The Curriculum of Preschool and Primary School: Examination of Teacher Candidates’ Views

The current study conducted to investigate the opinions of pre-service preschool and primary school teachers about the preschool and primary school programs employed the embedded multiple-case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. The data of the study were collected from the fourth-year pre-service preschool and primary school teachers attending in Marmara University and voluntarily participating in the study in 2015-2016 academic year. As a data collection tool, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used. In the determination and interpretation of the pre-service teachers’ opinions related to each theme, frequencies were used. When the data of the study were analyzed, it was found that the pre-service teachers from these two departments think that they are not well informed about the pre-school and elementary school programs but they are aware that they need to be knowledgeable about these two levels of schooling succeeding thus feeding each other. Moreover, when the pre-service teachers from these two departments were asked their opinions about developmental characteristics, skills and competencies to be possessed by a child to be able to start elementary education, they mostly emphasized physical/psycho-motor development, preparedness level, self-care and language skills.