One of the priorities of the education policy is the psychosocial well-being of pre-primary and primary school-age children. Preschool teachers have a special role to play in ensuring children’s psychosocial well-being. Research conducted in Lithuania (Teachers’ Professional Development: Analysis of Progress Data for Lithuanian General Education Schools, 2021, Report on the Study of General and Didactic Competences of Lithuanian General Education School Teachers, 2017) and abroad (Ibda, et al., 2023; Carmen, et al., 2022) shows that teachers are mostly developing their subject-specific competencies, yet they emphasize the importance of psychosocial competencies. According to Sabaliauskas (2018), subject-specific and general competencies have synergies and must go together, as it is not only about what to teach, but also how to teach. Strengthening teachers’ empowerment and social and emotional competencies is essential and, together with teachers’ subject-specific competencies, can help ensure high-quality education.

Preschool teachers in Lithuania and around the world face many challenges in their work. They are at a high risk of professional burnout, which is particularly relevant in today’s context. High levels of occupational stress arise from the demands of the working environment on teachers, such as dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the areas of children’s academic achievements and social and emotional difficulties, the expansion of teachers’ responsibilities and the areas of required competencies, etc. A meta-analysis of many longitudinal studies on the determinants of professional burnout among preschool teachers (Mijakoski et al., 2022) has shown that disruptions to lessons due to schoolchildren’s behavior and social-emotional difficulties are among the main factors that increase teachers’ risk of professional burnout. The data obtained in Lithuania are in line with global trends: even among preschool teachers, professional burnout is linked to emotional and psychological difficulties expressed by children (Murauskienė, 2023). Unfortunately, research on the needs of preschool teachers at work and the enhancement of their psychological well-being has not yet received sufficient attention.

The changed roles of pre-school educators require ever higher qualifications and new competencies.  In Lithuania, there is a lack of research that would reveal what competencies of a pre-school educator are important in order to ensure the successful education of children with emotional and behavioral disorders.

The aim of the research was to reveal pre-school teachers’ attitude towards competencies needed to ensure the successful education of children with emotional and behavioral disorders.

In order to define the knowledge, abilities, and skills required for the profession of preschool teachers who work with children with behavioral, emotional, or developmental difficulties, a study of the profession of a preschool teacher was conducted. The study of the structure of preschool teachers’ activity and competencies conducted in this work is one of the areas of research on professions, but it is important as it is directly related to professional training, as the qualifications required in the activity system become the goals of the content of professional training, thus determining the quality of the renewal and improvement of the content in professional training. The study on the professional education and training of preschool teachers was performed during 2021-2023. For this study, we prepared a 27-item self-designed questionnaire consisting of instructions and structured questions, questions with a nominal scale format, and open-ended questions. The studied sample consisted of 159 preschool teachers working in Lithuania. The study data obtained from close-ended questions were processed by applying statistical data analysis and using the SPSS 22.0 for Windows (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software. The content of the open-ended questions was processed by applying content analysis.

The results of the questionnaire survey showed that pre-school teachers regarded pedagogical, communicative, and socio-psychological competencies as important for in their professional work, while managerial and research competencies were attributed less importance. The results of the study also showed a lack of knowledge and skills required for work with children with emotional and behavioral disorders among the teachers. Nevertheless, some of the teachers did not feel motivated to acquire new knowledge and skills related to the education of such children. The qualitative and quantitative research will be summarized with insights and recommendations.

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