Abstract:

Educational reforms and rapid changes in social life due to the COVID-19 pandemic are affecting the qualifications, professional competencies, and abilities of preschool teachers. The acquired knowledge alone is no longer sufficient, and the development of new competencies is becoming important. Every teacher should continuously improve their competencies and abilities, taking into account the current changes, and must participate in professionalization activities.
According to the Preschool and Preprimary Teacher Training Standard (2019), the qualification structure of preschool education teachers consists of four main areas of activity: the assessment of the child and his or her environment and the provision of educational assistance, the development, management, and implementation of the educational content, applied research in professional activity, and cooperation with parents, state and municipal institutions, social or educational assistance services, businesses and organizations, and public and non-governmental organizations. It is important to note that official documents do not mention teachers’ competencies that are needed to educate children attention, emotional, or developmental disorders, even though there are a number of children in educational institutions who have difficulty managing their emotions.

Purpose of the research was to reveal preschool teachers’ attitude towards competencies needed to ensure the successful education of children with attention, emotional, or developmental disorders.

Methods/methodology:
The study on the professional education and training of preschool teachers was performed during 2021. For this study, we prepared a 27-item self-designed questionnaire consisting of instructions and open-ended and close-ended questions. In this study, we used structured questions, questions with a nominal scale format, and open-ended questions.
The studied sample consisted of 159 preschool teachers working in Lithuania.
Study data obtained from close-ended questions were processed by applying statistical data analysis and using the SPSS 22.0 for Windows (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software.

Expected outcomes/results:
The changing concept of the profession of a preschool teacher working with children with attention, emotional, or developmental disorders also influences the qualitative transformation of professional training parameters. The areas and competencies of the activity of a preschool teacher defined on the basis of the analysis of preschool teachers’ professional activity are the starting point for preparing and improving the curriculum of preschool teacher’s professional training.

The results of the study on the professional activity of preschool teachers working with children with attention, emotional, or developmental disorders showed that the preschool teachers evaluated their psychological, social, and organizational competences only as average, and the research competence – as insufficient. The development and integration of these competencies should be the task of the learning system.
The study showed that the teachers who participated lacked the knowledge and skills needed to work with children with emotional and behavioral disorders.

Keywords:

Competencies, children with attention, emotional or developmental disorders, preschool teacher, qualification.