The Opinions of the Pre-School Teachers about the Works Conducted for Identification and Assessment of Children

Identification and assessment of children is the keystone of creating an appropriate educational environments for them. The preschool programs applied in Turkey and related regulations give teachers important duties and responsibilities within the process. However the views of the teachers who are practicers of this process are extremely important to reach the aimed results. This research aiming to get the views of preschool teachers about the practices on children is in survey model and is carried out by using qualitative method. The study group consists of 34 preschool teacher working at independent public preschool and preschool within the primary schools in Eskisehir depending on National Ministry of Education. The data is collected by semi-structured interviews, and analyzed by descriptive analysis method and analysis are supported by direct quotes from the interviews. According to the findings, the teachers find the process identification and assessment of children necessary for kids and they are generally using observation and interview techniques. These teachers stated that they mostly filled progress report, systematic observation form, play time observation form and kept record anecdotes. However, while some of them were working systematically, some of the teachers were making unsystematic observations and these evaluations in the process of were mostly made the free play time activity. It is found that the teachers used information gathered during the assessment process to write a progress report, to inform parents and to plan activities but some of the teachers have never used them at all. It is seen that because of excessive number of students, teachers had difficulty in spending time for identification and assessment of children and collaborating with family. Teachers suggested making regulations on the forms used for identification and assessment of children, reducing the number of students in the classrooms and taking support from school counselor.