Determination of Preschool Teachers' Preference Reasons for Children's Books Used by Them in Their Classes

Teachers are the people performing the most important role in the educational process. In particular, in preschool education, teacher qualifications have become more crucial since the preschool period is a critical year in terms of all aspects of the child's development. It is the most important period in which children's attitudes towards book develop. In the preschool period, books that teachers choose for children have been seen to affect the attitudes and viewpoints of children towards books in their later ages. In this context, the research was conducted with the aim of revealing what criteria preschool teachers choose for children's book that they use in their classes. A situational study is a qualitative study in which a situation is investigated in depth. 26 preschool teachers working at kindergartens and nursery classes in elementary schools which are affiliated to Kütahya Provincial Directorate of National Education participated in the research. Research data were collected with semi-structured interview questions. The data were categorized by content analysis. According to the results of the research, preschool teachers pay attention to the fact that the textbook is robust physically in the selection of the books they use in the classroom, that the content is simple to understand and that the language used is plain and that the known writers and publishing houses are also considered when choosing books.