Abstract:

Today, parental pedagogical education is perceived as a phenomenon affecting adult thinking, an active, targeted educational activity, also associated with their awareness, appropriate perception of their role as an educator, the ability to think and behave constructively, acquire specific competences. This is a specific area of adult education. The participation of parents in pedagogical education is one of the main educational conditions for achieving a higher quality of pre-school education. Modern parents are subject to features characteristic only to themselves such as the personality and world perception, the relationship with the environment, the upbringing of children, the communication with the educational institution and teachers. They are representatives of a consumer society with a need for a wide range of services, and the outcome of their children’s education must be rapidly noticeable. Therefore, the pre-school institution must be interested in identifying the needs of parents as consumers. In this context, the staff of the pre-school institution becomes responsible not only for educating children, but also for providing their parents with education and counselling in line with their expectations.

The aim of the study is to analyse the expectations of parents for pedagogical education in pre-school educational institutions.
The research sample is non-probabilistic convenience sampling. In order to reveal the expectations of parents for pedagogical education, a study was conducted on the experiences of parents of children attending pre-school educational institutions. There were 21 participants in the study. The exactly defined sample was not foreseen, data were collected until they began to repeat and a decrease in their informativity became apparent. The average age of the informants involved in the study was 37 years, all women with a higher education.

Methodology:
Before conducting empirical research, scientific pedagogical, psychological, philosophical research methodological literature was analysed, the analysis of education documents, meta-analysis were applied. A qualitative research strategy is chosen for the purpose of the study. The data were collected using the structured oral interview method.

The results of the empirical study revealed that parents who participated in the study have a different perception of the essence of parental pedagogical education: some treat it as a way of information, others – as education, when new knowledge, experience and skills are acquired. In pre-school educational institutions, more informative kind of parental education is organized: individual interviews of teachers with parents, information boards, and joint parent meetings. The results of the study revealed that parents lack more active communication with them and involvement in the activities of the educational institution, useful practical activities organized for them, during which they could communicate, share experiences with other parents, show a positive example to their children. Information activities, in their opinion, are of little use.

Keywords:

Parental pedagogical education, informing parents, parental expectations, sharing experience, pre-school education institution.