THE QUALITY OF KINDERGARTEN CARE AS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF THE SUBJECTIVE THEORIES

The organization and detailed content of life and work are set out by the kindergarten in the annual work plan, adopted by the council of the kindergarten (Article 21 of pre-school institutions act, 1996), in which among others also the facilities needed in the kindergarten to participate in physical activities are identifi ed. The annual plan for an individual teaching group is then devised on the basis of the Pre-school curriculum (1999) approved by professional Council of the Republic of Slo venia for General Education; whereby also special features of the kindergarten (material, geographical, weat her conditions, personnel and interests of children) and children should be taken into account. In the areas where there is snow in winter, kindergarten authorities shall provide more activities on snow and ice in comparison with those which lack these natural features; the same fact applies to the kindergartens which have the opportunity to arrange water games and swimming in their vicinity (Videmšek & Pišot, 2007). Temple and OʼCommor (2011) point out that environments provide opportunities and the structure to engage children in meaningful motor/sports experiences. In compliance with the instructions of the valid Curriculum for kindergartens pre-school teachers decide on the amount of time to be dedicated to individual proposed content. The process and development oriented curriculum gives the pre-school teachers much freedom regarding the selection of various content in order to reach the same goals. The autonomous selection applies to every basic area of the curriculum, thus also to THE QUALITY OF KINDERGARTEN CARE AS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF THE SUBJECTIVE THEORIES


INTRODUCTION
The organization and detailed content of life and work are set out by the kindergarten in the annual work plan, adopted by the council of the kindergarten (Article 21 of pre-school institutions act, 1996), in which among others also the facilities needed in the kindergarten to participate in physical activities are identifi ed.The annual plan for an individual teaching group is then devised on the basis of the Pre-school curriculum (1999) approved by professional Council of the Republic of Slo venia for General Education; whereby also special features of the kindergarten (material, geographical, weat her conditions, personnel and interests of children) and children should be taken into account.In the areas where there is snow in winter, kindergarten authorities shall provide more activities on snow and ice in comparison with those which lack these natural features; the same fact applies to the kindergartens which have the opportunity to arrange water games and swimming in their vicinity (Videmšek & Pišot, 2007).Temple and OʼCommor (2011) point out that environments provide opportunities and the structure to engage children in meaningful motor/sports experiences.
In compliance with the instructions of the valid Curriculum for kindergartens pre-school teachers decide on the amount of time to be dedicated to individual proposed content.The process and development oriented curriculum gives the pre-school teachers much freedom regarding the selection of various content in order to reach the same goals.The autonomous selection applies to every basic area of the curriculum, thus also to movement (Zajec, 2010).Previous research in the fi eld of movement demonstrated that material conditions, personnel and organizational factors have impact on the frequency of integrating organized motor/sports activities in the kindergarten (Zajec, Videmšek, Štihec, & Šimunič, 2010).The same researchers established that of the above mentioned factors personnel is the key factor contributing to the formation of the regression equation for identifying the relationship between organized motor/ sports activities in the kindergarten and other variables, such as material conditions, content and personnel.
The term hidden curriculum refers to all the acts, which are not explicitly written down in the valid curriculum, and which are refl ected in subjective, personal, implicit theories and preschool teacher's attitude to the education.Taking into consideration the fact that the hidden curriculum (Špoljar, 1993) substantially defi nes the educational process and has impact on the interaction between the pre-school teacher and the child and is refl ected in subjective theories, the lifestyle of pre-school teachers is of prime importance (Zajec & Cemič, 2010).The hidden curriculum does not apply only to ideologically charged contents (Bahovec & Kodelja, 1996), but substantially interferes with the organization and activities of the kindergarten as a whole.The lifestyle of a preschool teacher infl uences subjective theories, which in turn have a powerful impact on the teaching orientation and are also refl ected in the directions and manner of activities an individual pre-school teacher is to pursue (Zajec & Cemič, 2010).Apart from the already mentioned facts one cannot neglect the fact that the performance in the pre-school teaching profession depends also on physical fi tness of pre-school teachers, because they face numerous physical challenges on a daily basis.
The awareness that motor/sports activities, especially when performed outdoors, are crucial for harmonious physical development of each child, obliges parents, preschool teachers, pedagogues, and sports professionals to ensure a suitable amount and quality of motor/sports activity performance.Early childhood development is very dynamic and comprehensive, thus motor/sports activities are of outstanding importance.Apart from the fact that movement is an important means of acquiring various information and gathering new experience a child develops movement and functional capabilities when practising it.It is also agreed that during the preschool years, children should be encouraged to practice movement skills and engage in appropriate physical activity for health, social, and psychological reasons (Shilton & Naughton, 2001).Early childhood forms a unique pe riod where children undergo signifi cant social, intellec tual, emotional, and physical development (Weiss, 2000).It is agreed that enhancement of movement skills play an important role in the development of children within the physical domain, with potential carry-over into the social and cognitive domains (Gab-bard, 1988).Motor/sports activities, such as manipulation opportunities with a variety of equipment, and both locomotive and non-locomotive activities, should form the basis of a young child's pre-school movement experience (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006;Sanders, 1992).
The role of the immediate environment, pre-school teachers, their assistants and parents is thus crucial for the development of a behavioural style of each child, and consequently, of life quality of each individual (Plomin, Chipuer, & Neiderhiser, 1994).
It has been proven that prior to its birth a child already perceives stimuli from the environment that can infl uence its later development.Following the birth it is the very environment into which a child is born, which is of prime importance for his cognitive, physical, movement, emotional and social development; consequently, the factors infl uencing the childʼs development can be divided into three groups, i.e. hereditary, environmental factors and the childʼs own activity (self-activity) (Musek & Pečjak, 1997;Videmšek, Štihec, & Karpljuk, 2008).Simultaneous emergence of all three factors account for capabilities, characteristic features and properties of each individual.The childʼs development should be planned in an overall manner, whereby all the factors infl uencing the creation of a healthy lifestyle should be taken into account (Zajec, 2009).
From the topic of the present research the importance of motor/sports activities during childhood for oneʼs health, as well as for the development of every movement and functional activities is to be inferred.Appro priate movement activities and spending leisure time outdoors, as well as the quality of the environment have a powerful infl uence on the later choice of a healthy lifestyle of each individual; also the role model of a pre-school teacher and her assistant, as well as material conditions for work in pre-school institutions are also among the decisive factors.
The rationale of this study is the fact that with knowing the diff erences in opinions of pre-school teachers and assistants on the importance of children spending quality leisure time and with the theory that the sub jective theories signifi cantly infl uence the teaching orientation this study pointed out the importance of edu cational process not only for pre-school teachers but also for their assistants.With fi nding out whether the criteria to assess the quality of material conditions for initiating motor/sports activities of pre-school teachers, who infl uence the educational process in a more powerful manner than the assistants, we also see the importance of the study in rationale of lifelong learning for pre-school teachers and their assistants.
The aim of this research is to establish the diff erences of opinions between pre-school teachers and their assistants on the quality and amount of time spent by children in pre-school institutions and to establish the diff erences of opinions on material conditions provided.

Sample of respondents
The sample of respondents was composed of 810 male and female pre-school teachers who partici pated in the fi rst part of "Professional training of edu cational staff to implement elements of special pedagogical principles of the Reggio Emilia concept in the area of pre-school education".The data was gathered in September 2009.The sample of respondents was not redundant.All respondents participated voluntarily and had the freedom to choose not to participate.
98.4% of the respondents were female pre-school teachers and 1.6% male teachers of the rural (26.9%), suburban (22.9%) and urban environment (50.2%).As regards the work place 66.8% of pre-school teachers and 33.2% of their assistants participated in the research.The average age of the respondents was 39.6 years.
The whole process of data collection was implemented in compliance with the requirements of Personal Data Protection Act (Offi cial gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 59/1999).

Sample of variables
The sample of variables of the whole research comprised all the fi elds that are covered by the curriculum for pre-school institutions and was designed by the coordinators of individual areas within the project titled "Professional training of pedagogical staff to implement elements of special pedagogical principles of the Reggio Emilia concept in the fi eld of pre-school education".
Uniform questionnaires were compiled for pre-school teachers and their assistants.The measuring cha racteristic of the questionnaire had been validated.In the present research only the variables related to the area of movement are shown.
Questions were related to: -the view of the quality and quantity of time spent by children in pre-school institutions, -the opinions on material conditions provided, -the frequency of motor/sports activities of children and -the frequency of motor/sports activities of pre-school teachers and assistants.
A questionnaire contained 20 questions, closed and semi-open type.The views of respondents were measured with fi ve-point Likertʼs scale (ranging from 1 to 5, in which 5 stands for very much and 1 for very little).

Data processing methods
The data were processed by the SPSS -16.0 for Win dows (Statistical package for social sciences Inc., Chicago IL).In order to calculate the frequencies of indi vidual responses in the questionnaires frequencies was used.On numerical variables and also on other suitably transformed variables mean, standard deviation, variance analysis and correlation (analysis of the connection among the variables) were used.Statistic signifi cance was checked at the risk level of 5% (p = 0.05).Data were arranged in tables and fi gures.

RESULTS
Pre-school teachers and their assistants were asked about children's leisure time in their teaching groups in individual places.We inferred that children of our research sample spend 10.1% of their leisure sitting outdoors, whereas 28% of their leisure is spent sitting in the play rooms on average, and 16.8% of their leisure is spent sitting in the joint premises.
TABLE 1 shows the frequency of grades of the preschool teachers and their assistants as regards the movement activities of the children on a scale ranging from 1 to 5. It is evident that 60.3% of both responding groups believe that children of their respective pre-school institutions are movement active to a great extent.However, this assessment was provided by almost 10% more preschool teachers than their assistants.The diff erences between both groups were checked by chi-square test, which showed no statistically signifi cant diff erences.

TABLE 1
Diff erent ways in which children spend their leisure in pre-school instituitons per day outdoors, in the play room and in the joint premises in the seated pose Fig. 1 shows the diff erences between the pre-school teachers and assistants in average value regarding the frequency of motor/sports activities of the children in their pre-school institutions.The average value of all the grades amounts to 4.54 with a standard deviation of 0.61.A more detailed analysis showed diff erences be tween the pre-school teachers and assistants, in favour of the pre-school teachers believing that children are provided with more motor/sports activities than it is perceived by the assistants.Despite the existing diff erences they are not statistically signifi cant, as the ANOVA (F value = 3.352, p = 0.068) that for independent samples did not show statistically signifi cant diff erences between both groups.
Furthermore, we analysed the opinions of pre-school teachers on motor/sports activities of children in their respective pre-school institutions were established by posing the question "How well do you think children in your kindergartens are physically fi t? Mark the appropriate grade taking into consideration your group average."The opinions of the pre-school teachers and their assistants are presented in TABLE 3 taking into account a scale ranging from 1 to 5, whereby 1 stands for very bad physical fi tness of a child and 5 for very good physical fi tness.The results show that the mean value of all the grades is 3.98 with a standard deviation 0.68.The opinions of the pre-school teachers and the assistants are not mutually statistically diff erent.
TABLE 2 shows the assessment of the responding pre-school teachers and assistants of the amount and quality of sports equipment at disposal in their respective kindergartens.The average grade of the amount of various sports equipment is 3.22 with a standard deviation of 1.05 (on a scale ranging from 1 to 5, whereby 5 stands for very good and 1 for very bad).The preschool teachers assessed also the quality of sports equipment using the same scale.TABLE 2 shows that the Fig. 1 The average value and standard deviation of the assessment of the frequency of motor/sport activities of chil dren in the kindergarden per week between the assistants and the pre-school teachers  mean value of all the grades is 3.70 with a standard deviation of 0.86.The results of the analysis show that assistants awarded higher grades to the amount of sports equipment as well as to their quality.Further, the pre-school teachers assessed the amount of sports equipment (aids) at disposal in their respective kindergartens statistically lower than the assistants.The diff erences are also to be noted regarding quality, however they are not statistically signifi cant.TABLE 3 shows the attitude of the pre-school teachers to motor/sports activities and the frequency of their active participation in organized and non-organized activities.On a scale ranging from 1 to 5, whereby 5 stands for the most and 1 for the least, the average value of all the grades is 4.5 with the standard deviation of 0.6.
On average the pre-school teachers participate in organized motor/sports activities 156.17 minutes a week, whereas in non-organized activities 248.27 mi nutes a week, with a standard deviation of 185.1.A more de tailed analysis shows that the pre-school teachers reach ed higher values in all three variables.They take up 30 minutes of (organized and non-organized) activities more than the assistants per week.The assessment of the attitude towards motor/sports activities is statistically signifi cantly diff erent between both groups.Although there are diff erences in time which the preschool teachers and assistants devote to motor/sports activities, the variance analysis showed no statistically signifi cant diff erences between them.
Children of those pre-school teachers and their assistants, who's opinion on the amount and quality of sports equipment at disposal in their kindergartens is higher, have better physical fi tness (according to the opinions of the same teachers and assistants) (Spearman Correlation = 0.242, p = 0.000).

DISCUSSION
The aim of this research was to establish the differences in the opinions of the pre-school teachers and the assistants as regards the quality and amount of time that children spend in kindergartens, as well as the material conditions at their disposal.
The analysis of the results showed that the opinions of the pre-school teachers and assistants regarding the manner of children spending their leisure are not statistically signifi cantly diff erent.In their opinions children should spend 10.1% of their leisure on average sitting outside, 28.0% is spent sitting in the play rooms and 16.8% sitting leisure time is spent in the joint premises.In her research Zajec (2009) included 37 principals of Slovenian pre-school institutions and found out that children spend most of their time in multi-purpose rooms and play rooms and that in the majority of kindergartens motor/sports activities are regularly and often performed in play rooms and multi-purpose rooms.Šetina et al. (2008) establish on the sample of 112 children, aged 5 to 8 years by means of accelometers, that the amount of motor/sports activities has been declining over the years and that the diff erences between girls and boys tend to grow, in favour of boys.The organization of work in the kindergarten is mainly bound to inner spaces, especially to the play rooms.Motor/sports activities should be integrated into all areas, thus enabling children an overall development and at the same time presenting them with a healthy lifestyle (Zajec, 2009).More of the childrenʼs time spent outdoors should be devoted to organized activities enabling their overall development and at the same time integrating all areas of the curriculum.Deal (1993) has also researched motor/sports activities of pre-school children.He used heart rate and log book recordings to compare daily ac tivity patterns between children who attended day care and those enrolled in a developmental movement program.He found out that the children in the study were largely sedentary with mean heart rates ranging from 109 beats per minute to 115 beats per minute while some children did not record a single reading above 130 beats per minute for four consecutive hours.Furthermore, he came to the conclusion that children involved in a directed movement program had signifi cantly higher activity levels than those in care.He did not fi nd any diff erence between the groups during time spent at home.According to the Temple and O'Connor (2011) research children participate in fundamental movement skills for longer periods of time when an adult is present.All these fi ndings should encourage pre-school teachers, their assistants and alike all adults, who deal with children, to participate in intensive movement outdoors that should be practised often enough.
Further analysis did not reveal diff erences in the opi nions of the pre-school teachers and the assistants regarding the average values of their assessment of physical fi tness of children and the frequency of their motor/sports activities.The differences were established with their assessment of the amount and quality of sports equipment, in favour of the pre-school teachers, namely.Pre-school teachers apply stricter criteria for assessment of the amount and quality of sports equipment.Temple and O'Connor (2011) found out that pre-school teachers were less assured whether assistant childcare workers provide more physical activity opportunities for children in care.The only issue mentioned across all interviews was a need for more staff and money.It seems that more than sports equipment is the knowledge and the skills of pre-school teachers.The corresponding criteria are also laid down during the study years and later at work and within in-service professional teacher training.Various authors (Alltard, 1993;Zupančič & Kavčič, 2006;Sila, 2007) claim that the diff erences in the level of education are also manifested with the frequency of participating in movement activities, which in turn influences the frequency of organizing motor/sports activities in the kindergarten, as was already mentioned in the introduction.The researches (Zajec, Videmšek, Štihec, & Šimunič, 2010;Kropej, 2001) confi rm that material conditions, as well as qualifi ed personnel infl uence the frequency of indulging in motor/sports activities.As regards the fact that collaboration of the pre-school teacher and assistants is needed in every phase of the educational process and that subjective theories largely infl uence the direction of activities of the leaders of the educational process, the authors believe that special attention on seminars of in-service professional teacher training should also be paid to assistants and this need should also be presented to the principals of kindergartens.
The analysis of the results also showed the diff erences in the attitude towards motor/sports activities, in favour of the pre-school teachers.We found that the pre-school teachers assess their attitudes towards motor/sports activities statistically significantly higher.Apart from that they take up organized or non-organized mo tor/sports activities more often, though these diff erences are not statistically signifi cant.We established that pre-school teachers take up motor/sports activities a little more than 2 hours a week on average, which in the opinion of experts is the lower limit of suffi cient motor/sports activities to enjoy health (Pišot & Kropej, 2005).Regarding the type of profession they practise we believe that the level of suffi cient motor/sports activity to be fi t should be raised, because the profession of pre-school teachers and assistants demands lifting and carrying children, protecting them on climbing devices, on playing devices…, and all this requires good physical fi tness from them.
At the end of the analysis of the results we established the correlation between the opinion of pre-school teachers and their assistants on children's physical fi tness and the opinion on the amount and quality of sports equipment.Children of those pre-school teachers and their assistants, whose opinion on the amount and quality of sports equipment at disposal in their kindergartens is higher, have better physical fi tness.We did not fi nd out the associations between found conditions in kindergartens and the time spent with motor/sports activities.Not according to the pre-school teachers nor their assistants.As Galahue and Cleland (2003) claimed that play opportunities and instructional experiences will greatly infl uence the rate of development of fundamental locomotive, manipulative, and stability skills, the play opportunities and instructional experiences according to our research do not include the found conditions.This view is supported also by the research of Temple and O'Connor (2011).Therefore it is evident that children who receive age appropriate movement skill instruc tion in activity stimulating environments are more likely to experience success in mo ve ment tasks and consequently seek further activity opportunities (Temple & O'Connor, 2011).It is necessary to ensure that day care environments, in which children can spend a large proportion of their time, provide the opportunities and the structure to engage children in meaningful movement experiences.Meaningful movement programs are those that allow children to learn movement skills based on sound educational principles in an interesting and organized manner (Garcia, Garcia, Floyd, & Lawson, 2002).Temple and O'Connor (2011) also found out that pre-school teachers are concerned about their ability to provide the appropriate opportunities (such as a lack of confi dence, ideas and competence) more than the conditions in kindergartens (such as sport equipment).They found out that those pre-school teachers who acquire knowledge and skills, were better able to meet the daily needs of children in their care through facilitating appropriate physical activity experiences and acting as role models.

CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this research was to establish the diff erences in the opinions of pre-school teachers and as-sistants regarding the quality and amount of time that children spend in kindergartens, as well as the material conditions at their disposal.As we already mentioned, the work obligation of an assistant provides for his collaboration with the pre-school teacher with planning, implementation and educational work preparation in the teaching group, as well as performing other tasks in connection with the activities of a pre-school institution.
In this research, the authors tried to establish if edu cation impact the opinions of the pre-school teachers and the assistants.By knowing the diff erences in opinions, the authors wish to draw up guidelines by further education (preparing new subjects and reorganizing the existing one, developing new strategies in preparing seminars…) and training (developing competencies for teaching motor/sports activities) for those who have a lack of knowledge.The authors found that pre-school teachers apply stricter criteria for assessment of the amount and quality of sports equipment than their assistants.That is why the authors assumed that this could be a result of the education process.
Finally, we would like to highlight and connect our conclusions with the subjective theories.Education, life style, environment, working conditions of pre-school teachers thus infl uences subjective theories, which have a powerful eff ect on the teaching orientation, and defi ne the way and manner of a preschool teacherʼs activity.According to our research, we should pay more attention in education for assistants, reorganize the educational program, prepare adequate seminars etc.
All these fi ndings lead us to the conclusion that it would be appropriate to invite preschool teachers and assistants to participate in seminars organized in the scope of in-service professional teacher training on the importance of movement during the preschool period, on the importance of quality and amount of sports equip ment, and on the importance of devising a common strategy of life and work of pre-school teachers and assistants.Only life-long learning can create a healthy lifestyle in our present quickly changing society.

What percentage of time, that a child spends per day in the joint premises, is he/she in the seated pose?
Legend: N -the number of responses, min.-minimum value, max.-maximum value, mean value -the percentage of time, that a child spends per day in a certain place in a certain position

TABLE 2
The quantity and the quality of the sports equipment

please, assess the quality of the sports equipment that is at disposal in your kindergarden?
Legend: N -number of responses, annova: F = F-value, statistical signifi cance were confi rmed or rejected with the risk of 5% (p ≤ 0.05)* Pre-

TABLE 3
Attitude towards the motor/sports activity of the pre-school teachers and assistants