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Vol.14, No.3, August 2025. ISSN: 2217-8309 eISSN: 2217-8333
TEM Journal
TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION, MANAGEMENT, INFORMATICS Association for Information Communication Technology Education and Science |
Kindergarten Teachers' Readiness for STEM Education: An Analysis of Technical Competencies
Monika Valentová, Peter Brečka
© 2025 Monika Valentová, published by UIKTEN. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Citation Information: TEM Journal. Volume 14, Issue 3, Pages 2483-2490, ISSN 2217-8309, DOI: 10.18421/TEM143-52, August 2025.
Received: 11 December 2024. Revised: 08 July 2025.
Abstract:
Nowadays, the importance of STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is increasingly emphasised already at the kindergarten level. For its efficient implementation in early childhood education, it is essential that teachers possess specific competencies. These competencies include expert knowledge in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering, pedagogical skills, the ability to design and implement interactive learning activities, and developing children's critical thinking skills. The study aims to validate teachers' readiness for STEM concepts. The relationship between teachers' technical competencies and factors such as educational attainment is examined, as well as years of experience, school type, and region. The results indicate relative homogeneity in teachers' ratings of several competencies. However, statistical results confirmed that teachers' personal characteristics impact some competencies, suggesting the need to develop teachers' technical skills, mainly through further education. At the same time, the study confirmed the need for a deeper investigation of the factors that influence the development of teachers' STEM competencies in the Slovak education system.
Keywords – STEM, preschool, competencies, teachers, educational attainment. |
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