, children from the social care, children from low stimulating families, children from families with chronically ill member(s), children with divorced(ing) parents, and children whose mother suffers from depression. The kindergarten as a protective factor has been defined by self-evaluated possibilities of pre-school teachers to work with children from families with risks.

The study included 161 pre-school teachers from different early and pre-school institutions in the Primorsko-Goranska county. The Scale for assessing the risk conditions of children and capacity of kindergartens to work with families at risk was applied. This measure consists of two sub-scales that were made in 8 equivalent forms, reflecting 8 different risk conditions.

The elevated levels of the riskiness of particular conditions of pre-schoolchildren and expected difficulties in their development were determined. Pre-school teachers evaluated they have moderate possibilities for the work with children from families at risk, and a higher level of benefit that children can have from being in kindergarten. Correlation analyses resulted with significant positive correlations between the levels of risks, the expected difficulties and the benefit that children could have from being in kindergarten, but only for some of the explored types of risk. The contribution of this study lies in the significant implications for improving educational practices in the direction of articulating the needs for further training and education of pre-school teachers in the context of different developmental risk.