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 interviews made by total 60 senior pre-service preschool and primary school teachers attending in Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education in 2015-2016 academic year by employing a multiple sampling method. 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 preschool 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.