Applying coaching technologies in professional self-development of socionomy specialists in supporting families that have children with special needs

Abstract

The specifics of work of the socionomy specialists, their involvement in the socio-psychological support of educational and socialization processes determine the topicality of this research. The aim of the research was to test the effectiveness of coaching technologies in the professional self-development of specialists in supporting families that have children with special needs. Socionomy specialists were surveyed in order to determine their readiness for professional self-development. The author’s programme of professional self-development for socionomy specialists was developed based on the survey of respondents. Educational activities, socio-psychological support, adjustment of speech communications and physical activity of children with special needs were the programme components. The research results proved the hypothesis about the appropriateness of applying coaching technologies to promote the professional self-development of socionomy specialists. The implementation of the author’s Professional Self-development Programme resulted in an average increase in the respondents’ readiness for professional self-development of 11%.