THE IMPACT OF COLLEGIAL COOPERATION OF PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATION
THE IMPACT OF COLLEGIAL COOPERATION OF PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATION

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the impact of collegial cooperation of pre-school teachers on professional development of individuals as well as entire organizations aiming to learning community. The authors consider professional development of pre-school teachers as a process of “significant and life-long learning experiential learning in which individuals realize their concepts and change their practice. The process includes individual’s personality, professional and social dimension and means development towards critical, independent and responsible decision-making and managing” (ValenčičZuljan, 1999; 2001, 2008). According to the authors, pre-school teachers are professionals who possess sets of competencies that have been developed throughout the process of collegial cooperation and learning at different levels. The empirical part of the article presents the results of qualitative and quantitative research obtained on the sample of pre-school teachers and their assistants employed in public kindergartens in Slovenia. The authors emphasize impacts and forms of collegial cooperation within the kindergarten where pre-school teachers work. Estimations of impacts of interpersonal collegial cooperation in the kindergarten, the most desired forms of cooperation among teachers, knowledge and skills obtained with such cooperation and the effects on their professional development as well as factors that promote or hinder diverse forms of cooperation are presented.

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