Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The topic of spiritual literacy in preschool education has not been empirically investigated in the Czech Republic. The research project aims to understand manifestations of spiritual literacy in preschool children’s development along two main lines: (1) the manifestations of spiritual literacy in preschool children in free play and in guided activities; (2) the perception of the possibilities of developing spiritual literacy in preschool children through the lens of their teachers. The study also seeks to determine if educational strategies, practices, and tools differ in developing spiritual literacy across different types of preschools. A qualitative research strategy, specifically a multiple case study approach, is used. The research population consists of 8 kindergarten teachers and approximately one hundred preschool children across four types of kindergartens: church-affiliated, Waldorf, forest, and community-run. Children and teachers are from the same class, with 2 teachers and about 25 children per school type. Teachers’ age, religion, experience, or other demographics are not considered. The classes studied are age-diverse, with children aged 3-7 years. Data collection is by semi-structured interviews with teachers and direct observation of children’s free play, guided activities, and other interactions between children and teachers during the day. Audio recordings, video recordings and field notes are used. In addition, planning documentation of the school and teachers was collected. Data is analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and content analysis. The ethics of the research is approved by the Ethics Committee of the university.