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This study aimed to determine the opinions of preschool teachers about courses they attended in a preschool undergraduate program in order to support their professional development. The case study, one of the qualitative research designs, was adopted in the study. Two sampling strategies, snowball and criterion sampling, were used for the determination of participants. 26 teachers from 6 different preschools voluntarily participated in the research. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews carried out in two steps; before and after participating in the courses in the preschool undergraduate program. Descriptive analysis was employed in the analysis of the data. Results revealed that preschool teachers put into practice in-service program outputs tailored to their needs and in line with their professional development needs and made suggestions so that in-service training programs to be designed for their professional development can be more effective. In conclusion, the preschool teachers were found to need alternative in-service training programs.

This study aims to reveal the meanings attached to the concept of childhood and discuss how it is conceptualized and shaped with cultural attributes by parents and preschool teachers. The study was based on both quantitative and qualitative stance. One hundred and thirty parents and 125 preschool teachers participated in the first phase of the study. As a follow-up study, face to face interviews were also conducted with 11 parents and 13 preschool teachers to provide in-depth explanations for the definitions of childhood. Results showed that parents and preschool teachers placed the child as the representative of the moral values as well as emphasizing the obedience as one of the main qualities that a child should have. Their expectancies from their children seem to be in parallel with the meaning they attribute to childhood. Cultural, educational and psychological factors seem to be influential in the ways parents and preschool teachers define childhood.

Professional competency of the pre-school teacher plays a quite determinant role in enhancing the quality of pre-school education. This determinant role of the professional competency of the pre-school teacher is of great importance in teacher's planning and practice. The research aims to determine the extent to how teacher's sense of efficacy accounts for their classroom management skills. Two hundred twenty-three pre-school teachers who work at pre-school institutions participated in the study. Embedded mixed design, where both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, was used in this study. It has been found that the level of teacher's sense of efficacy belief is a predictor of the classroom management skills of pre-school teachers. Quantitative analysis showed the relation between self-efficacy of pre-school teachers and their perceptions of classroom management skills in relational with the professional variables. It has also been noted that the findings of detailed interviews support the quantitative results.