Pre-School Teacher Candidates' Beliefs and Conditioned Judgments Regarding Children's Body Image

Volume 11 Issue 4 February - April 2018

Research Paper

Pre-School Teacher Candidates' Beliefs and Conditioned Judgments Regarding Children's Body Image

Sibel Sönmez * , Raziye Erkul**

* Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Ege University, Turkey.

** Reseach Assistant, Faculty of Education, Kafkas University, Turkey.

Sönmez, S., and Eerkul, R. (2018). Pre-School Teacher Candidates' Beliefs and Conditioned Judgments Regarding Children's Body Image. i-manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology, 11(4), 23-31. https://doi.org/10.26634/jpsy.11.4.14218

Abstract

The goal of this study was to identify pre-school teacher candidates' beliefs and conditioned judgments regarding children's body image. The exploratory research pattern was used in this study. The sample group included final year B.A. students from the Pre-School Education departments in two state universities in Izmir. The qualitative part of the study was conducted using seven volunteer students, while the quantitative part was conducted using 87 students from both universities. An interview form and a questionnaire were developed by the researchers. Judging by the results of the study it was seen that teacher candidates perceived figures of skinny and fat children in a negative light when compared to figures of normal children. Support should be given to teacher candidates to accept different body forms and that this would not only be important in preventing conditioned judgments, but it would also have a positive effect on the class atmosphere.