On the Issue of Management Needs and Professional Demands of Teachers Working With Children With Disabilities

2. Materials And Methods

The research tasks were solved by (1) systematizing approaches to identifying the needs of teachers in training and (2) building a theoretical-level model for identifying the educational needs. The proposed model is based on the study of samples of modern continuous pedagogical education and the comparison of various techniques and principles.

Analysis of strategies for collecting and implementing educational needs in different countries shows that the alignment of teachers’ educational routes is often determined not only by requests by educators themselves. As a rule, sources of inquiry are individual experts, educational organizations, and education (as a public institution). In most countries, one of the sources of the request shall prevail.

In the UK, the content of education is determined by the vector orientation of the state policy; the priorities are the objectives of the state and educational organizations (community). The educational inquiry is determined by the topics declared by the authorities (in particular, the recommendations of the inspectors controlling education quality), as well as by topics consistently included as part of the plan for professional development (e.g., ensuring the health and safety of children). The needs of educational organizations determine the second important area of necessary educational tasks in the context of plan development.

As a concept, the educational inquiry is not typical of the system of professional development abroad. The most common is the concept of the individual plan for professional development, in which the educational inquiry is formulated in the context of a set of professional goals and provided by the means available to teachers and educational organizations. Thus, the Uniformed Services University (USU) offers a strategy to formulate individual plans for professional development. The plan consists of the following steps:

• 1.

  Analyze your career goals and objectives;

• 2.

  Learn how to create individual development plans (select the form);

• 3.

  Prepare initial plan;

• 4.

  Analyze the needs of the organization for the individual development of the teacher;

• 5.

  Supervise – discussion with a supervisor or HR Manager;

• 6.

  Search and use resources for individual development.