Abstract:

The research deals with the comparison of pre-school children’s preparation in pre-primary schools for the school attendance in the Czech Republic and Denmark during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the research, we focused on the criteria of how this preparation went in these particular countries, which components of children’s personality were being developed the most and how this crisis influenced the operation of pre-schools in general. The main objective of this research was to compare and determine whether there is a difference in a children’s preparation for schooling in these countries during the coronavirus crisis. A total of 5 teachers from the Czech Republic participated in the research survey, and the same number of teachers was part of the survey also from Denmark. Teachers were contacted through a telephone conversation and based on the e-mail communication were informed about the exact manner of cooperation. It is a qualitative research with elements of phenomenological approach. The questionnaire with both closed and open questions were used as the main research method while it was handed out to teachers of the stated countries. Through closed-ended questions, we found out general information about the studied school and its teachers. Open-ended questions were answered based on teacher’s practice in preschool facilities and on the basis of observations in the form of reductive descriptions. As a supplement method, we analysed curricular documents on both country and school level. In those documents, we focused mainly on the analyses of parts which dealt with the preparation of children for the school attendance. Both mentioned research methods were analyzed using the open coding and subsequently rewritten into reasonable units. In the survey, we studied two research questions. First, how the coronavirus crisis affected the operations of preschool facilities and the preparation of children for schooling. Second, whether the requirements for children before entering primary school had to be changed and whether there were any changes in the postponement of a school attendance. The results show that the coronavirus crisis has affected the operations of kindergartens in both countries. In Denmark, the preparation of preschool-aged children was more consistent, and parents were more participated. The most developed was the mathematical and reading preliteracy. Due to the closure of schools the social area developed the least. It was not found that the requirements for preschool-aged children had to be changed. The results may serve as a base for further researches in the field or as a clue to solve similar situations. Additionally, the results may be used in the educational practice.

Keywords:

Preparation of children, pre-schools, teachers, pre-school children.