The ways in which parents and pre-school teachers estimate behaviour and emotional development of pre-school children

The goal of our survey was to investigate the coherence of the estimated behavioural and/or emotional problems of pre-school children among their parents and pre-school teachers. The balance between parents' and pre-school teachers' evaluation is highly important, not only for the problem detection, but also for the adequate evaluation and the understanding of the problem. Balance is also important for the appropriate selection of the treatment procedure. The sample used in the survey comprised of 150 pre-school children from the nursery schools Cvrcak in Solin and Grigor Vitez in Split. The parents and pre-school teachers were also included in the evaluation. For the purpose of the study a few different questionnaires were used.. Questionnaire for Teachers, Achenbach questionnaire for parents-Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL-4-18) and Achenbach questionnaire for teachers -Teacher Report Form (TRF-4-18). The results obtained point at no significant coherence in the evaluation of behavioural and/or emotional problems of pre-school children between the parents and pre-school-teachers. In the evaluation of children in need of professional help, pre-school teachers were more supportive and sensible in comparison with the parents. Attention disorder, aggressive and violent behaviour are the most common problems. Similarly, children who, according to pre-school teachers, had no developmental problems, were judged more severely by their parents.