Professional development of preschool teachers has over the last few years gained in importance, both in research and practice. European education policy recognizes the importance of preschool teachers’ role in developing self-awareness as well as the importance of early and preschool education in which the professional development of teachers represents an indivisible component of culture. However, most research in the field of professional training focuses on elementary and high school teachers, and the same applies to professional development models. Lack of research and the absence of a modern model of preschool teachers’ professional development makes it impossible to appreciate the specificity of the preschool teacher profession and the needs arising from these specificities in shaping and evaluating preschool teachers’ professional development.
The theoretical part of this thesis tries to explain scientific and social changes that have led to professional development of preschool teachers. Emphasis is placed on the contemporary preschool teacher in the European context, acknowledgement of the importance of childhood and the quality of early and preschool education, as well as on neuroscientific discoveries, which influence the practice and society in this field. Furthermore, the basic concepts of profession and requirements are determined, which an occupation must meet in order to become a profession. This thesis emphasizes professional development with an overview of the European understanding of initial preschool teachers’ education, as well as a historical overview of the Croatian context as the foundation of today’s approach. It also discusses different approaches, forms, and ways of professional development and numerous factors of preschool teachers’ professional development. This part is particularly focused on the overview of the models of professional development, which have served as a starting point for the creation of our model of professional development of preschool teachers.
The aim of this thesis is therefore to examine the opinions, attitudes, and experiences of preschool teachers about certain elements of professional development, and to create a model of professional development that is specific to the preschool teacher profession. 524 preschool teachers and 45 principals participated in the quantitative part of research and 10 preschool teacher-mentors and preschool teacher-advisors took part in its qualitative part. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire, which was created for the purspose of this research, and interviews with preschool teacher-mentors and preschool teacher-advisors. We were curious to find out which factors particularly affect preschool teachers’ choices in their professional development and which key elements, such as people or moments at work, are emphasized as important in their professional development. In addition, the thesis explores and analyzes preschool teachers’ attitudes towards factors that may affect the image of the preschool teacher in society. Insight is also provided into competences from two aspects – preschool teachers’ development during initial research and their opinions about which of the mentioned competences they deem important in practice. Data was analyzed at the level of descriptive and inferential statistics.
Despite the work difficulty and roles that keep piling up year after year, research shows that most preschool teachers have never considered leaving their job. Still, the most common reasons for considering it are stressful and difficult work and bad relations with other stakeholders in the education process. Research has also shown that preschool teachers do not attend conferences and do not publish papers. A part of the interviewed preschool teachers mention the principal or a team member as a key person who has had a certain influence on them in their professional development. Overall, they describe positive experiences in the form of direct influence, such as counseling or verbal stimulation. Preschool teachers describe, almost to the same extent, professional development either as a fairly simple concept or as part of a reflective practice focused on the child. It has been established that younger preschool teachers reflect about professional development in multi-dimensional terms.
Statistically significant differences in the perception of insecurity were obtained in the category of novice preschool teachers who, in relation to other preschool teachers, feel a higher level of insecurity that decreases over time. Novice preschool teachers also evaluted a high level of professional expertise. Preschool teachers with different types of work experience do not differ in the importance of professionalizing the preschool teacher calling, direct professional activities, and material conditions and external activities. All this data points to the need for a model of professional development of preschool teachers given that some data obtained through research, due to the specificity of the preschool teacher profession, differ significantly from research of the school teaching profession. For this reason we have created a six-phase model of preschool teachers’ professional development based on the obtained results and theoretical insights. Phases are named according to the specifics of each particular period: a) Novice preschool teachers (0-3); b) Reflective preschool teacher (4-7-); c) Advanced preschool teacher (8-12); d) Routine preschool teacher (16-23); e) Expert preschool teacher (24-30); f) Preschool teacher veteran (over 30 years of work experience). In each of these phases the focus is on achieving professional development at the (1) individual level, (2) level of institutions and institutional groups, and (3) system level.
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