Examination of Parents' Opinions on Early Childhood Learning - Abstract - Keywords

Oct 15, 2026

Qualified and continuous learning experiences in early childhood are central to a child's development, and parents—as the first teachers—must be involved alongside early educators. This basic qualitative study determined parents' views and practices on learning using snowball sampling, demographic forms, and semi-structured interview questions. Descriptive analysis showed parents view learning as behavioral change and developmental progress, often learning through play, exploration, and doing, modeling universal values, and teaching through examples. Results indicate parents know various instructional strategies but require support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Parents as the first teachers

Early learning environments at home

Early childhood education programs

Historical development in Turkey

Examination of Parents' Opinions on Early Childhood Learning Dila YAZICI* Abstract Qualified and continuous learning experiences provided in early childhood have an important place in the development of the child. This should not be considered a situation that only concerns schools, but parents, who are the first teachers of the children, should be included in the process. For this reason, this study aimed to determine parents' views and practices on learning. The research was designed using basic qualitative research. The Snowball sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to select the sample. In this study, demographic information forms and semi-structured interview questions developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The data were collected by interview method. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was determined that parents perceive learning as a behavioral change and developmental process, that parents think that they learn by playing, exploring, and doing, and living, that their children should be able to express themselves and learn universal values, and they generally teach these as models. According to the results of the research, it has been determined that parents are knowledgeable about different instructional strategies used in early childhood, but they need to be supported. Keywords: Children, Early childhood, Learning, Parent, Teaching. *Assistant Professor, Department of Early Childhood Education, Education Faculty, Ondokuz Mayıs University, 55139 Kurupelit-Samsun, Turkey. Email: [dilanur.yazici@omu.edu.tr](dilanur.yazici@omu.edu.tr) Introduction Childhood years are the years when development and learning are the fastest, and the experiences gained in this period form the basis for the following years. In this respect, waiting for the child to start primary school to support the developmental areas, most of which are completed in the first years of life, will be too late today and may cause irreparable delays in the later years of life (Kartal, 2007) . It is extremely important for the brain development of children that parents give quality stimuli to their children from the moment they are born. It is extremely important for the holistic development of children that they create quality learning environments at home at later ages.For this reason, parents as well as early childhood educators have important duties. As it is known, parents are defined as the first teachers of their children. Below is an example given by Cordry and Wilson (2004; pp.56) . “On August 11, 2003, [Johnny X. is](Johnny X. is) born. By the time Johnny X. turns one, his parents will have 8,750 hours to provide supervision and care for Johnny. When Johnny is ready to start school at the age offive, his parents will have accumulated 43,800 hours of time for his development and growth. Each new school year Johnny will spend 1,260 hours with a teacher and 7,490 hours spent with his parents. By the time Johnny graduates in 2021, he will spend 16,380 hours with teachers and 97,370 hours (52,416 after accounting for a student sleep average of 8 hours per day) with his parents: the parent-to-teacher ratio of time with Johnny is 76% to 24 % waking hours.” As can be seen, even under normal conditions, parents spend more time with their children than teachers. Research has shown that home environments that will support the child's development include the child's mental development, language development, and early literacy skills (Bergen et al. 2017; Espy, Molfese, DiLalla, 2001; Roberts, Burchinal, Durham, 1999; Niklas& Schneider, 2017; Taggart, Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, & Siraj, 2015). For this reason, it is extremely important for parents to create effective learning environments at home (Berk, 2012) . Bradley (1994) and Bradley et al.(2001) stated that quality home conditions for early childhood children include: Adaptation of cognitiv

FAQs

What is the purpose of the study described in the abstract?

The study aims to determine parents' views and practices on early childhood learning.

How was the research conducted and what sampling method was used?

The research used a basic qualitative design and applied snowball sampling, a purposeful sampling method, to select participants.

What do parents generally believe about how children learn?

Parents perceive learning as a behavioral change and developmental process, and they believe children learn through playing, exploring, doing, and expressing themselves while learning universal values modeled by adults.

Oct 15, 2026

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