Ikimokyklinio ugdymo įstaigų pedagogų skaitmeninės kompetencijos tobulinimo poreikis
Recenzentas / Rewiewer |
Licencinė sutartis Nr. MRU-EDT-1311.
Fast technological growth and development, constant innovations in the education system, and society’s rapidly increasing demands for pre-school education in the past twenty years push educational staff towards using their digital skills more and more often in their work. Digital competencies pose new demands for early education and care staff focusing on the care and well-being of children in the digital age. For these reasons, the improvement of digital competencies in the work of pre-school education staff becomes or must become an integral part of educational work. In recent years, digital competence has become a central concept in discussions about the skills and understanding that people should have mastered in the knowledge society. And the improvement of digital competences provides an opportunity to achieve educational goals and convey educational content using digital education content, means and tools more effectively. Research problem – what is the need for digital competencies improvement in the educators of preschool educational institutions? Research object – the need for digital competencies improvement in educators of pre-school educational institutions. Research purpose – define the need for digital competencies improvement in pre-school educational institution staff. Research tasks: 1. Define the concept of digital competence; 2. Introduce the structure of digital competence; 3. Substantiate the importance of digital competence and its improvement in the work of educators of preschool education institutions; 4. To assess the level of digital competencies of the educators and the need for its improvement in preschool education institutions. 4 hypotheses raised to achieve the research purpose: 1. Educators refer to the application of digital competencies in pre-school education as a very important part of their work, which is also very important to their pupils; 2. Pre-school educators have mastered the areas of digital competence (information, communication, content creation, security, problem solving) very well; 3. Educators working at pre-school institutions find it very important to keep improving the application of their digital competencies at work; 4. The mastery and need for improvement of digital competencies of preschool institution educators is related to their age and work experience. Research methods: scientific literature and document analysis, internet resource analysis and interpretation, survey, descriptive statistics methods. Structure. This Master’s final thesis consists of two major parts. The first part provides a theoretical analysis for the need of digital competencies improvement in educators working at pre-school education institutions, while the second part substantiates the methodology of the research of the need for improving the digital competences of educators working at preschool education institutions and delivers the results of the conducted research. The end of the thesis features conclusions and recommendations. The study revealed that the use of digital technologies becomes an integral part of pedagogical work and the improvement of digital competence in various areas becomes a necessity so that it can be used effectively in various areas of pedagogical work, which include not only direct work with children, but, for example, administrative work, accounting, communication with parents, etc. Although educators working in Lithuanian pre-school education institutions have sufficiently mastered the application of digital competences in various digital areas, their improvement and further use remain a very important issue in the pre-school education process. The hypotheses raised at the beginning of the study were confirmed or partially confirmed: 1. Educators believe that the application of digital competence in the work of preschool education is very important. Educators apply their digital competencies in various areas every day. The respondents have also confirmed that their digital competencies are also important to their pupils. 2. Pre-school educators have mastered different levels of various areas of digital competence with highest levels of skill in information management and the lowest level of skill in digital content creation. 3. Educators working at pre-school institutions find it very important to keep improving the application of their digital competencies at work. The majority of the respondents keep improving their digital competencies on a constant/frequent basis. They attend various trainings, take part at projects, etc. 4. The mastery and need for improvement of digital competencies of preschool institution educators is related to their age and work experience. It could be stated the respondents find the improvement of their digital competencies as important or very important regardless of the age or work experience. The study enabled to highlight recommendations for the improvement of digital competencies in educators working at pre-school education institutions: 1. Educators are recommended to improve their digital competence and deepen their knowledge in the relevant areas of digital competence – information, problem solving, security, communication and content creation – on a regular basis (at least once a year). 2. Educators are recommended to use their digital competencies at work more often, also including the not-so-popular digital tools based on their pupils’ age: projectors, headphones, microphones, smart boards, tablets, and smart watches. 3. Pre-school educational institution managers are recommended to encourage digital competencies development among their staff (trainings, courses, seminars, etc.) by allocating paid time and funds for such trainings. 4. The Ministry of Education is recommended to allocate funds not only for the acquisition of digital measures for pre-school educational institutions, but also the digital competencies improvement in their staff. The practical significance of this study lies with the fact that it draws the attention of educators and managers of pre-school education institutions, and the Ministry of Education to the importance of applying digital competencies in pre-school education and the need for its improvement, which leads to taking appropriate actions and measures.