Preschool Education Based on the Educational Dimensions from the Perspectives of Parents and Preschool Teachers

The study aimed to identify parents' and preschool teachers' perspectives on preschool education based on the domains of education proposed in Iran's Fundamental Reform Document of Education. This study adopted a qualitative descriptive–analytical approach, and data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. The participants consisted of 17 preschool teachers and 12 parents of preschool children in Birjand, who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews until data saturation was achieved. The interview data were analyzed following the stages of thematic analysis, and the trustworthiness of the findings was established based on Guba and Lincoln's criteria, including credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The findings revealed that parents' and teachers' perspectives on preschool education could be categorized into five educational domains: social and political, religious, moral, and spiritual, physical and health, economic and vocational, and artistic and aesthetic. Within the social and political domain, themes such as peer interaction, participation in group activities, social adjustment, and socialization emerged most frequently. In the religious, moral, and spiritual domain, themes related to familiarity with God, the Holy Qur'an, the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), religious values, and religious practices received the greatest emphasis from the participants. The findings also indicated that teachers placed greater emphasis on the social and political domain, whereas parents assigned higher importance to the religious, moral, and spiritual domain. Furthermore, no theme was identified that could be directly classified under the scientific and technological domain. The findings suggest that although parents' and teachers' perspectives are largely consistent with the multidimensional educational approach advocated in Iran's Fundamental Reform Document of Education, attention to the educational domains remains unbalanced. The limited emphasis on the scientific and technological domain highlights the need to reconsider and strengthen preschool educational programs to promote more comprehensive and balanced child development.