Abstract:

The text is part of a research survey within the project IGA_PdF_2021_034 Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on pre-school education in selected European countries with an emphasis on preparing children to start compulsory schooling. The project is realised at the Faculty of Education at Palacký University in Olomouc and focuses on the impacts of measures against the spread of COVID-19 in the field of preschool education in selected European countries. This paper represents the next phase of a research survey in which we focus on the Czech Republic to analyze how anti-epidemic measures have affected the conditions of pre-school education and the fulfillment of pre-school education functions with an emphasis on educational function and preparation of children for compulsory schooling. A quantitative research design was selected and a questionnaire survey method was used. Questionnaires for kindergarten teachers and the obtained data are statistically processed. The results of the research suggest that the impact of anti-epidemic measures on pre-school education is significant and mostly concerns the educational function and preparation of children for entering primary school. The benefits of this study are proposals for addressing the impact of the pandemic in pre-school education in the Czech Republic and possible recommendations for the training of future teachers.

Keywords:

Anti-epidemic measures, distance learning, functions and conditions of preschool education, preparation for compulsory education, preschool children.