Ekaterina N. Gosheva

Search for compact and at the same time effective means of pedagogical diagnostics, which could easily fit into the educational activities of preschool educational institution leads to a discussion of the possibility of using pedagogical problem situations as such means. These situations contain certain social problems that a child solves together with an adult. Problem situations create conditions of children’s activities and communication, where it is necessary to analyze and / or evaluate the behavior of other people and choose a strategy own behavior in view of its possible consequences. Problem situations are used in psycho-diagnostics, and are similar to the method of the natural experiment. By their target orientation, substantial and structural organization (themes and questions), species (illustrative simulation and real situations), requirements to their design and stages, educational and diagnostic problem situations are quite similar. The process of transformation of pedagogical problem situations into the diagnostical suggests following the logic of the diagnostic process, compliance with its stages - design, content organization, analysis and prognosis.

This article presents findings from theoretical research on the issues of studies with children conducted by educators in terms of applying psychological and pedagogical characterization as a strategy. The aim of this study is to uncover the specifics of applying this strategy and compare it with the strategy of observation. The methodological basis is activity and competency-based approaches, whereas the main method of study is a theoretical analysis of the psychological and pedagogical body of literature on this issue. As a result of the research, an understanding of the above mentioned strategy in the entirety of its aims, principles, milestones, and outcomes was achieved. The study shows that psychological and pedagogical characterization as a strategy for the study of children follows the general logic of scientific research in terms of the sequence of its stages (planning, content-organization, analytic-outcome, and prognostic) and that it is implemented through special diagnostic terms of reference. A diagram of the characterization, the structure of which reflects the complex of aims and stages in the study of a child, functions as guidance for the strategy. Part of the diagram describes the most significant markers and directions of psychological development (the level of achievement for different kinds of activity; cognitive, speech, social, and motor development; the particularities of a child’s personality and their individuality) as the basis for a psychological portrait of the child. The resulting part of the diagram includes conclusions drawn from the comparison and synthesis of the obtained facts according to the principles of scientific research and a tentative prediction of a child’s further development. The improvement of the algorithm for evaluating the text of the characterization according to the aims and principles of its composition is an important direction for the perfection of the strategy. The criteria of the characterization are the integrity of the child’s psychological portrait, the quality of conclusions and established pedagogical recommendations, and the position of the educator in their interaction with the child at the information gathering stage.

The article describes the findings of the historic-theoretical study of research methods utilized by preschool teachers in terms of analysis of understandings about their specificity in the national psychological and pedagogical science. The aim of this study is to uncover the strategies for studying children through observations and comparison forms of the documentations of results conducted by the preschool teachers. The analysis was performed beginning from the preschool teacher’s diary designated by research team under the guidance of

O. Dyachenko to the maps of development for the modern curriculums of preschool education (“Beginnings”, “From the Birth to School”, “World of Explorations” etc.). The main method of the study is a problem analyses, that allowed defining the goals and tasks of the use of the diaries and development maps as tools of documentation and analyses of results through observation; rules and choice of developmental milestones in children for the diaries and maps; methods of filling them up, analyzing and interpreting data. Directions for the improvement of design, implementation and analysis of the diaries and development maps children are identified. The conditions for effective interaction between preschool teacher, psychologist and other specialists through implementing of strategies for exploration of children are discussed. The objectives for the development of professional competences in preschool teachers in the area of pedagogical diagnostic are given.

Introduction. The article presents the results of theoretical research on the problem of the assessment of the process and result of the study of the preschool child by the educator. The purpose of the study is to develop a model of the analytic activity of the preschool teacher in an educational organization.

Methods. The methodological basis is activity and competency-based approaches, ideas about the reflective-evaluative activity of the teacher, the practical goals of psycho-diagnostics of preschool children, the age-analysis scheme in the cultural-historical concept of L.S. Vygotsky, the principles of the organization of objective psychological research, developed by S. Rubinshtein, and the methods of research – the theoretical analysis of psychological and educational literature on the problem, the modeling stages of the analytic activity of the educator, carried out in the process of studying the preschool child, and the means for monitoring the effectiveness of this activity.

Results. The result of the research is a structurally functional, criterial model of the analytic activity of the educator, aimed at assessing the process and result of learning in the child. The model contains two interrelated blocks: content-procedural and operational-technical, i.e. its structure is focused on the idea of monitoring and evaluation processes in the study of the child. The content-procedural block includes a description of the criteria for assessing the data on the child, arranged according to the stages of the study: 1) the position of the educator in interaction with the child; 2) the integrity of the age-psychological portrait; 3) the quality of the conclusions, the forecast of the child’s further development, pedagogical recommendations; 4) language of the description of the age-psychological portrait. The operational-technical block contains methods for evaluating information about the child in accordance with the content of the proposed criteria: comparing information with the criterion, clarification on its compliance with a certain criterion, and identification of the three levels of this matching.

Conclusion. The model enables the preschool teacher to evaluate both the effectiveness of each of the study stages individually, and the process as a whole, and to compile a holistic age-psychological portrait of the preschool child on the basis of all the results obtained.

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of assessing the process and the result of understanding a child by a preschool teacher.

The purpose of the study is to develop and initial approbation an algorithm for self-analysis and expert assessment of the teacher’s understanding of a child as a practical tool for overcoming difficulties in interacting with the child and planning educational activities with him.

The methodological basis of the study was the system-activity and competence-based approaches to the consideration of the teacher’s activity for the knowledge of a preschooler, qualitative (ideographic) and subjective approaches to psycho-diagnostics.

As a result of the research, a step-by-step algorithm for analyzing the teacher’s understanding of the child has been developed. At the first stage, the teacher answers questions compiled in the form of a non-standardized self-report for reflecting the shape of a preschooler in educational activities. The sequence of questions is built in the following logic: identifying the child’s characteristics as perceived by the teacher, comparing them with each other, and then correlating them with the specifics of educational activity with the child, setting tasks for his further understanding in professional and pedagogical activity.

At the second stage, the expert evaluates the teacher’s answers, identifying difficulties in understanding the child and determining the directions for improving his professional training or methodological support. The teacher analyzes the answers in the aspects of, firstly, the manifestation of the social perception and the operational-technical component of gnostic competencies; secondly, their compliance with the criteria and indicators in the content of the information received about the child. At the third stage, the expert together with the teachers discuss and analyze their answers to clarify the shape of the child, make changes in the planning of educational activities and determine the directions for further development of gnostic competencies of teachers.

Conclusions. The three-stage algorithm of reflection and analysis of the child’s shape is developed.