The Role and Application of Picture Books in Pre-school Practice

Tatjana L. Novović - PhD, associate professor, University of Montenegro, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Pedagogy. E-mail: tabo@t-com.meDušanka Popović - PhD, associate professor, University of Montenegro, Faculty of Philology, Department for the Montenegrin language and South Slavic Literatures. E-mail: dusana@t-com.meAddress: Ulica Danila Bojovića bb, ME‐81400 Nikšić, MontenegroPicture books occupy an important place in the life of a child both in family and in school. As a unique combination of illustration and text in a pedagogical mode, picture books teach, incite creative imagination and enrich the cognitive and socio-emotional world of a child. The goal of our research is increase understanding the place and the role of genre diverse picture books in Montenegrin pre-schools in the current context. Pre-school teachers noted key challenges in the use of picture books in pre-school practice in general and singled out proposals for more efficient application. In this paper, we deal with parents' participation in mediating picture books` content and values to pre-schoolers. We took our research sample from the population of teachers in pre-schools of central, northern and southern region of Montenegro. Our research included 209 pre-school teachers from five kindergartens and 93 respondents from the three institutions, which we interviewed during the seminars. We combined elements of both quantitative and qualitative surveying and interviewing.Our research indicates a significant and continued use of genre-diverse picture books, but also an absence of new titles, technical support in the selection of high-quality books, domestic authors and vague criteria in the selection of books, as well as a lack of parental involvement in the selection of books.