SELF-ASSESSMENT OF THE COMPETENCIES OF EMPLOYEES IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS FOR THE STEAM CONCEPT OF EDUCATION

: Unlike the conventional one, the STEAM concept integrates knowledge from several fields to solve problems and “big questions,” respecting the individuality of children and the collaborative way of working. In addition to acquiring knowledge, this approach also plays an important role in developing key competencies for lifelong learning, which recommends its integration into educational work from the earliest age. Given that the research shows insufficient representation of the STEAM concept in educational systems, despite its advantages, the question arises of the competence of employees in educational institutions for the STEAM approach. In this sense, the aim of the work is to determine the competencies for the STEAM approach of the employees in preschool institutions and elementary schools. The research was carried out in the preschool institution Veselo detinjstvo and the elementary schools Raška and Sutjeska in Raška, among nursery school teachers, teachers from the first to the fourth grade, and specialized teachers from the fifth to the eighth grade, within the framework of focus groups, and based on an interview protocol that contains key determinants of the STEAM approaches and key competence for lifelong learning. The self-assessment of competences and the researchers’ direct insight into their answers revealed a lack of competencies, with an evident difference between the mentioned groups. Namely, it is concluded that nursery-school teachers are the most competent group, followed by specialized teachers, while teachers from the first to the fourth grade have the least competence. The aforementioned finding can be interpreted through the prism of initial education and the (un)representation of these contents in study programs, as well as professional development, judging by the fact that the largest number of nursery-school teachers attended trainings for a project-based approach to learning, that the training in the function of STEAM learning was organized for subject teaching, in contrast to class teaching, in which subject fragmentation is the most dominant. Pedagogical implications are contained in the recommendations for professional development, which are reviewed through the results of the research.