Background. Recent studies show that by the age of 5–7, children have already had experience using technology for several years. Discussions about the impact of digital interaction on children are ongoing. Nevertheless, it is becoming clear that there is a need to develop concepts and tools that will help children in the process of exploring the digital world. One of such concepts can be that of digital competence. It refers to the readiness of an individual to apply digital technologies efficiently and safely in various spheres of life. Objective. To determine the content of digital competence for modern children of older preschool age. Design. The study included interviewing children, organizing interaction of a child with a digital device, playing a card game, and having their parents answer survey questions. Results. Our study found that older preschool children had a general idea of how to use digital technologies and could name those functions which they had observed or used themselves. The main purpose of the children’s interactions with digital devices was entertainment. Most of the preschoolers demonstrated low motivation for learning how to use digital devices, and had not developed ideas about how to use digital devices in everyday life safely and effectively. Conclusion. The concept of digital competence can be applied to the study of issues related to the interaction of older preschool children with the digital environment. The results we obtained can help educators and parents to develop strategies for the appropriate and child-friendly interaction of preschoolers with the digital environment.

Distance learning unexpectedly arrived to Russian schools in March 2020, schools and teachers were not ready for this training type. The aim of present paper is to collect and evaluate parents’ view on family preparedness to distance education and on parents’ and children’ coping with school assignments during the lockdown. 304 parents were interviewed. The data provide evidence that the higher level of parental education is a factor in the efficient distance learning of their children. The higher level of parental education correlates with fewer children in the family, with the time spent by children on home assignments and the number of devices per family member. It was demonstrated that mothers lived through this period more easily than fathers. We found that the parents with a PhD degree provided the most effective support. It could be assumed, that studies at higher education institutions require time management. Having learned this skill, parents with higher education know how to self-organize and teach their children the same. Then, if our schools switch to remote teaching even partially, special guidelines with step-by-step explanations of the material shall be developed for parents. Furthermore, online counselling can be arranged for parents to present the course structure and the sequence of educational activities.

The paper explores the views of today's parents on challenges of family education. It analyses the data of a survey conducted on 116 parents of different age groups (aged 20 to 60) and the data obtained from the content analysis of Internet resources for parents. The data are analysed according to the age of parents (three age groups: from 20 to 30, from 31 to 40, from 41 to 60), the age (preschool, primary school, teenage) and sex of their children. The data analysis identified most common challenges of family education regardless of the demographic characteristics of the respondents and the age of their children: lack of psychological knowledge about child development, children's interaction with gadgets and the digital world, difficulties in mutual understanding and building effective communication. An alarming trend is that parents trust recommendations of anonymous Internet users and seek advice about children's upbringing and health from people with no specialist knowledge. The comparative analysis of Russian and foreign resources shows that Russian parents and their foreign counterparts have different reasons to worry about: children's mental health, bullying (the child is bullied or the child is a bully), the issue of gender identity in adolescence. The following problems are discussed by both Russian parents and parents from abroad: discipline at school, help with homework, tantrums, communication with peers, game addiction, parental control, etc. The article provides examples of parents' questions and requests and their descriptions of specific problems.

The article discusses strategies how to change training of preschool educators in Russia because in many countries the importance and relevance of preschool education in the process of child development is recognized. It describes the changes in the approach of training of preschool educators. Authors highlight the specifics in design and implementation of preschool education bachelor’s and master’s training programs. The upgrade of teachers’ training is aimed primarily at training’s professionalization. The ways to change programs are the introduction of a modular principle of programs design, increasing students' practice classes, the process of assessing the results of their learning. The methods for assessing the competencies of future teachers of preschool educational organizations are presented. The most suitable method for the presented concept of education is solving pedagogical problems (or cases). Some examples of descriptors and tasks are given. The data of assessing the competencies of students are presented. There is an obvious gap between the results of the formation of various competencies. Some programs offered by the Institute of Childhood of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia are presented in the article. It is shown that the conceptual development of educational program’s competence-based model plays now a crucial role.

No abstract