EXPRESSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF GENERAL COMPETENCES IN NON-FORMAL EDUCATION: THE APPROACH OF EDUCATORS IMPROVING THE QUALIFICATIONS

Abstract

The low level of general competences is one of the obstacles to the professionalization of pedagogues, and the current situation, when there is a lack of research in Lithuania analyzing the activities of adult educators in non-formal education in developing the general competences of pedagogues, presupposes a research problem: how are the general competences of pedagogues expressed and what are the opportunities for their development when participating in non-formal education?

Research object: expression and development of pedagogues' general competences in non-formal education.

The purpose of the research: to analyze and substantiate the importance, expression and development possibilities of general competences of pedagogues in non-formal education.

The tasks of the research: 1) to investigate the attitude of pedagogues towards the expression and development possibilities of abilities that make up general competences in non-formal education; 2) to reveal the necessity of general competences in the professional activities of the pedagogue and their development, focusing on the aspects of adult educator's activities in non-formal education.

After choosing the expression and development of general competences of a pedagogue in non-formal education as the object of research, after analyzing the scientific literature, a questionnaire survey of pedagogues was carried out in order to reveal the importance of general competences in pedagogical activities, the expression and development of the abilities that make them up, focusing on the aspects of adult educator's activities in non-formal education. Pedagogues (total: 316) who participated in qualification improvement events (total: 13) held at the Continuing Studies Center of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Klaipėda University were interviewed in 2023 January – April for this purpose.

Main results of the study. The research revealed that when pedagogues are developing general competences in non-formal education, it is necessary for adult educators to evaluate them, guided by the documents regulating the teaching profession, to help acquire new, deepen and expand the general competences developed so far, such as communication and information management, communication and cooperation, reflection and learning to learn, improvement of the organization, but essentially to activate the development of research activity competence. This is relevant, because only by researching and analyzing professional activities can one design a personal career, which includes the successful professional realization of a teacher, an activity strategy. The research confirmed that it is important not only to use various methods and forms of developing general competencies, but also to take into account and respond to the individual needs of pedagogues, to prepare trainings of various and relevant content, in the development of pedagogues' general competencies. The results of the research testify that although educators have the opportunity to choose qualification events according to their individual needs, there is a lack of training programs directly related to the development of general competencies. For an adult educator, in order to develop the general competences of pedagogues, communicative competence is particularly important, in order to realize and ensure constructive and productive interaction between him and learning pedagogues improving their qualifications in non-formal education.