| Summary: | Early childhood education refers to the education services provided to children between the ages of zero and the age of formal schooling. In Turkey, public pre-schools provide educational services for children between the ages of 36-69 months; therefore, early childhood teacher education programs mostly prepare their students for working with 36-69 months of children. Nevertheless, early childhood educators are one of the primary groups who can work in the early childhood care and education centers that provide services for 0-36 months of age children, as well. In the national literature there is a gap regarding how in-service and pre-service early childhood educators think about working with infants and toddlers. Therefore, the main aim of the current study is to understand the point of view of pre-service early childhood educators regarding center based infant-toddler education and working with infants. Additionally, in the current study it is aimed to examine whether perceptions related to infant toddler education have changed among pre-service early childhood educators who are in the fourth grade of their undergraduate education at different years. Therefore, the data of the study was gathered from 120 pre-service early childhood educators who are at their fourth grade in different years. Written-interview protocol including five open-ended questions was used to gather data in each year. Thematic analysis was used as the data analysis technique. Findings are critically discussed based on the teacher education program, general applications and social policies.
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