Abstract:

The family is a fundamental social community that has undergone significant changes in its structure and functioning and is today viewed in the context of a postmodern or contemporary family. Changes conditioned by a political, economic, and socio-cultural development have also affected the existence of all members within the family. Institutionalized upbringing and education play a significant role in children's development, so the relationship between the family and institutionalized upbringing must not be neglected. To develop successful partnerships with parents, kindergarten teachers must have competencies to accomplish this task. Initial education should lay a sound foundation for the further development of professional competencies for kindergarten teachers; therefore, the aim of this research is to examine whether students feel competent for their future work with parents. For the purposes of this research, a student competency scale was constructed based on the qualification standard and its learning outcomes for kindergarten teachers. The research will be conducted among first and third year undergraduate student and second year graduate students studying Early Childhood and Preschool Education at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Rijeka, and Faculty of Education, University of Osijek. As part of the differential design for testing subsamples on dependent variables, a parametric test (t-test, ANOVA) or nonparametric test (Mann Whitney tests, Kruskal Wallis), depending on whether the preconditions for distribution normality are met, will be used. To test compliance in variation of two or more variable, a parametric Pearson correlation coefficient or a nonparametric Spearman correlation will be used. Furthermore, the metric characteristics of the questionnaire, such as factor validity (EFA, PCA), as well as the reliability, will be tested by means of the internal consistency method, i.e. Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results could have significant implications for redefining initial education courses related to collaboration with parents, in order to develop key competencies for the development of quality partnerships with parents as soon as possible.

Keywords:

Contemporary parenthood, learning outcomes, initial education, qualification standard.