Alfa kartos vaikų bruožai ir ugdymo(-si) ypatumai: pedagogų nuomonė

LTStraipsnyje pristatoma pedagogų nuomonė apie alfa kartos vaikų bruožus bei jų ugdymo(si) ypatumus. Kokybinio tyrimo metu, atliekant pusiau struktūruotą interviu su pedagogais, nustatyta, kad alfa kartos vaikai, pedagogų nuomone, yra labai imlūs naujovėms, technologiškai itin raštingi, gebantys vienu metu atlikti net keletą užduočių. Nurodyti iššūkiai: alfa kartos vaikai sunkiau sukaupia dėmesį, juos sunku sudominti. Naujos kartos vaikų ugdymas iš pedagogų reikalauja naujų žinių, kitokio požiūrio į visą ugdymo(si) proceso organizavimą. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Alfa karta; Alfa kartos vaikų ugdymas; Kokybinis tyrimas; Pedagogas; Alpha Generation; Children's of alpha generation education; Childrens of alpha generation education; Qualitative research; Teacher.

ENSince 2017 a large majority of the generation alpha children have started attending Lithuanian schools. Most of them have already completed their first school year, others have just begun. For this reason, it is essential to fully understand the new generation of learners. It is important for a teacher to realize that this is a completely different type of children; therefore, in order to successfully educate the generation alpha, it is necessary to get to know it and change education methods that would be suitable for it. The generation alpha children grow up not only by intensely using various smart devices, but also thoughtful and "growing" toys (Theko, 2018). From an early age they are naturally surrounded by a progressive environment. According to Nellis (2017), the generation alpha children are special, and while grown up they are going to do jobs that nowadays do not even exist. For this reason, their education requires a new approach from teachers. According to Nagy & Kölcsey (2017), it is important to realize that information is becoming obsolete very quickly, therefore, while educating the generation alpha children it cannot be relied on almost ten years old students' books and / or workbooks. Ramadlani & Wibison (2017) point out that when there is a great deal of available sources of information, the accumulation of knowledge to the alpha is becoming less important - it is necessary to teach them how to apply these sources. Education of these children requires from a teacher a continuous development as well as a search and application of innovative teaching methods and tools. The generation alpha children have more and a greater variety of capabilities than their peers had from previous generation, however, at the same time they face with more challenges. Hudson (2018) emphasizes that technology allows these children to develop very quickly, but can also become a cause of personal problems.In this case Coetzee (2018) points out that only by paying more attention to the features of the generation alpha pupils and by taking into account their educational characteristics, teachers can create conditions for their versatile development, ensure their path to success and help them to cope with the difficulties they face effectively. Juodaitytė and Malinauskienė (2018) note, that pedagogical interaction is one of the most important categories of contemporary education process. According to the authors, this interaction influences teachers and their pupils' roles, functions and engagement in activities while seeking for a certain goal. Therefore, the research problem is defined by the following questions: what are the essential features of the generation alpha children; to what extent and how do these features of the generation alpha children determine their educational characteristics; what kind of tools and conditions are needed for the effective development of the generation alpha children‘s education process. The opinion of Klaipeda town and district school teachers, primary school teachers on the features and educational characteristics of the generation alpha pupils was chosen as a subject of the research. The aim of the research - to present the essential features and educational characteristics of the generation alpha children. The experiences of the qualitative research participants have allowed to learn more about the generation alpha children, while highlighting the essential features that need to be assessed when modeling the successful developmental perspective of this generation. The research has revealed that, according to the teachers, the generation alpha children are mostly distinguished from their peers from previous generation by the need for community, expressed by egocentrism as well as physical and emotional activity.This is supported by the results of other researches (Theko, 2018; Thompson, 2018, et al.). The teachers who have participated in the research state that they are extremely sophisticated, technologically literate and open to the innovations children who are very talented and have a lot of knowledge about the surrounding world. For these reasons, it is hard to interest them, the majority find it difficult to focus on one activity, a lack of patience and inability to suppress the rising emotions can be noticed. This is also emphasized by other scientists (Beerkowitz, 2016; Coetzee, 2018; Driscoll, 2017; McCrindle, 2016; Ramadlani, et al., 2017; Theko, 2018; Thompson, 2018, et al.). [...] While summarizing the results, it is necessary to note the limitations of the research. The limitations of qualitative research are related to the inevitable subjectivity of this kind of research. Although the requirements necessary for this kind of research have been followed during the planning and implementation of this research, partly a small number of the research participants limit the generalization of the research results and their application possibilities. Namely the results of qualitative researches are unique and specific only to those involved in the research. It would be inappropriate to apply the findings of this research to the whole generation alpha; however, it is likely that the opinion expressed by the participants in the research will help to anticipate further research on the features of the generation alpha children and opportunities of their education development. Both the findings of this and other researches allow to state that researches on the generation alpha children’s education are relevant and require the continuity of these studies. [From the publication]

• Vadyba / Management
• Sociologija / Sociology
• Edukologija / Education