CONTENT OF INTRODUCING OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO PROFESSIONS

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS Volume 02, Issue 09, 2025 144 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS universalconference.us CONTENT OF INTRODUCING OLDER PRESCHOOL CHILDREN TO PROFESSIONS Lola Abdivasi Ahmedova PhD candidate at the Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of Directors and Specialists of Preschool Educational Organizations ABSTRACT This article analyzes the pedagogical-psychological foundations of the process of introducing children to professions and career orientation in preschool educational institutions. Within the scope of the research, the stages of the process of professional self-determination in children, ways of forming basic competencies, and conditions ensuring the effectiveness of career orientation are examined. Based on E.A. Klimov's periodization, the specific characteristics of preschool age are revealed. The article substantiates the role of methodological, social, psychological, and didactic environment in the career orientation process. Practical recommendations are provided as guidelines for educators. Keywords: career orientation, preschool education, competency, professional selfdetermination, play stage, labor education, pedagogical conditions, didactic environment In the modern education system, introducing children to professions from preschool age and shaping their professional interests is considered an important pedagogical task. The idea of career orientation in preschool educational institutions is the initial stage of a person's professional self-determination process, whose main characteristics are continuity and consistency. However, our observations in real situations show that career orientation work in preschool educational institutions is organized in a fragmented and disconnected manner. That is, introducing professions in a systematic way and taking into account children's interests is not carried out regularly. In order to eliminate this problem, the need to develop methodological recommendations has emerged within the framework of our research. The idea of career orientation in preschool educational institutions is a process of human professional self-determination, whose main characteristics are continuity and consistency. However, our observations in real situations show that career orientation work in preschool educational institutions is organized in a fragmented and disconnected manner. In order to eliminate this problem, we have envisioned developing methodological recommendations within the framework of our research. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS Volume 02, Issue 09, 2025 145 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS universalconference.us In our opinion, the process of professional self-determination is formed stage by stage, because professional self-determination is not a one-time action, but a long-term process that envisions the formation and development of certain competencies. Competency is viewed as a set of specific knowledge, skills, and abilities that a person should know and have practical experience with. The specific feature of forming and implementing basic competencies in preschool age is the simultaneous occurrence of the process of theoretical mastery of knowledge and the process of applying acquired knowledge in practice. The general important competencies of a preschool-age child (6-7 years old) consist of the following: communicative competency — the skill of using communication tools in various situations; play competency — the child's creative use of experience, knowledge, and skills in the play process and its organization. It serves as the foundation for educational activities; social competency — the ability to behave in life situations while adhering to ethical rules and norms in communication with adults and peers; cognitive competency — conscious perception of the surrounding world and using acquired knowledge, skills, abilities, and values to solve educational and practical tasks. The need to form basic competencies in preschool children is specified in the state curriculum, and they are formed during various types of children's activities (play, social development, communication, educational-cognitive, labor, and others) throughout the entire educational process. Based on the above, it is appropriate to emphasize that organizing career orientation in preschool educational institutions, in the context of implementing state requirements for the development of young and preschool children, is aimed at forming social-communicative competencies in preschool children, which includes the following: • the process of theoretical mastery of knowledge – forming initial ideas about adult labor; • the process of applying mastered knowledge in practice – developing selfservice skills and involving children in labor activities appropriate for them. Observations within the framework of our research revealed that preschool educational institutions do not pay attention to ensuring the continuity of professional orientation of students. That is, introducing professions in a systematic way and taking into account children's interests is not carried out regularly. However, in our opinion, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS Volume 02, Issue 09, 2025 146 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS universalconference.us it is appropriate to implement early career orientation of children starting from preschool educational institutions. According to our studies, the concept of "career orientation" has not been clearly defined by educators in relation to preschool children (3-7 years old). E. A. Klimov developed a periodization that divides a person's age-related development periods into stages. According to this periodization, the development of professional concepts includes the following stages: pre-play stage, play stage, stage of mastering educational activity, optant or optation stage. Here we will consider the first two stages. Pre-play stage – this is the period from birth to approximately 3 years old, that is, the period of development of the subject of labor activity. During this period, the child acquires sensory and perceptual functions, movements, speech in the process of communication with adults, and compares actions related to working with tools and equipment. Play stage (preschool age period) – the period from approximately 3 years to 7-8 years old, during which the child understands and becomes interested in the main activities of human work through plot-based, role-playing, didactic games and creative activities (drawing, modeling with clay, construction), and masters actions appropriate to them. It is precisely during this period that the child's interest in a particular activity develops the ability to apply willpower aimed at achieving goals. For example, they do not want to perform activities they are not interested in, or conversely, find the strength to perform work they want to do. As a result, the ability for self-assessment is formed and developed, meaning they begin to draw conclusions about whether they are doing something well or poorly. This is why this period is the most important and is the platform for orienting children toward professions and instilling initial concepts. It should also be taken into account that preschool age is characterized by insufficiently differentiated ideas about the world of professions. Here, students become familiar with professions mainly only through their names and certain external signs (uniform clothing, behavioral style, evaluations of others, etc.). Another characteristic of this age period is that the child has incorrect, often vague and situation-dependent ideas about their own capabilities and the possibilities for developing them, and cannot compare these capabilities with the conditions and requirements of professional activity. At this stage, questions about the content of the profession, working conditions, prestige, rewards, etc. do not yet arise. As is known, a child's development is directly related to the environment. Actually, a developing child is interested in what they see and observe. The image of an adult person implementing a certain social position through professional activity INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS Volume 02, Issue 09, 2025 147 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS universalconference.us becomes the foundation of the professional component of the "self" image in general. The child, in turn, seeks a way to realize their own "self," their own social position, in play. Methodological conditions include the importance of educators' preparation in career orientation methodology. A pedagogue with developed skills in effectively using play technologies (role-playing, dramatization, plot-didactic games) and integrating the educational process (for example, introducing the artist profession in a lesson at the "Art" center, connecting it with banker activities in a mathematics lesson) will have the ability to organize practical processes in an interesting way. The social environment holds a special place in introducing children to professions and generating interest in them. Forming appreciation and respect for adult labor requires socialization competencies from the child. The social environment, such as career-related meetings with parental participation or trips to enterprises and organizations (trips to parents' workplaces, meetings with profession representatives as guests), has a wide-ranging impact on introducing professions. Psychological conditions include, in addition to taking into account children's age and individual characteristics, paying attention to selecting labor activities appropriate to their interests and abilities. An approach aimed at cultivating qualities such as independence and perseverance to complete tasks of interest is taken into account. Didactic environment – this is considered the most avant-garde methodology in introducing children to professions. Here, the use of didactic resources is envisioned by applying methods that have been tested and come from effective foreign experience, rather than introducing professions to children through traditional methods. Based on these, it can be said that the effectiveness of career orientation in preschool educational institutions is ensured through proper organization of the educational environment, methodological approaches, psychological support, social cooperation, and the harmonization of educational directions. In conclusion, to effectively organize the career orientation process in preschool educational institutions, the following issues need to be resolved: 1. Ensuring continuity and consistency of career orientation work; 2. Introducing professions taking into account children's age and individual characteristics; 3. Harmonization of methodological, social, psychological, and didactic conditions; 4. Integration of the educational process and effective use of play technologies; 5. Expanding cooperation with parents and the social environment. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS Volume 02, Issue 09, 2025 148 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAGOGY AND LINGUISTICS universalconference.us Introducing preschool children to professions and shaping their professional interests is a long-term process that has a significant impact on the child's personal and social development. 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