HUMAN, TECHNOLOGIES AND QUALITY OF EDUCATION, 2023 283 https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2023.22 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ECEC TEACHER’S ROLE IN ARTISTIC CREATION OF CHILDREN IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Antonija Vukašinović Faculty of Humanities and Social Science in Osijek, Croatia ABSTRACT In the Early Childhood Education and Care, art can be understood through many perspective directions. Children’s artistic expression is oſten seen through the prism of the finished product and less through the observation of the process by which art expresses children’s thoughts, feel- ings, and experiences. e importance of expressive media in children’s artistic creation is man- ifested in the early childhood education and care teacher’s understanding of their use. e Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teacher’s role is to understand the developmental stages of children’s artistic creativity, to know the function of expressive media, and to properly sup- port children in their use. erefore, this research is focused on the importance of establishing guidelines in art study programmes that would improve the competence of future ECEC teachers in performing methodical exercises in kindergartens. In the focus group, eight students from the Early Childhood Education and Care programme at the University of Slavonski Brod in Cro- atia participated, specifically six from the undergraduate programme and two from the graduate programme. In the focus group, open-ended research questions were used to determine opinions on the importance of art in children’s creativity, the professional competencies of ECEC teach- ers needed to support children in art creation, and the attitude towards stencilling. Data from the thematic analysis of the transcripts of focus group conversations point to students’s reliance on implicit pedagogies. erefore, it is important to improve the development of the professional competencies of future ECEC teachers and establish an integrated approach to art activities in early childhood education and care institutions. e guidelines resulting from the research pro- vide an overview of the possible methods of students performing methodical exercises in ECEC institutions that are focused on children’s interests and a child-centred approach. e aforemen- tioned research leaves space for further research that would include a larger number of student participants and provide a more detailed insight into the aforementioned issue. Keywords: expressive media; methodical exercises; phases of artistic creativity; professional com- petences; the role of the ECEC teacher