Readiness of Pre-Service Teachers for Professional Self-Development

Lifelong education relies on a readiness for self-development. School teachers must be able to respond to educational changes through continuous self-improvement. However, graduates of teacher training universities often struggle to adapt to challenging working conditions. This study attempts to identify the components of student teachers’ readiness for professional self-development and self-design that are relevant to modern pedagogical training. While numerous survey methods exist for assessing readiness for self-development, acmeological projects created by students require a distinct evaluation method to measure the quality of professional self-design. This study of student readiness for professional self-development adopts an anthropological approach by evaluating individual products of self-design activities and plans for professional and personal development. Based on the anthropological definition of students as agents of their own education, the research relied on a comprehensive self-assessment method for general pedagogical competence and an evaluation of students’ individual professional and personal development roadmaps. These roadmaps were compiled by 186 fourth-year student teachers during their teaching internships. A future educator’s readiness for professional self-development was defined as a complex ability to self-design. Only 6% of participants demonstrated a reflective attitude toward their self-assessment results. For 7%, their goals were directly linked to these self-assessment results and reflected the priority of professional self-development. One-third connected their objectives and implementation outcomes to the self-assessment results, demonstrating specific and sufficient activities to resolve the identified problems. Therefore, pre-service teachers require specialized training in professional self-design focused on developing self-analysis and self-assessment skills to foster long-term reflection on their professional future.