In Slovakia, various initiatives aimed at supporting technical or polytechnic education at lower secondary schools (ISCED 2) were carried out. Despite the efforts made, these initiatives did not have a positive effect on increasing the interest of pupils in studying at technical vocational schools (ISCED 3). The curriculum plays a significant role in this. The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic is currently preparing a curriculum reform plan for primary and secondary levels of education (ISCED 1-3). The paper presents the results of a survey focused on assessing the curricular content of the school subject technology from pupils’ point of view.
The research survey was carried out with a sample of 101 pupils. To collect research data, a questionnaire was used. The key items of the questionnaire were focused on finding out pupils’ favourite subjects, favourite topics or activities, the impact of teaching technology on pupils’ professional orientation, and their expectations in connection with technically-oriented subjects taught at secondary schools.
It has been found out that pupils’ attitudes to the school subject technology is significantly negative. However, this statement has to be considered not only in relation to the content of the subject but also in relation to the way in which the subject is taught at schools. The pupils express an interest in practical activities during which they can produce various objects or products. When the pupils were asked to evaluate the subject using a traditional classification scale 1 (excellent) – 5 (fail/insufficient), only four pupils rated technology with the grade 1, while up to 11 pupils evaluated the discipline by the grade 5. The final (average) grade of the subject was 3.
Keyword(s) : professional orientation
Target Characteristics of Creative Young Professionals in the Field of Science and Higher Education
The article deals with the problem of rejuvenation of the staff potential in scientific organizations and
higher educational institutions through the selection and motivation of talented young specialists
to build their career trajectory in the field of science, high technology and higher education. The
authors provide a detailed description of the target characteristics necessary for successful work
in a creative environment. Based on original methods and building on the basic provisions of the
theory of motivational complex work activities and use of the MMPI diagnostic test, they define the
reference variant personality, and motivational profile of the scientist and compare it with the real
profiles of undergraduate and graduate students wishing or not wishing to continue their graduate
education with subsequent employment in a higher school or scientific organization. By logical
comparison of the reference and real profiles, the article came to the paradoxical conclusion that
people who are predisposed to scientific activity do not have aspirations to enter graduate school.
Those who are professionally unfit for scientific activity, on the contrary, tend towards graduate
school. Based on the analysis of the causes of this situation, a number of proposals for improving
the system of professional selection and motivation of talented young professionals are formulated
and justified. They are mainly related to the development of diagnostic tests for career guidance and
the use of the postdoctoral institute. The authors suggest that the implementation of these proposals
will contribute to the rejuvenation and strengthening of the human resources of higher educational
institutions and scientific organizations in the Russian Federation.
Diagnostics of Student Teachers’ Pedagogical Thinking Based on a Competence Approach
In the didactics of higher education, the issue of professional thinking development (so-called
pedagogical thinking) for students majoring in pedagogics remains insufficiently studied. At the
same time, pedagogical thinking, and the methods of its development and diagnostics can provide
clear guidelines for teaching individualization and correction mechanisms. These methods should
focus on fostering the professional qualities for future teachers.
The purpose of the article is to describe the proprietary technology for diagnosing the level of students’
pedagogical thinking – future preschool teachers – using the group expert assessment method.
Research methods and techniques. The study was carried out through a competency-based approach,
which coordinates the competence-oriented goals of future teachers’ professional training with the
level of their pedagogical thinking. The method of the group expert assessment was used to justify
the structure, content, and students’ pedagogical thinking levels. We involved qualified university
instructors and pre-school teachers as experts.
Findings. We determined the basic structure of pedagogical thinking and its development levels for
these students. This helped to define the choice of teaching aids and targeted assistance to students
within individual educational pathways. The article shows the interrelation of components and
interdependence of the pedagogical thinking for students with the structural components of the
professional and pedagogical competence for a bachelor degree student.
The novelty of the research. The authors propose a methodology for diagnosing the development
level of students’ pedagogical thinking which is coordinated with the competence-oriented goals
of their professional training. The federal-state educational standard of higher education and the
Professional standard “Teacher (pedagogical activity in the field of preschool, primary, basic and
secondary education)” determines the content of these goals.
Practical significance. The findings of the research can be applied by administrative authorities and
university instructors for planning individual educational pathways of undergraduate students, as
well as of post-graduate students studying the current issues of preschool education.
Early career guidance as a method of developing the foundations of engineering thinking
The article discusses vocational guidance work and its importance in the rapidly developing world
for vocational guidance of young people. In the classical sense, this work is aimed at identifying
a way of thinking that has already been formed. The article considers methods for determining
types of thinking and argues for the possibility of developing a technical way of thinking. There
are proposals for developing “engineering” thinking in the framework of work with students in
further education programs and a discussion on the age at which the development of technical
thinking should begin. There is a detailed description of the author’s experience in the developing
engineering thinking in grade 5 schoolchildren within the framework of the network educational
project “Engineering”. Assessment data at various points in the project implementation are analyzed.
The problems that arose during the implementation of the project are described, their root cause is
analyzed, and methods of resolution are proposed. The conclusions show that the way of thinking
is not an inherent genetic constant; the way of thinking is formed by the social environment of a
person, by the tasks he is solving. It shows the possibility of developing students’ “engineering”
thinking through classes in technical programs.
Evaluating the effectiveness of a professional orientation procedure
It is important that young people develop self-determination as they enter into adult life. However,
in practice the mechanism of professional orientation does not provide the reliable choice of their
future profession that is needed and those who provide such guidance need assistance. The article
demonstrates the necessity of using reliable quantitative criteria in evaluating the effectiveness of
professional orientation. It has been suggested that the correlation coefficient can be used and, in
order to verify this assumption, an experiment was designed and conducted. The results confirm the
possibility of using the correlation coefficient as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of professional
orientation.