TRAINING SPECIALISTS OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PARADIGM CHANGING: ACHIEVEMENTS, CONTRADICTIONS, PROSPECTS

In today’s conditions of new economic relations developing the national system of education has new strategic tasks. The leading ones are the reorganization of the existing system of professional training of pedagogical staff capable of providing a high level of their professional competence, creative initiative and reflexive self-awareness, as well as professional and personal development during the pedagogical life. A powerful system for postgraduate pedagogical education is powerful in solving these problems. In Ukraine the leading role in this is played by the Institute for Continuing Education of the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University. First of all, it is to provide a new quality of teaching staff, able to effectively carry out professional activities in conditions of instability, uncertainty and constant change. The priority in the activity of the Institute is to improve the skills of the employees of pre-school establishments, which enable teachers to acquire knowledge and skills within the existing educational qualification level and increase their professional competence. The essence, principles, and problems of the system of continuous education, as well as the preconditions of its modernization are considered. The purpose of continuous education of high school teachers is to ensure the competence development in accordance with the challenges of time, the demands of educational practice. The competence approach focuses on the introduction of a new economic model for the functioning of the system of postgraduate pedagogical education, content improvement, updating of curricula, development of innovative pedagogical technologies, modernization of scientific activity in postgraduate education. Another feature of the system of continuing education is the introduction of competency and credit approaches, the creation of credit-module training on the basis of internally-distance form of training. Information, problem and searching, personally oriented, competence oriented and activity oriented approaches to the organization of the process of improving the professional qualifications, as innovative, are successfully implemented at the Institute. Thus, in the course of its activities, in the context of constant social and economic changes, the staff of the University is steadily moving towards the development of the system of postgraduate pedagogical education, taking into account the achievements of the latest organizational forms and technologies developed by the world scientific and educational community