Are Preschool Education Specialists Ready for the Moral Education of Children: Analysis of the Problem

Introduction. The article provides a justification of the relevance of moral education of preschool children and need for readiness of preschool education specialists for this process in preschool educational institutions. The essence of phenomenon “readiness to implement the tasks of moral education” was revealed; its structural components were singled out: intellectual, emotional-motivational and conative, which were taken as a basis for conducting empirical research.

Goal. The aim was to outline theoretical foundations of training of preschool education specialists to moral education of children in preschool educational institutions and to clarify the real state of their readiness by conducting a thematic survey and its analysis.

Methods & Methodology of the Research. In the course of empirical research method of survey (questionnaire) was used. It took place in online format using Google Forms, by completing the author’s survey “Are you ready for moral education of preschoolers?” The research groups consisted of: students of 1^st and 2^nd courses of full-time education – 52 participants (group A), students of 1^st and 2^nd courses of correspondence education – 61 participants (group B) and students of professional development courses – 58 participants (group C). The total number of respondence included in survey is 171 people.

The Results. The conducted empirical study of the state of readiness of preschool education specialists for moral education of children proved that they have certain knowledge about the basics of moral education of preschoolers, understand that their “moral portrait” serves as a role model for preschool children, however, they are not sufficiently aware of the importance of emotional and motivational components in ensuring the process of moral education of preschool children.

Conclusions. The readiness of preschool education specialists for the moral education of preschool children is based on the desire to deepen their own knowledge about moral education of preschoolers, moral self-education and compliance with moral norms of behavior. The prospects of further scientific work will lie in implementation in educational process of higher education EPP bachelor specialty 012 Preschool education and advanced training courses for preschool education specialists of the selective educational component “Psychological-pedagogical support for moral education of preschool children” and determining the effectiveness of its implementation.