Studying Future Educational Psychologists’ Readiness for Innovation Management Competencies in Universities of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The aim of the research is to analyze the professional readiness of future high school educational psychologists for innovative management activities. The effectiveness of innovation management activities in the educational environment depends on educational psychologists’ acquired competencies. The experimental study included a survey of 320 graduate students majoring in Pedagogy and Psychology at eight leading Kazakhstani universities and regional experts’ assessment on the readiness of graduates for innovative managerial work in educational institutions. The sampling technique used to select the sample audience is the convenience based, exponential non- discriminative snowball sampling where the initial subjects are recruited from campus or through social groups based on ease of accessibility and the rest are selected based on referrals made by the selected students. The article reveals the importance of the personality component of educational psychologists’ professional readiness for innovative management. In addition, it gives an expert assessment of the effectiveness of training educational psychologists for innovative management in educational institutions. Studying the future educational psychologists’ readiness for innovative managerial competencies remains relevant for researchers. It is associated with the need for purposeful investigation and formation of professional competencies according to general patterns and alterations in vocational training in higher educational institutions. In this regard, educational psychologists’ training with managerial competencies should become one of the priority directions of practical psychology development in Kazakhstan.