Psychodiagnostic assessment of soft skills and critical thinking among prospective preschool teachers: A practical perspective

Abstract

The study was motivated by the increasing pressure on preschool teacher education as a result of the reforms taking place in Ukraine’s education sector, since soft skills and critical thinking have become especially important as essential elements of the professional qualifications of preschool teachers. This study aimed to find out whether a specific developmental intervention programme carried out during the teaching placement had a beneficial effect on the development of soft skills and critical thinking among students studying the A2 speciality, Preschool Education. For this purpose, the following methods were employed: the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal II to measure critical thinking; the Communicative and Organisational Inclinations questionnaire (KOS-2) to assess the various aspects of soft skills; and the paired-samples Student’s t-test to compare the data collected before and after the placement. The research took place among 46 third- and fourth-year students studying Speciality A2, Preschool Education, at the State Institution “South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky”. It was carried out during the 2024-2025 academic year at six preschool education establishments in Odesa. Each of the participants carried out a 10-week professional teaching attachment. The results of the baseline and post-intervention assessments indicated a statistically significant rise in the total Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal II score (M: 20.8→24.1; t(45) = 3.42; p = 0.001; d = 0.51), which is a medium effect size as defined by Cohen’s guidelines. The percentage of students who had a high level of critical thinking increased from 15.2% to 28.3%, while that of students with a low level decreased from 30.4% to 13.0%. The most notable gains were achieved in the parts of the test concerned with Interpretation and Evaluation of Arguments (p < 0.001). In addition, statistically significant improvements were observed in communicative inclination (M: 0.58→0.67; t(45) = 3.18; p = 0.003; d = 0.47) and in organisational inclination (M: 0.54→0.63; t(45) = 2.89; p = 0.006; d = 0.43), as determined by the KOS-2. The percentage of students with above‑average or high communicative inclination rose from 28.3% to 45.7%, and that for organisational inclination increased from 23.9% to 47.8%. The practical value of the study is that it involves the development and evaluation of a programme grounded in case-based learning, reflective techniques, and role-play. This programme may be introduced into the training of future preschool teachers at Ukrainian pedagogical universities