A Review of Primary Years Program in Early Childhood Education According to Teacher’s Views

Abstract

The Primary Years Program has been administered and further developed by the International Baccalaureate Organization for 3 to 12 years olds. The aim of this study is to introduce the Primary Years Program (PYP) and to put forth the strong parts of it into practice. The sample group of this study is a group of teachers working in the preschools with the formal authorization to implement PYP. The data of the study were obtained by means of the semi structured interviews obtained from the teachers and analyzed with descriptive analysis. As a result of the study, teachers expressed the strengths of the program as improving children’s ability to question, providing the opportunity for the children to structure knowledge by themselves, raising individuals with a multicultural awareness at an international level and providing both teachers and students with the opportunity to have quality education in other countries easily and learn about other cultures more. On the other hand, as the weaknesses of the program, they pointed out that some difficulties are experienced at times due to the fact that program has some aspects which do not match with the current national curriculum and the planning process takes long. In conclusion, it is recommended that some adjustments be made in the education program designed by the Ministry of National Education to benefit from the positive aspects of PYP..