UNDERSTANDING OF INTELLECTUAL AUTONOMY BY THE EDUCATOR - A FACTOR FOR FLEXIBLE PEDAGOGICAL LEAD IN THE PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Abstract

Intellectual autonomy as a discourse of humanistic pedagogy enables the preschool teacher to critically examine the impact of his or her own work and provide a constant impetus for development and change. In this sense, the teacher successfully creates strategies with the help of which she leads the pedagogical activity in a reactive and contemporary way. This paper refers to the results of a research whose aim was to determine the relationship between the understanding of intellectual autonomy and flexibility in the pedagogical leadership of preschool teachers from the point of view of a possible discrepancy between the theoretical and applied curriculum. The research was conducted in seven kindergartens in the Skopje region, where 108 preschool teachers were surveyed with a questionnaire and 45 of them participated in a focus group interview. An analysis of the pedagogical documentation was also conducted to show the relevance of the answers from the other instruments. The different research instruments showed a discrepancy in the teachers' attitudes and opinions about the same segments of the educational process. They respect intellectual autonomy, but do not have a clear idea of it and are not aware of their own rights related to its realization. At the same time, they are not aware of the extent to which and the direction in which they can turn autonomy into development and change. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine and structure the competencies related to intellectual autonomy of preschool teachers throughout their initial and continuing education.