Development of preschool teachers’ gaming competence

Abstract

The creative game has its history, but it remains one of the urgent problems of modern pedagogy. Being the leading activity, containing the prerequisites for the formation of the most important psychological growths, the game is lagging, giving priority to educational activities. According to the authors, there is no unified approach to understanding the essence of the game, its motives, miscomprehension of its importance and enormous developmental potential, the attitude of adults to game as an unnecessary activity. The authors see the solution to this problem in the development of teachers’ professional competence in pedagogical support of children’s game, or gaming competence. The teacher, as a key subject of the educational process, needs to have a system of professional knowledge, game experience, personal qualities to make optimal conditions for the children’s game development, as well as the strive for self-development and creative growth. The article presents a project of methodological support for teachers, including four thematic modules, and implemented based on modern educational technologies. The probe results of this project drove to the conclusion about the effectiveness of improving the gaming competence of teachers by competently building the content and technologies of methodological work in a kindergarten.