Preschool Teaching Staff’s Opinions on the Importance of Preschool Curricular Fields of Activities, Art Genres and Visual Arts Fields

Oct 15, 2026

Preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ views on the importance of selected kindergarten educational work fields are analyzed, with special focus on art genres and visual arts. The study presents an empirical, descriptive and causal-non-experimental design using research hypotheses about differing perceived importance among teachers and assistants. Results show the highest value placed on movement and language, followed by nature, society, art and mathematics. For art genres, visual arts and music rank highest while audio-visual activities rank lowest; within visual arts, drawing and painting are most important and sculpting least. Findings support further discussion on practice effects of holistically planned preschool education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Art genres in the preschool curriculum

Holistic and interdisciplinary connections

The curriculum concept and balanced offer

Preschool Teaching Staff’s Opinions on the Importance of Preschool Curricular Fields of Activities, Art Genres and Visual Arts Fields Tomaž Zupančič*1, Branka Čagran2, and Matjaž Mulej3 • This article presents preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ opinionson the importance of selected fields of educational work in kindergartens. The article first highlights the importance of activities expressing artistic creativity within modern curriculums. Then, it presents an empirical study that examines the preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ opinions on the importance of the educational fields, art genres, and visual arts fields. In research hypotheses, we presumed that preschool teachers find individual educational fields, individual art genres, and individual visual arts activities to be of different importance; consequently, education in kindergarten does not achieve the requisite holism. The study is based on the descriptive and causal-non-experimental method. We have determined that the greatest importance is attributed to movement and language, followed by nature, society, art and mathematics. Within art genres, the greatest importance is attributed to visual arts and music and the least to audio-visual activities. Within visual arts, drawing and painting are considered to be the most important and sculpting the least. These findings can support future studies and deliberation on the possible effects on practice in terms of requisitely holistically planned preschool education. Keywords: curriculum, preschool education, preschool teachers, requisite holism, visual arts activities 1 *Corresponding Author. Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Slovenia; [tomaz.zupancic@um.si](tomaz.zupancic@um.si) 2 Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Slovenia 3 Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia 10 preschool teaching staff’s opinions on the importance of preschool curricular Vrednotenje pomembnosti kurikularnih področij dejavnosti, umetnostnih zvrsti in likovnih področij medpredšolskimi pedagoškimi delavci Tomaž Zupančič*, Branka Čagran in Matjaž Mulej • Prispevek predstavlja mnenja predšolskih pedagoških delavk (vzgojiteljic in pomočnic vzgojiteljic) o pomembnosti posameznih področij vzgojnega dela v vrtcu. Najprej osvetlimo pomembnost izrazno ustvarjalnih dejavnosti znotraj sodobnih kurikulumov. V nadaljevanju predstavimo empirično raziskavo, ki zajema mnenja vzgojiteljic in pomočnic vzgojiteljic o pomembnosti vzgojnih področij, umetnostnih zvrsti in likovnih področij. V raziskovalnih hipotezah smo predvideli, da vzgojiteljice in pomočnice vzgojiteljic različno vrednotijo pomembnost vzgojnih področij, umetnostnih zvrsti in likovnih področij. Raziskava temeljina deskriptivni in kavzalno-neeksperimentalni metodi. Ugotovili smo, da se največji pomen pripisuje gibanju in jeziku, sledijo pa narava, družba, umetnost in matematika. Znotraj umetnostnih zvrsti se največja pomembnost pripisuje likovnim in glasbenim dejavnostim, najmanjša pa avdiovizualnim. Znotraj likovnih področij sta za vzgojiteljice in pomočnice vzgojiteljic najpomembnejša risanje in slikanje, najmanj pomembno pa je področje kiparstva. Spoznanja raziskave lahko predstavljajo osnovo za naslednje študije in razmisleke o mogočih vplivih na prakso vsmeri uresničevanja primerno celovito zasnovane predšolske vzgoje. Ključne besede: kurikulum, predšolska vzgoja, vzgojitelj, zadostna in potrebna celovitost, likovne dejavnosti Introduction Art genres are of crucial importance in the preschool curriculum, which determines the content and work objectives in kindergarten. The fields determined by the Slovenian Curriculum for Kindergartens (Bahovec et al., 1999) are language, movement, nature, society, art, and mathematics. In planning and implementing actual activities, these fields should be represented as equally intertwined; they should supplement one another. Martin-Kniep, Feige and Soodak (1995) define suc

FAQs

What does the article investigate about preschool curricula?

It examines preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ opinions on the importance of educational fields, art genres, and visual arts fields in kindergarten.

Which educational fields are rated as most and least important?

Movement and language receive the greatest importance, followed by nature, society, art, and mathematics.

How are art genres and visual arts fields ranked in importance?

Visual arts and music are most important, while audio-visual activities are least important. Within visual arts, drawing and painting rank highest and sculpting ranks least.

Oct 15, 2026

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