Preschool Teacher's Willingness for Professional Development and Professional Training

Percepcija odgojiteljskog zanimanja mijenjala se tijekom povijesti. Iz današnje per-spektive odgojitelji se promatraju kao stručno osposobljene osobe za odgojno-obrazovno dje-lovanje s djecom u dječjem vrtiću te se brojne zadaće i obveze povezuju s tim određenjem. No, unatoč složenosti poslova još uvijek se javlja pitanje: je li odgojiteljsko zanimanje profesija ili nije? U teorijskom dijelu pobliže je objašnjena odgojiteljska profesija te jedan od važnijih od-gojiteljskih zahtjeva, a to je profesionalni razvoj. Profesionalni razvoj podrazumijeva razvoj kompetencija koje odgojitelju omogućavaju kvalitetno djelovanje i odgovaranje na svakod-nevne izazove. Ostvaruje se kroz različite oblike stručnog usavršavanja, kritičkog promišljanja, istraživanja i iščitavanja literature. Glavno pitanje kojim se vodi ovaj diplomski rad je koliko sebe odgojitelji procjenjuju spremnima na taj zahtjevni, kontinuirani proces. Stoga cilj istraži-vanja je utvrditi samoprocjenu spremnosti odgojitelja na profesionalni razvoj i stručno usavr-šavanje. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 150 odgojitelja koji su ispitani online anketnim upitni-kom. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su kako je među ispitanicima prisutna visoka razina spre-mnosti na profesionalni razvoj, dok se analizom rezultata dobivenih testiranjem hipoteza utvr-dilo da ne postoji statistički značajna razlika u samoprocjeni spremnosti odgojitelja na profesi-onalni razvoj s obzirom na životnu dob i radno iskustvo, ali postoji s obzirom na radni status te razinu obrazovanja odgojitelja. Oni odgojitelji koji su u stalnom radnom odnosu i imaju završenu diplomsku razinu obrazovanja procjenjuju se spremnijima na profesionalni razvoj i stručno usavršavanje.The perception of pre-school teachers’ profession, has changed throughout history. From today’s perspective pre-school teachers are observed as individuals professionally trained for educational activities with children in kindergarten, and many tasks and responsibilities are associated with that definition. But, despite the complexity of the job the question still arises: is the preschool teacher occupation a profession or not? In the theoretical part the educational profession, and one of the most important educational requirements, professional development, is explained in more detail. Professional development implies development of the competen-cies that enable the educator to act with quality and respond to everyday challenges. It is real-ized through the various forms of professional development, critical reflection, research and reading of the literature. The main question that guides this thesis is how much the educators find themselves ready for this demanding, continuous process. Therefore, the aim of the re-search is to determine the self-assessment of readiness of pre-school teachers for professional development. The survey involved 150 educators who were surveyed by an online survey ques-tionnaire. The results of the research showed that there is a high level of readiness for profes-sional development among the respondents, while the analysis of the results obtained by testing hypotheses showed that there is no statistically significant difference in the readiness of edu-cators for professional development with regard to age and work experience, but it exists with regard to the employment status and level of education of the educator. Those educators who are in permanent employment and have completed a graduate level of education are assessed as more ready for professional development