PEDAGOGICAL DEPARTMENT KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES AND VIEWPOINTS ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS ISSUE

In the present paper, the implications of the economic crisis are examined; in particular, how the students interpret the phenomenon of economic crisis and how their future is defined by them within this new economic situation. The research was carried out throughout the academic year 2011-2012 with repetitive semi-constructed interviews to students of the First and Fourth Year of the Western Macedonia University Pedagogical Department. The selection of First and Fourth Year students was done on the basis of the researchers’ choice to observe how the economic situation is interpreted by the different age categories and how the future is defined by those who have commenced their studies and those who have completed their studies and address to the labor market.

The students of the selected sample had attended courses on educational policy. For the specific academic year, in particular, they also concentrated on the analysis of economic terms and theoretical economy patterns so that they are more fully informed on economy issues and potentially attend the economic matters.

The more general research conclusions are conducive to the observation that first-year students are confined to restrictively regard the future in relation more to their studies and less to their professional future. Even though they are aware of the fact that the family income has been shrunk they, nevertheless, do not cease to pursue juvenile pleasure. As regards the utilization of gender dimension, social class, nationality or political identity, more aspects of the issue seem to be established, especially by the last year students who underline the cul-de-sac state which they and their families confront. Having the advantage of the tool being in use, the research depicts and unfolds the broader viewpoints of the people being interviewed, providing them the possibility for considerations, expression and suggestions.

It is important to mention that the present research opens up a range of broader considerations for the implications of the economic crisis regarding the young who comprise the most creative part of society but tend to be left off labor and social life. At the same time, the suggestions form a scrutiny on how the educational policy could readjust its policy taking into consideration the new data so that education provides the possibility of a creative re-examination of broader issues related to the young’s organization of life within the new changing, fluid economic situations.