Ikimokyklinės švietimo įstaigos vadovo teikiama pagalba mokytojams tobulinant jų profesines kompetencijas
Recenzentas / Rewiewer |
Licencinė sutartis Nr. MRU-EDT-1804.
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Globalization processes affect various fields worldwide, including education. The educational environment is constantly changing due to technological advancements, evolving pedagogical methods, and shifting societal needs. Therefore, teachers' existing competencies are no longer sufficient to ensure high-quality education for children. In striving to develop their professional competencies, teachers face numerous challenges in organizing the educational process, including diverse student needs, cultural diversity, and the implementation of innovations in education. To ensure smooth professional development, preschool educational institution heads should not only create suitable conditions, encourage, support, and motivate staff, but also provide financial resources, information technology tools, and professional guidance. From a theoretical perspective, the role and functions of the head of an educational institution are considered particularly important not only for the functioning of the institution itself but also for contributing significantly to teachers’ professional development. Teachers' professional development is an essential and inseparable part of preschool educators’ careers, ensuring that their knowledge and methods remain up to date and responsive to changes in the educational system. Research aim – to reveal the support provided by preschool educational institution heads to teachers in developing their professional competencies. Objectives: to describe the specific roles of preschool institution heads; to outline the professional competencies of preschool teachers; to assess the opportunities for support provided by institution heads for teachers' professional development; and to evaluate the actual support offered to teachers in developing their competencies. To conduct this quantitative research, a questionnaire survey method was used. The study involved 382 preschool teachers. The research aimed to explore what kind of support teachers receive from their institution heads to enhance their professional competencies. The results revealed that preschool institution heads organize training and courses, encourage sharing of good practices, and provide necessary tools that promote greater involvement in the professional development process. However, it was also found that teachers still face a lack of certain resources, which hinders their development opportunities. In summary, it was concluded that the support provided by heads influences teachers’ professional outcomes – the more support is provided, the better the results achieved by teachers. The hypothesis that preschool institution heads contribute purposefully to the development of teachers' professional competencies was confirmed.