title: Efficiency of Preschool Education and its Sustainable Development in School
reg no: ETF6073
project type: Estonian Science Foundation research grant
status: accepted
institution: Tallinn University of Educational Sciences
head of project: Leida Talts
duration: 01.01.2005 - 31.12.2008
description: A focal question is: how do teachers interpret a child, his or her learning and their participation in that process? At the transfer to school the learning desire of the child should new stimul, which take into account his or her earlier experience and level of development.
The research goals are: 1) to study changes in children`s development over four years (from preschool preparatory group to the end of their third school year), using the most important areas of curriculum.
2) to devise a joint in-servise training, curriculum for kindergarten and primary school teachers in order to develop teachers`understanding of the context and mechanism of learning in preschool period and the primary stage of school.
We suppose that:1) the influence of preschool education on subsequent path of education is more stable in areas related to social skills and ethics and unstable in subject-specific achievements. 2) the assessment kindergarten and primary school teachers give to the achievements of children are oriented more to subject-specific achievement than to achieving general educational goals.3) the starting position of boys at the beginning of their path of education influences their achievements (learning skills, social skills, language and communication, mathematics, ethics, nature and environment, helth, physical and motor development, art and culture) as compared with girls differently.
Research methodology
This will be a longitudinal study, which consist of several separate stages.The statements concerning teaching and childrearing in the questionnaire derive from the preschool and primary school curricula, containing nine different areas: acquiring learning skills, social skills, language and communication, mathematics, ethics, nature and environment, helth, physical and motor development, art and culture.
The comparison of groups of different level and gender allows us to identify in which areas the achievements of children starting school are stronger and weaker, and how the development of those areas progresses at school.

project group
no name institution position  
1.Ene MägiTallinn University of Educational SciencesAssistant prof. of the Faculty of Education 
2.Helle SikkaTallinn University of Educational SciencesAssistant prof. of the Chair of Primary Education 
3.Natalia ZamkovajaTallinn University of Educational SciencesAssistant prof. of the Chair of Primary Education 
4.Leida TaltsTallinn University of Educational SciencesProfessor 
5.Mare TuiskTallinn University of Educational SciencesLector, doctoral student 
6.Maie VikatTallinn University of Educational SciencesProfessor em