Page 330 - Pedagoška vizija / A Pedagogical Vision

Blaž Klasinc and Mojca Žefran

mining the challenges in integrating multilingual and multicultural content
in kindergarten activities, as perceived by the respondents. The study was
conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews. The questions were re-
lated to the demographic data of the respondents, including their age and
theirworkexperienceinkindergarten,followedbyquestionsabouttheirper-
ception and understanding of multilingual/multicultural content and activ-
ities in kindergarten and their attitudes towards including such content at
the preschool level. Then we wanted to know how competent they feel in
integrating multilingual/multicultural content in their work, where they ac-
quired their competencies and whether they have any experience in inte-
grating multilingual/multicultural content in kindergarten activities. Finally,
the participants were asked to share their perceptions of the challenges in
integrating multilingual/multicultural content in preschool education. The
sample comprised 16 students of preschool education in Slovenia in their fi-
nal year of study. Eight of them were already employed in kindergartens as
teaching assistants, while eight of them had no work experience in preschool
education. All the participants were female. 13 participants were under the
age of 30 (from 21 to 28), and three of them were over the age of 30. The in-
terviews were carried out in April 2023 and were recorded with the consent
of participants and later transcribed and coded. The length of the interviews
was between 15 minutes and 1 hour.
The results of our study, organised by the research questions, are pre-
sented and discussed in the following section.

Results and Discussion
Slovenian Pre-Service Preschool Teachers’ Attitudes towards Integrating
Multilingual and Multicultural Content in Kindergarten Activities
Firstly, we explored how our respondents perceive and understand the
concepts of multilingual and multicultural activities in kindergarten. All of
them agreed that multicultural activities involved those activities that in-
clude different cultures and learning about those cultures, as well as those
that promote acceptance of otherness, tolerance and positive attitudes to-
wards other cultures. All the respondents connect multicultural activities
with learning about traditional food and folklore, including traditional folk
costumes and dances, as well as national holidays and customs, through
literature (especially picture books), songs, games, videos, dancing and dis-
cussions. One of the interviewees also pointed out the importance of learn-
ing about national symbols, such as flags and anthems, and also the history
and distinct characteristics of different countries, which is in line with the

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