Influence of In-service Preschool Teachers’ Education on their Perceived Competences for Counselling Parents

Oct 15, 2026

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Study examining how in-service preschool teachers’ education relates to their self-assessed competences for counselling parents. Using a sample of 136 preschool teachers, findings show teachers rate themselves as moderately competent in counselling parents. Participation in in-service training is associated with a higher level of perceived competence. The results highlight that, although competence appears acquired through personal and professional development, in-service programs play a key role in providing and reinforcing counselling-related competences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Counselling and its definitions

Preschool education context in Croatia

doi: 10.26529/cepsj.658 Influence of In-service Preschool Teachers’ Education on their Perceived Competences for Counselling Parents Sanja Skočić Mihić*1, Danijela Blanuša Trošelj2 and Vesna Katić2 • With a half-century of tradition, early and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia is a highly organised system in which preschool teachers meet high professional standards. Among their professional requirements, they have been legally bound to counsel parents since 2008. However, no other documents or papers in Croatia describe or specify what counselling entails. The present research explored 136 preschool teachers and their self-assessment of competence in counselling parents. The results indicate that:(a) preschool teachers rate themselves moderately competent in counselling parents; (b) joining the in-service training is related to a higher level of their self-assessment in counselling parents. Although it is evident that they had acquired the competence for counselling parents during their personal and professional development, the in-service training plays the key role in providing it. Keywords: competence, counselling parents, preschool teachers 1 *Corresponding Author. Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, Croatia; [sskocicmihic@gmail.com](sskocicmihic@gmail.com). 2 Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, Croatia. 28 influence of in-service preschool teachers’ education on their perceived Vpliv programov izpopolnjevanja za vzgojitelje nanjihovo predstavo o kompetencah za svetovanje staršem Sanja Skočić Mihić, Danijela Blanuša Trošelj in Vesna Katić • Zgodnje in predšolsko izobraževanje je v Republiki Hrvaški visoko organiziran sistem s polstoletno tradicijo. V njem se vzgojiteljice in vzgojitelji spoprijemajo z visokimi profesionalnimi standardi. Od leta 2008 so vzgojiteljice in vzgojitelji pravno zavezani, da svetujejo staršem, kar je ena izmed njihovih številnih nalog. Kljub temu na Hrvaškem ne obstajajo izvedbena pravila ali dokumenti, ki bi opisovali ali podrobnejedoločali sestavine svetovanja. Ta študija je vključila 136 vzgojiteljic/vzgojiteljev in je ocenjevala njihovo predstavo o kompetencah za svetovanje staršem. Rezultati so pokazali, da: a) vzgojitelji sami sebe ocenjujejo kot zmerno kompetentne za svetovanje staršem; b) da je vključevanje v programe izpopolnjevanja povezano z višjo ravnjo samoocene pri svetovanju staršem. Čeprav je očitno, da so vzgojiteljice pridobile kompetenceza svetovanje staršem med osebnim in profesionalnim razvojem, programi izpopolnjevanja kljub temu igrajo ključno vlogo pri zagotavljanjutovrstnih kompetenc. Ključne besede: kompetence, svetovanje staršem, vzgojitelji Introduction Croatian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), known as ‘preschool education’, is governed by the Law of Preschool Education (1997) . It is a unique system under the aegis of the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sport and is financed by the local community. Unlike most European countries, e.g. Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland (Oberhuemer, Schreyer, & Neuman, 2010), Croatian preschool institutions include children from the age of six months to the start of primary school (average 6.5 years) . These institutions are called preschools3 and the professionals who work there are called preschool teachers.4 They spend 5.5 hours a day working directly in a same-age or mixedage group of children, with a weekly total of 27.5 hours (68.25%) of work (The State Pedagogical Standard of Preschool Education, 2008; a29) . Other weekly duties in the remaining 12.5 hours (31.25%) include their preparation for work, cooperation with parents, and in-service training. The qualifications of almost all employed preschool teachers range from college to master’s degrees. Their education has a long tradition and has been organised at the university level since 1969/70 (Babić & Kuzma, 2003) . It has gone through numerous transformations of institutions prov

FAQs

How was the study conducted and who participated?

The research involved 136 preschool teachers and collected their self-assessments regarding competence for counselling parents.

What competence level did preschool teachers report for counselling parents?

Preschool teachers rated themselves as moderately competent in counselling parents.

What impact does in-service training have according to the results?

Joining in-service training is associated with a higher level of teachers’ self-assessed competence for counselling parents.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore