or a certain knowledge are called teachers. They are those who have obtained the authority to teach by completing the education required by the teaching profession or by gaining the qualifications. They are tasked with guiding and directing children, young people or adults to gain the desired learning and life in a public or private educational institution. Although there are many studies on teachers and preschool teachers, there are few studies on male preschool teachers in our country.

The sample of the study conducted by  Yagbasan and Aksoy (2016)in order to determine the opinions of the teachers and parents practicing the profession about this profession and to try to understand by revealing the causes of the problem consists of 100 parents of children from 4 kindergartens selected by random sampling method based on the demographic profiles of the schools in the province of Elazig.  Survey method based on survey method was used as data collection tool in the research. The result of the research showed that there is a significant prejudice against male teachers by parents.

 

2.    FINDINGS

 The study was carried out in schools with male teachers affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the province of Batman. The study group consisted of 14 people in total, 7 parents whose children were taught by a male teacher and 7 parents whose children were taught by a female teacher.

Information about the study group is given in Table 1.

Table 1
Closeness to the Child	Mother %78,6	Father %21,4
Level	Primary School %64,3	Middle School %35,7
Profession Group	Not working %41,5	Officer %58,5
Working Teacher	% 50,0	%50,0
Gender	%50,0	%50,0

 

One of the research questions of the study is “What are the Perceptions of the Parents whose Children are Taught by a Female Teacher Regarding the Characteristics of Preschool Teachers?” was determined as. In order to answer this research question, interviews with parents whose child's teacher are a woman were analyzed, and the findings are given in Table 2.

 

Table 2
Qualifications sought in a teacher	Love of children	5,0
	Tolerance	3,0
	Democratic	1.0
	Idealist	1,0
	Soft Temperament	2,0
	Patience	2,0
	Tidy	1,0
	Dynamic	2,0
	Love of profession	1,0
	Profession knowledge	3,0
	Contact	1,0

 

One of the research questions of the study is “What are the Perceptions of the Parents whose Children are Instructed by a Female Teacher towards Being a Male Preschool Teacher?” was determined as. In order to answer this research question, interviews with parents whose children are female teachers were analyzed, and the findings are given in Table 3 

 

Table 3
Opinions about the teacher being male	harsh temperament	2,0
	Fear of Abuse	3,0
	indifference	3,0

                                                                   

One of the research questions of the study is “What are the Perceptions of the Parents whose Children are Instructed by a Male Teacher Regarding the Characteristics of Preschool Teachers?” was determined as. In order to answer this research question, interviews with parents whose children were taught by a male teacher were analyzed, and the findings are given in Table 4

 

Table 4
Qualities sought in a teacher	Love of children	4,0
	Democratic	1,0
	Patience	2,0
	Soft Temperament	2,0
	Relating to	2,0
	Profession knowledge	6,0
	Effective Classroom Management	4,0

                                                                                                                                                            

One of the research questions of the study is “What are the Perceptions of Parents, whose children are taught by a male teacher, towards Preschool Teachers being male?” was determined as. In order to answer this research question, interviews with parents whose children were taught by a male teacher were analyzed, and the findings are given in Table 5.

 

Table 5
Opinions about the teacher being male	Effective Classroom Management	5,0
	Continuity	1,0
	Being a Model	2,0
	Neutrality	2,0
	Profession Information	3,0
	Self-care	2,0
	Patient	1,0

               

3.    DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

In this section, the findings of the study, which was conducted to reveal the perspectives of parents against male teachers working in pre-school education institutions, were discussed and interpreted. In order to answer this research question, as a result of the answers received from the questions asked to the parents, the parents concluded that the preschool teacher should have personal characteristics (Love of children, tolerance, soft temperament, patience, order and communication) and Professional Characteristics (Democracy, professional knowledge, effective classroom management). has been reached. As a result of the answers received from the questions asked to the parents in order to answer this research question, the parents who did not work with male teachers thought that male teachers might be harsh and indifferent, and it was concluded that they had a fear of abuse, but the parents who worked with male teachers did not have such and such fears. This shows that parents who do not work with male teachers approach male preschool teachers with prejudice and prejudice. In order to answer this research question, as a result of the answers taken from the questions asked to the parents, it was concluded that the parents should have the personal characteristics (love of children, patience, soft temperament, interest) and professional characteristics (democracy, professional knowledge, effective classroom management). In line with these results, while the parents who have male teachers in their class gave common answers to the characteristics that a teacher should have, with the parents who do not have a male preschool teacher in their class, in terms of professional characteristics, they did not mention the characteristics of "communication, patience and order" in terms of personal characteristics. As a result of the answers received from the questions asked to the parents in order to answer this research question, the parents who work with male teachers think that male teachers have an effective classroom management.

The parents said that the male preschool teacher was a role model for the children, provided continuity and acted impartially towards the children. Among these parents who work with male teachers, there are those who say that the teacher is insufficient to meet the child's self-care needs, as well as those who say that they can meet their self-care needs. Important data were obtained in this study on parents' perceptions of the effect of gender on preschool teachers. The first of these is that parents who do not work with male preschool teachers think that male preschool teachers do not have any advantage. They said that female teachers are more suitable for this profession. On the contrary, parents working with male preschool teachers emphasized that a teacher should be an educator rather than the gender of the teacher. As a second important result, the parents who do not work with male teachers think that male teachers will be too harsh for pre-schoolers and they will not be able to come down to the level of their children. On the other hand, parents working with male teachers saw this situation as an advantage in effective classroom management and emphasized that male teachers were not harsh and could go down to the level of children.

Another important result is that the parents who do not work with a male teacher in preschool have a fear of abuse, whereas the parents who work with a male teacher do not have such fears.

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Cameroon, C. (2001) General Evaluation and Future Recommendations. The Role and Importance of the Father in the Child's Life in the Symposium Report. Istanbul : Mother Child Education Foundation Publication, No:12.

Fagan, J. (1996). Getting Males in Early Childhood Programs.

Kümbetoğlu, B. (2005) Qualitative Method and Research in Sociology and Anthropology, Bağlam Publications, Istanbul.

Lamb, (2001). The Role and Importance of the Father in Child Development with an Intercultural Perspective. The Role and Importance of the Father in the Child's Life in the Symposium Report. Istanbul: Mother Child Education Foundation Publication, No: 12.

McBride, B.A., Rane, T.R., (1997) Father/Male Involmement in Early Childhood Programs: Issues and Challenges. Early Childhood Educations Journal.

Yagbasan, M, Aksoy, G. (2016). Parents' Perspective on Male Kindergarten Teachers (A Field Study in Elazig Province). Turkish journal of Educational Studies.