Нові напрями досліджень у професійній педагогіці

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Нові напрями досліджень у професійній педагогіці

Вєжейська Йоанна

Анотація. У статті розглянуто професійну педагогіку як наукову субдисципліну, яка має предмет дослідницьких інтересів, конкретну тер-мінологію, методологію наукових досліджень. З 'ясовано принципи і мето-ди вивчення сфери професійної підготовки майбутніх спеціалістів, функ-ціонування людей у середовищі та умов їх професійного розвитку. Виз-начено, що процес ідентифікації дослідницьких напрямів професійної педа-гогіки у Польщі розпочався у 1970-х рр. Основоположником польської про-фесійної педагогіки є Т.У. Новацький, який обґрунтував взаємозв'язок «людина - освіта - праця» як фундамент нової наукової субдисципліни, ви-значаючи при цьому десять напрямів досліджень, які зосереджують увагу на інтересах освіти, пов 'язаних з трудовою діяльністю: світоглядні проб-леми, професійна освіта, зміст освіти, теорія і методика виховання, тео-ретичні основи методологічних досліджень, професійна орієнтація, про-фесійна підготовка, дидактика, інфраструктура, управління, педевтологія.

Ключові слова: професійна діяльність, професійна педагогіка, нау-кові дослідження, нові напрями досліджень, професійна підготовка.

The role of work in human life

Since time immemorial human work has encouraged reflection. Human work is universal, since it is present in all cultures and civilizations, but it also has a historical dimension due to its presence at all stages of human development and its individual and social value. The individual dimension means that work enables a person to enrich their personality, develop skills and talents, satisfy various needs, and derive pleasure from creation and success. Work may, then, have the autotelic value (value found in itself) and instru-mental value that serves to satisfy other needs (for instance material, social, prestige-related, moral and creative) (Bera & Wierzejska, 2015). Sometimes, however, it may be a nuisance and an unpleasant duty that can lead to des-truction of an individual (Bartnik, 1991). There are also people who do not find any value in work and live at other's expense. As far as work's social dime-nsion is concerned, a person contributes to the development of a given com-munity through the creation of various goods (material and non-material) and the improvement of the economic conditions, or in other words through objec-tive values important for interpersonal relations and social life (Bera & Wie-rzejska, 2015).

The phenomenon of human work has been explored in different studies and scientific analyses. It has been particularly important for the philosophy of work, sociology of work, psychology of work, praxeology, economy, orga-nization and management, occupational medicine, as well as labor pedagogy discussed in this article (Bogaj, 2007; Furmanek, 2006; Kwiatkowski, 2010; Bera, 2012; Szlosek, 2015).

The importance and role of work in the life of individuals and societies, as well as dynamic changes in the work processes concerning especially the matter and form, have provoked changes in the fields of interest and scien-tific explorations of other scientific disciplines interested in human work (Beck-Dudley, 2018, p. 167). At the same time it is difficult to imagine the development of scientific investigations in the field of labor pedagogy without referring to the studies in other related fields. Therefore, the approach to work and research into work make this field an interdisciplinary one. Some resear-chers consider this interdisciplinary character to be an opportunity for the development of work pedagogy and a chance to implement the already-deve-loped theories, they also see it as an impulse for the field's development (Kwiat- kowski, 2010; Furmanek, 2006; Bera, 2012); others believe it proves the dispersion of research efforts undertaken by labor pedagogues (Jeruszka, 2010) and stagnation in the development of its methodology, and consequently loss of its identity (Gerlach, 2006). Yet another group claims that the socio-economic transformations are not really reflected in the pedagogy's conceptual system (Szlosek, 2007). In his theoretical analyses, F. Szlosek arrives at a conclusion that as long as labor pedagogy fails to define the areas of research that reflect contemporary conditions and to mark the most crucial points on this map, it will remain far from the theoretical ideal (Szlosek, 2015, p. 96).

Different conceptions of research areas of labor pedagogy

When in 1970s Tadeusz W. Nowacki, the father of labor pedagogy, attempted to define the subject area of this new discipline of pedagogy, he focused primarily on the relation between a person, education and work. Con-sequently, he determined the scope of interest that included education, work at school and at home, as well as career counseling and guidance, training, employee's functioning in various professional contexts, and their pursuit of different forms of professional development, for instance lifelong learning whose aim was to excel in one's profession. It was undoubtedly a successful attempt to define the importance of work in an individual's lifelong deve-lopment. Since then, our socio-economic life has changed significantly affecting also the ten traditional research fields defined in 1970s: teleology, knowledge of professions, selection and organization of teaching content, upbringing, theoretical bases for methodologies, career counseling, further training and professional development, equipment-related issues (infrastructure), guidance, and pedeutology (Nowacki, 1978). In the 1990s, the growing importance of market economy led to some serious content-related transformation of the research areas and significant modifications in the aims of vocational education. As emphasized by S.M. Kwiatkowski, it was reflected in the correlation of research with the stages of education as well as career with pre-vocational training, vocational education and professional development (Kwiatkowski, 2010, p. 23).

There appeared also alternative systems of defining labor pedagogy re-search areas, including S. Kaczor's circles of labor pedagogy. Kaczor focused on the following fields: a) philosophical foundations of work at the beginning of the 21^st century; b) terminology concerning general and vocational edu-cation; c) guidance and counseling, especially career-oriented; d) learning in order to act - the importance of skills in one's activities; e) learning in order to cooperate; f) people in the world of work; g) labor pedagogy as a social science; h) multidimensional and multilevel personal approach to individuals in the work process; i) labor pedagogy and andragogy; j) teachers in formal and out of school vocational education; k) education economics and labor pedagogy, as well as labor pedagogy in the European Union - new approach (Kaczor, 2003).

Other interesting conceptions regarding the identification of research areas of labor pedagogy have been offered by Z. Wiatrowski (1980), R. Ger- lach (2006) and Z. Furmanek (2010).

R. Gerlach acknowledged that the radical change in the economic and political situation in the country requires the adoption of a completely fresh perspective in order to define new areas of labor pedagogy. He considered the following issues to be of interest for the labor pedagogues: a) human work and its place in the system of values; b) professional career; c) the process of guidance and career counseling and the new rules for career counseling; d) ge-neral technical education; e) relationship between pro-vocational education and vocational education; f) directions of the scientific, engineering, and techno-logical development; g) condition of vocational education; h) recognition and comparability of diplomas and certificates; i) relationship between general and vocational education; j) aims, content and the methods employed to teach de-mocracy, peace and tolerance; k) organizational and economic conditions for adult vocational education; l) careers of vocational institution graduates and their performance on the labor market; m) humanization of work regarding the tech-nological transformations; n) competence of vocational education teachers; o) education in higher educational institutions treated as vocational training cen-ters; p) comparative studies on the development of work pedagogy in various countries; r) the profile of a labor pedagogue (Gerlach, 2006, рр. 115-123).

The suggestions offered above differ in their scope; some can be defined as complete research areas, others, whose scope is more narrow, constitute research problems that can be successfully placed in a given field of labor peda-gogy. Relevant at this point seems Szlosek's statement that once new research problems are defined, it will indicate directions of further development of labor pedagogy as a domain of knowledge with practical applications (Szlosek, 2015, p. 73).

The integration processes in Europe have stimulated the development of labor pedagogy; various research projects and activities have been undertaken to make Polish diplomas recognized and comparable abroad. Also changes in the system of vocational education invigorated labor pedagogues. S.M. Kwiat- kowski believes that it generated interest in the new or barely recognized issues, such as: vocational education theory, measurement of effectiveness of vocatio-nal education and integration of theory and practice, studies into the standards of professional qualifications, module-based education, as well as the relationship between vocational education and the European labor market. Also important have been the issues of life-long learning, knowledge of professions, career counseling, problems of general technical education, professional qualifications, educational reform, work as value, as well as terminology (Kwiatkowski, 2010, рр. 26-28). Consequently, taking into account market transformations and the accompanying processes, the author has successfully divided research areas into following groups: a) knowledge of professions; b) career counseling; c) professional qualification standards (norms); d) lifelong learning (Kwiat- kowski, 2010, рр. 16-19).

Labor pedagogy research areas as seen by T.W. Nowacki

In one of his last publications, Tadeusz W. Nowacki, the father of Polish labor pedagogy acknowledged the conceptions of new research areas formed by other labor pedagogues and suggested adding the following areas to the ten previously-established: a) career guidance; b) occupational health and safety; c) labor migration; d) professional careers, self-creation and personality types. T. Nowacki suggested also that more attention should be paid to occupational pathology (Nowacki, 2010, р. 28).

It occurs that some of these fields, including career orientation, or to be more precise, career guidance, have been developing dynamically for some time now. Numerous studies, including works by W. Rachalska, K. Lelinska, Z. Wolek, M. Piorunek, and A. Rozanski, attest to this development. Also sig-nificant are the studies in the field of engineering and medicine connected with the occupational health and safety; particularly important contribution to the development of these complex issues was made by D. Koradecka (Nowacki, 2010, р. 27).

Recently, the problems related to the free market and the accompanying negative phenomena, such as unemployment, have intensified. It has been reflected in the publications by, among others, S.M. Kwiatkowski, U. Jerusz- ka and A. Bogaja. These problems have been also investigated from other scien-tific perspectives. It seems fully justified that labor pedagogues regularly ana-lyze the relationship between the employees' personal resources and unem-ployment that hinders their development possibilities. Moreover, human work has been losing its mass character owing to technological advancement - the amount of time than one needs to devote to work has been decreasing. The-refore J. Sztumski's (2010) question whether we should discuss work peda-gogy or rather unemployment pedagogy seems extremely relevant. Another issue that has been growing in importance is free time and its rational use in the process of individual's development.

There are also numerous studies offering different perspectives on the issue of professional careers which are becoming increasingly less linear but require from the employees to explore different professional contexts, and not only change their jobs but oftentimes to re-qualify. Also the predictability of careers has decreased and this aspect has been discussed by, among others, M. Piorunek, A. Banka, Cybal-Michalska, and E. Sarzynska-Mazurek.

Free access to the European labor market has presented the researchers with other research problems, including: labor migration, chances for pursuing career on an international level, opportunities and barriers to functioning in a new social and professional environment, and issues of acculturation, children's education etc. According to T.W. Nowacki, when labor pedagogues started exploring the issue of labor migration, they have boldly entered a new, com-plex territory, and hence discovered a brand new branch of labor pedagogy. Form the pedagogical point of view, scientific discussion about the challen-ges that education faces regarding labor migration of young adults is of utmost importance, especially since migration figures are not slowing down, only the country of destination changes. This issue has been discussed not only in various interesting studies, including R. Bera's, W. Danielewicz's, M. Korczynski's, but also in doctoral dissertations, for instance by B. Mozdzan, S. Zgorska, R. Fran- czak, G. Konieczny, P. Zielinska, M. Cabak, M. Kalkowska, K. Nowosad.

Another topic that has grown in importance is the pathology in the workplace: mobbing, workaholism that is destructive to a person totally absor-bed in their work, as well as overworking that results from the employees' attempt to meet excessive expectations of their employers, which, in turn, leads to burnout. A labor pedagogue cannot overlook the issue of mobbing; although its negative consequences are of psychological and medical nature, the reasons for bullying can be found in interpersonal relations, work mana-gement, and generally low culture of a given organization. Moreover, overwork and professional burnout have their roots in prolonged stress, whose causes are not only subjective, that is resulting from excessive motivation and dif-ficulties in attaining goals, but above all are related to the work environment and its social and organizational dimensions (Sanchez-Gelabert, Figueroa, & Elias, 2017). The publications that may be of interest include works by A. Ban-ka, W. Furmanek, J. Kirenko, and T. Zubrzycka-Maci^g. Finally, the topic that has recently received considerable attention is the issue of work slavery, that is the infringement of basic rules and labor rights. This issue has been dealt with by, among others, P. Stanczyk and R. Tomaszewska-Lipiec.

A person in extreme working conditions - a new challenge

I would like to direct the reader's attention to a broad spectrum of re-search issues related to a person's functioning in extreme working condi-tions. The group in question includes people working in hostile conditions, unfavorable to one's survival, but who nevertheless fulfill their role and orga-nizational aims while preserving the sense of importance of the performed roles. Extreme environment has never been and will never be a natural place for human existence. The groups that work in such conditions include mem-bers of uniformed public service, military pilots, divers, firefighters, mountain rescue personnel, policemen, etc. The research problems that can be posed re-garding this group are legion and they include psychophysical predispositions and motivation behind given career path, professional training and further development of competence, professional functioning and the possible dangers, career development, and prospects of using skills and experience in other social and professional roles outside of uniformed public service.

We can, therefore, identify another relevant area regarding labor peda-gogy, a unique field of research offering both cognitive and practical aspects. Wide research areas do not pose a threat to the pedagogy's identity but, in my opinion, attest to its vitality and offer prospects for its further development. Labor pedagogues should follow new emerging social and professional prob-lems and explore them in their scientific endeavors, which will undoubtedly sti-mulate the development of this subdiscipline of pedagogy.

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професійний педагогіка підготовка спеціаліст

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