GEÇMİŞ DENEYİMLER & GÜNCEL UYGULAMALAR: ERKEN YILLARDA EYLEM ARAŞTIRMASINA YÖNELİK RETROSPEKTİF BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the views of preschool teachers who experienced action research during their undergraduate education, how they made sense of this experience in their professional lives, and how it was reflected in their current practices. The study was designed within a qualitative research framework, adopting an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach combined with a retrospective perspective. The study group consisted of preschool teachers who had experienced action research during their undergraduate education. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and written interview forms, and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings indicated that action research experience contributed to teachers’ child-centered thinking, observation practices, questioning of their practices, in-process decision-making, and development of pedagogical flexibility. Although the participants did not always sustain action research as a systematic research process in their professional lives, they stated that this experience was reflected in their classroom practices and professional reflection processes. However, lack of time, limited administrative support, professional isolation, documentation workload, and structural limitations of the curriculum emerged as the main factors that made the implementation of action research difficult. Overall, the study reveals that action research can be an important professional development tool for preschool teachers; however, institutional support, collaboration, time, and professional guidance are needed for its sustainability.