ENHANCING THE INTERACTION AND COMMUNICATION OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN THROUGH MUSICAL ACTIVITIES IN GREECE
Keywords:
Kindergarten teachers, music activities, interaction, communication, preschool childrenAbstract
The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate the opportunities that kindergarten teachers provide preschool children for the development of formal and informal musical activities and their use in educational activities. A questionnaire was administered and distributed to kindergarten teachers in a small prefecture of Northern Greece. The sample consisted of 37 female kindergarten teachers (mean age 47), 64.9% of whom were appointed and 35.1% were substitute teachers. Descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS (one-way-Anova, the Pearson Chi-Square index, and Cross tabulation). An important finding of this study is that this particular corner rarely contains sound resources or updates and enriches existing pedagogical materials. The results showed that the music corner of the kindergarten class is often available, mainly by the older kindergarten teachers, but it is not easily accessible because it is not close to the height of young children and they are not allowed to visit it whenever they wish. Although most kindergarten teachers participate in young children’s musical play, a significant percentage does not seem to systematically strengthen young children’s musical communication and musical experimentation and does not observe/record data emerge from this interaction. Our data led us to conclude that preschool teachers use the music corner mainly for guided activities rather than
emergent activities, providing children with specific freedom and musical experiences. This is not in line with the goals of the National Curriculum (2021), nor is it in line with modern pedagogy that aims at the all-round development of the child through discovery and exploratory learning
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