In a rapidly changing world, preschool teachers, teachers, and other educators are forced to constantly adapt, improve, and educate themselves. Nowadays, continuous professional learning is no longer a choice, but necessity and professional duty of every pedagogical staff. Recently, education has been transformed in many ways and the covid-19 epidemic has further highlighted shortcomings of the culture of learning and cooperation. Continuous professional development of preschool teachers and teachers is of key importance for continuous fulfillment of professional skills, knowledge, and approaches in the educational process.
The master thesis shows the cooperation of preschool teachers and teachers as a factor of individual’s professional development. In the theoretical part, we focused on the definition of individual's professional development and the factors that influence this development. In the last part of the theoretical part, the mutual cooperation of preschool teacher and teacher in the 1st grade of elementary school as well as teamwork at different levels are highlighted. In the empirical part, the quantitative research method is used to present the results of the research conducted on a sample of preschool teachers and teachers who teach in tandem in the 1st grade of elementary school in Slovenia. For the research purpose, we designed survey questionnaire, which was answered by 60 preschool teachers and 68 teachers who teach in the 1st grade of elementary school. The obtained results are presented through four main substantive sets of research questions. They refer to the professional development of preschool teachers and teachers and the factors of professional development, the desire to be involved in further forms of education and training, the importance of cooperation for professional teaching, and the experiences of preschool teachers and teachers with mutual cooperation.
We have found that the majority of preschool teachers and teachers in the 1st grade rate their own professional development as very important. They also attach great importance to the professional development of other teaching staff in the collective. We have also investigated the factors of professional development. We have found that preschool teachers and teachers in the 1st grade rate the following as important for their professional development: professional motivation, management support, and research on their own. Preschool teachers and teachers express a high assessment of willingness for further education and training. Furthermore, we have found that there are differences among preschool teachers regarding their willingness to engage in various forms of further education and training depending on their years of service. In the initial period of career development, preschool teachers are less inclined to further education and training than those with more experience. Likewise, preschool teachers and teachers express a high level of importance of mutual cooperation for their own professional development.
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