Stages of beginner pedagogues' professional development, difficulties encountered at work and peculiarities of mentors' assistance and support

Straipsnyje analizuojamas ir apibendrinamas užsienio autorių požiūris į pradedančiojo pedagogo profesinę raidą, jos etapus bei mentoriaus jiems teikiamos paramos ypatumus. VPU Vaikystės studijų katedros dėstytojai ir 2005–2007 m. laidos magistrai atliko tyrimą, siekdami nustatyti, kuriame profesinės raidos etape yra ikimokyklinio ugdymo specialybės studentai ir pradedantys dirbti ikimokyklinio ugdymo pedagogai, kokias problemas jie patiria ir kokios mentoriaus paramos jiems reikia. taikyti interviu, apklausos, ugdymo proceso stebėjimo, profesinės veiklos refleksijos, vertinimo tyrimo metodai.this paper analyzes and summarizes foreign authors’ attitude towards professional development of beginner pedagogues and its stages as well as peculiarities of mentors’ support. also, the paper presents the research carried out by the Department of Childhood Studies of Vilnius University. the aim of the research was to identify the stage of professional development of preschool education students during their traineeship and beginner pedagogues, to analyze rising difficulties and the peculiarities of mentors’ support. Hypothesis: both beginner pedagogues and preschool education students face the problems of organizing the training, the problems of maintaining discipline, lack of initiative, and the problems of integration into institution’s community. Ways of mentors’ assistance and cooperation meet the needs of charges; provide them with didactic help and help in organizing teaching process; however mentors rarely apply specific techniques and ways of support. methods.of .research: questioning of students, beginner pedagogues and mentors, exploratory experiment in order to evaluate the need for mentor’s support and its effectiveness, observation. participants of the research: 20 students with their mentors and 20 beginner pedagogues with their mentors, totally 80 people, took part in the research