Outdoor play activities and outdoor environment of early childhood education in Turkey: a qualitative meta-synthesis

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study is to explore outdoor play activities and outdoor environment of early childhood education in Turkey by presenting findings from a qualitative metasynthesis of research. The data was derived from 20 studies done in Turkey. Content analysis was performed to examine how outdoor play and activities in Turkish preschools were conceptualized and justified by teachers, parents, and children. The result showed three themes: (1) A prominent theme is the main actors of the studies’ subjects, namely the teachers, parents, and children. (2) The studies are based on different dimensions of theoretical perspectives which can be grounded in developmental, pedagogical, sociological, and ecological dimensions. (3) Finally, an emerging theme is related to the accessibility of outdoor spaces, the quality, and adequacy of these existing spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education in Turkey
• outdoor play and learning
• qualitative meta-synthesis
• outdoor activities
• early childhood teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yasin Ozturk

Yasin Ozturk is an Assistant Professor in Preschool and Elementary Education at Trabzon University, in Trabzon, Turkey. He holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education from The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, USA. He has a particular interest in preschool curriculum, international early education policies-programs, teacher training, play and outdoor education for children.

Zeliha Ozer

Zeliha Ozer is a PhD student at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. She received her master's degree in early childhood education from Hacettepe University in 2018. She works currently as a research assistant at Hacettepe University. She is interested in early childhood education teacher training, outdoor education and parenting in early years.