Social-psychological characteristics of professional competence of psychologists working with early childhood children

Introduction . The article is dedicated to the study of the development of social-psychological competence in psychologists who work with early childhood. The scientific and social relevance of the studied problem is analyzed. Due to the existing practice in most educational institutions in our country, young children receive only episodic professional attention from psychologists. Specialists in this profile carry out their professional activities across all preschool age groups without differentiating the stages of ontogenesis in infancy and early childhood. Materials and methods . The article presents the author's concept of the psychological structure of the concept of social-psychological competence in early childhood psychologists, consisting of the following components: professional-motivational component; system of professional actions (analytical, diagnostic, prognostic). To obtain substantive information about the features of professional activities of psychologists working with young children, a program of a stating experiment was developed, an important part of which is an author's questionnaire, including the most professionally significant questions for them. Results . Analytical materials based on the results of the stating research are presented; psychologists participating in it emphasize in their responses the importance of differentiated psychological work with infants and toddlers, however, they recognize the insufficiency of scientific and technological preparation for such work. Discussion and conclusions . Based on the discussion of the results of the stating research, the need to create a special program to form new social-psychological competencies in early childhood psychologists is identified, which will ensure the productivity of mental development in infancy and early childhood.