The formation of the methodological competence of future teachers by means of pedagogical practice

Problem statement

The dynamic processes in modern society put forward high demands on specialists of different fields and, in particular, on the personality and professional skills of teachers. Innovations in the system of higher education are stipulated by the socio-economic, intellectual and spiritual levels of the development of our state and by the recommendations of the Council of Europe, the requirements of the Bologna Convention which aim to prepare a highly qualified specialist who is aware of his own subject and is able to transfer his knowledge and experience to others. The achievement of this goal is possible only subject to significant changes in the process of specialists training. At the present stage of the development of science and education, the problem of forming the key competencies of the future teachers such as professional, communicative, methodological, social, subject and other, that will ensure their full functioning in society, high competitiveness in the world labor market and successful self-realization in various spheres of life, first of all in the professional one, becomes urgent.

For the future teacher's training, mastery of methodological competence is extremely important since it reflects the ability of future teachers to fruitfully engage in educational activities, creatively implementing the acquired theoretical and practical experience and involving effective teaching and development technologies.

The conducted analysis of scientific research works has shown that the provision of the professional training of pedagogical staff does not cease to be relevant and is reflected in the works of a large number of both Ukrainian and foreign scientists. In particular, the content and requirements for the training of future specialists in higher education institutions are determined [1; 6; 9; 15; 20; 21] the ideas for the implementation of innovative approaches, including a competency one, are being developed [4; 7; 10;12; 13; 16; 17] a number of studies are devoted to the determination of the place of pedagogical (teaching) practice in the process of vocational training [1; 3; 5; 10; 11] that emphasizes the importance of the formation the methodological competence of the future specialist as a structural component of the professional training of a future specialist.

Purpose and tasks of the article

The purpose of the article is to investigate the process of the formation the methodological competence of the future teacher by means of pedagogical (teaching) practice, taking into account such features as methodical literacy, methodological thinking, methodical reflection, methodical culture, on which the effectiveness of acquiring methodical competence by future teachers as one of the important tools for modernizing the educational process in high school depends.

Tasks: 1. To analyze the process of forming the methodological competence of the future teacher and its structural components from the point of view of ensuring positive influence on the development of professional and educational activity by means of pedagogical practice;

2. To substantiate the purpose, tasks and content of the pedagogical (teaching) practice, outlining the multi-vector process of mastering the methodical competence of the future teacher by emphasizing that pedagogical practice involves the context inclusion of the student into a real educational process with the aim of qualitatively filling all components of methodological competence, forming the harmonious personality of the teacher.

Research methods. In order to study the state of formation of the methodological competence of the future teacher by means of pedagogical practice the curricula and programs of different types of practices have been analyzed, individual interviews, questionnaires, pedagogical observation, individual and group discussions with students and teachers have been conducted, the method of expert evaluation was applied.

The methodology of B. Dodonov "The formula of motivation" as well as the methodology of T. Dubo- vitska "The level of professional orientation" were used. In order to study creativity as one of the indicators of methodological competence of the future teacher, the methodology by A. Lazukin - N. Kalina "The manifestation of creativity", as well as the author's questionnaire, was used.

Results of the theoretical study

It is known that vocational and methodological training of future teachers of any field is based on the study of methods of teaching different disciplines and methods of conducting extracurricular work, it is also provided in the process of studying psychological and pedagogical disciplines, passing educational, pedagogical practices, as well as through methodological direction of teaching of fundamental disciplines, which provides the effectiveness of the professional training of a future specialist.

Taking into account the definitions of methodological competence which are used in scientific circulation and the essence of the concept of "competence", the methodological competence of the future teacher can be interpreted as the ability to effectively build an educational process based on the system of special-scientific, psychological and pedagogical, methodological knowledge, vocational and methodological skills, individual psychological characteristics and the experience of their use in the process of the activity. Under such conditions, there is a need for a comprehensive teacher education system that will combine traditional educational methods with the newest, more effective technologies, as well as promote the content and structure of the students' methodological training itself [5; 11; 12]. In this context, there is a need to consider the main components of methodological competence in the course of practical training. Thus, it is necessary to highlight the importance of methodological literacy (methodological knowledge, skills and abilities), which receive a qualitatively new level of their development since the acquired theoretical experience is internalized and verified in the activity during the pedagogical practice, there is also an intensification of the connection of methodical thinking with other forms of thinking that can be explained by the performance of the cognitive activity of the future teacher directly in the school environment, immersed in the atmosphere of the real educational process. Pedagogical practice is, at the same time, an incentive for the development of methodological reflection of a future specialist. Considering the individual process of reflection, its development directly influences the ability of future teachers to be the subject of their own professional activity, as well as stimulates them to self-improvement by means of constant self-knowledge, self-development, self-education with the aim of quantitative and qualitative multiplication of the results of their work. Pedagogical practice, first of all, is the basis for the development of all components of methodological culture, the content of which is updated and enriched in the course of performance of the future teacher of professional functions. In direct interaction with all subjects of the educational process, the future teacher creates value orientations and establishes his own vision of the pedagogical profession, examines methodological techniques and tools, develops the ability to creativity [5]. Considering methodological culture as an integral part of professional culture, E. Passov emphasizes the close interaction between the acquired social experience and all kinds of teacher activities (cognitive, control, motivational, communicative, organizational, adaptive, and design) [14]. Such interaction between all of these activities of a teacher may greatly manifest itself in the process of pedagogical practice, ensuring the implementation of methodological competence.

A number of scholars acknowledges the mastery of students basic forms of organization of educational work, the functions of pedagogical activity of teachers, vocational and methodological tools on the basis of knowledge, skills and abilities obtained in higher educational institutions, as well as the formation of professional qualities of the teacher's personality, ensuring the effective work of the future teacher in educational institutions to be the main purpose of the pedagogical practice [16-19]. The objectives of the pedagogical practice are determined by the general goals of education at a particular stage of economic, geopolitical, social and spiritual development of our country. Based on the goals of the pedagogical practice, one can determine the following tasks:

• the formation of the psychological readiness of students for educational work by providing the necessary conditions for their professional adaptation, formation of a respectful students attitude towards the profession of a teacher;

• the generalization, consolidation and deepening of theoretical knowledge in the psycho-pedagogical and professional cycle and their use in practical activities for solving specific educational situations, that is, improving the methodological literacy of future teachers of the humanitarian field;

• the development of future professional skills of practical activity in secondary school, personal characteristics, professional and methodical culture of the teacher;

• the formation of the need for methodological reflection in the practice that encourages them to continuous self-education, selfimprovement and sustained interest in the subject of teaching from the humanitarian cycle and the profession of teacher as a whole;

• the acquaintance with current educational normative documents, modern methods, means and forms of educational process, didactic-material complex in secondary school, effective innovative teaching technologies in the light of humanization and humanitari- zation of education;

• the promoting of the development of future self-reliable independent teachers in the preparation and implementation of various forms and types of educational and methodological work with all members of the school staff;

• the formation of students' research and creative attitudes to pedagogical activity on the basis of skills to non-typically solve typical educational tasks, to critically and objectively analyze professional activity of fellow practitioners and experienced teachers;

• the development of individual psychological qualities, pedagogical abilities of students, which is a prerequisite for the formation of their methodical skills and culture, personal style of interaction among all subjects of the educational process;

• the diagnostics of the suitability of the chosen teacher's specialty.

Here are some examples of various forms of pedagogical practice of teacher training: informative, educational (the first courses), summer camp (after the third year of study in higher educational institutions), and actually professional, teaching (on senior courses of higher educational institutions). Each form of pedagogical practice focuses on various aspects of the teacher's activity, but in general as an integrated component of future teacher training, pedagogical practice carries out several basic functions:

• adaptive, which manifests itself in the direct involvement of the student in the educational process. The trainee not only acquaints himself with the peculiarities of various types and forms of organization of work in the secondary school institutions, but also adapts to the rhythm of the pedagogical process and life of the school staff;

• education, which is realized in the practical examination of theoretical knowledge gained during the years of studying in the higher educational institutions, which from the plane of ideal ideas gradually pass into the system of real views and attitudes of the future teacher;

• developing, which manifests itself in the personal and professional development of a trainee;

• diagnostic, which is realized in the assessment of future teachers of the specified field of their professional and personal suitability for the profession of a teacher. The student can analyze his emotional readiness to interact with his students, their parents, teachers and the administration of the secondary school predominantly in practice. The professional and personality characteristics of the future teacher evolve and manifest in the process of real pedagogical practice.

The above functions of pedagogical practice are traditional, but new requirements for the organization of education dictate the need to introduce additional functions, in particular, research (which is reflected in psycho-pedagogical and methodological studies, methodical experiments that students conduct in the course of pedagogical practice) and reflexive (this function of pedagogical practice is manifested in the fact that future teachers are able to analyze the level of their professional duties directly in the educational process, realize their mistakes and shortcomings in training and pick an effective means to address them in order to improve their professional level).

According to the curriculum, the process of pedagogical practice, as a rule, begins with the second year of study and lasts until the end of the training in higher educational institutions, transforming into a professional pedagogical activity. This is an embodiment of the idea of continuity when the future teacher gradually masteres the peculiarities of working with students of almost all age groups in educational institutions of different types - from junior pupils to school-leavers, and is ready for self-education and self-development throughout his/her life.

A prerequisite for the organization of the practical training is the versatile orientation of the future teacher in all spheres of pedagogical activity, which includes the educational activity of students, its appropriate methodological support, the search and research work of the teacher and the mastery of its methodology. It is known that each form of pedagogical practice has its own peculiarities, guided by which we distinguish the pre-subject (pre-professional) and subject (professional) pedagogical practice. Pre-subject pedagogical practice is a specially organized process of checking the verity of scientific knowledge and acquired general theoretical experience.

The high-priority task of this practice is to integrate the theoretical preparation of students of the disciplines of the psychological and pedagogical cycle in their practical application in the course of studying a particular school team and an individual student. During this form of pedagogical practice, students should be motivated to further deepen their knowledge of pedagogy and psychology, the awareness of the need to take into account the age-specific characteristics of each student and develop an individual approach to students of every level of education.

The next step in vocational and pedagogical training for future teachers is the teaching pedagogical practice of third-year students, which takes two weeks for the representatives of philological and three weeks for the representatives of historical specialties. This practice is an activity continuation of classes on the course of pedagogical skill and is conditioned by achievements of the goals set by this course. Unlike the previous type of the pedagogical practice, the key tasks of teaching pedagogical practice is to involve students in active independent work with pupils of a certain class, to create favorable conditions for diagnosing the professional and active ability to realize the acquired knowledge, skills and experience of pedagogical activity, to promote educational and cognitive interests of pupils, to stimulate the development of creative abilities and opportunities of future teachers of the specified field.

The next kind of the pedagogical practice is the summer pedagogical practice, which students take after the third year during the summer holidays in children's health centers (CHC), where the future teachers are formed, first of all, as organizers of extra-curricular and out-of-school work. The total duration of this type of pedagogical practice is four weeks for philologists and three weeks for students of the history faculty.

The main tasks of the summer pedagogical practice are the formation of the professional and personal qualities of the teacher, immersion in the search for creative approaches to the organization of work in the CHC and other educational institutions, the enrichment of psychological and pedagogical knowledge and the experience of interaction with the children, which is united for a short time for active leisure time and health improvement. The considered forms of pedagogical practice are integral elements of the pre-teaching (prefaculty) training of students common to all future teachers, since these forms of so-called passive teaching practice as a means of the formation of students as teachers, class teachers regardless of their chosen specialty. These types of practices enable students to learn about school life from the point of view of psychology and pedagogy, to analyze the specifics of dealing with children of different age groups and to find out the personal suitability of the chosen profession of a teacher.

All stages of pedagogical practice involve future teachers in professional activities, but it is teaching practice in the fourth and fifth courses of the higher educational institutions that has the nature of contextual education (the term was introduced by Verbitsky, 1991). In other words, trainees are faced with professional contradictory and complex situations and make every effort to find effective ways to solve them.

The main tasks of this form of teaching practice are the intensive development of all the components of the methodological competence of the future teacher, the acquisition of qualifying professionally significant knowledge, skills and abilities of the chosen specialty in the course of performing duties as a teacher and a class teacher of primary and middle school pupils, the involvement of a trainee in various directions, forms, types, methods of work of a certain secondary school.

Being a teacher in the course of educational practice at the primary and secondary levels of secondary school, students are largely implemented of methodological competence based on the motivation-oriented target criterion through the awareness of internal and external motivations to master the indicated competence, forming a stable motivation to self-improvement in this field.

At the same time, the implementation of methodological competence according to the activity criterion occurs while adaptive skills and knowledge are evolved which appear in the skills of practitioners to adapt the selected forms and methods of work to the psychological characteristics of students of a certain age group; motivational skills and knowledge that help future educators encourage their students in active learning and academic outcomes; operational, constructive, reflexive and evaluative skills that provide successful planning and conducting lessons, the ability of future human resource teachers to effectively use various information resources and engage information and computer technology in their activities as well as evaluate students' and own achievements objectively. The development of communication skills moves to a new reproductive-productive level in the course of subject-subject interaction of future teachers with pupils.

While carrying out the functions of class teachers, forth-year students implement their methodologcal competence by activity criterion due to the development of prognostic skills. They are manifested in the future teachers' ability to perform pedagogical predictions and to predict the results of work, which is designed and organized taking into account pupils' age and psychological characteristics, which promotes the development of future teachers' designing and organizing skills.

Methodological competences are actively implemented by a personal-reflexive criterion in the process of carrying out the functions of both a subject teacher and a class teacher during teaching and pedagogical practice in elementary and secondary schools. That is analytical, reflective and evaluation skills develop in course of study various forms of work, teaching materials and pupils' activity, when determining the level of pupils' mastery of humanities subjects which are taught.

It should be noted that these abilities develop simultaneously: the ability to work with scientific literature develops along with the ability to analyze new information; the ability to use diagnostics methods requires getting acquainted with the existing experience etc.

The second stage of the teaching pedagogical practice is the teaching practice in high school which students have on their fifth year of study in different types of higher educational establishments by the same principle as in the fourth year.

The main tasks of this form of pedagogical practice are the improvement of all components of methodological competence, the development of professional and personal characteristics of the subject teacher, the formation of the vocational and methodological skills on the basis of the acquired for five years of study in the higher educational institutions theoretical and practical experience working with students of different age groups in the process of performing the corresponding functions.

During the educational practice at the top level of higher education, students perform three roles: as teachers of the main specialty (majors), as teachers of an additional specialty and as class teachers.

The diagram shows the place of each type of pedagogical practice, based on the number of hours allocated to its programs for these specialties.

It can be seen from the diagrams (Fig. 1) that the pre-subject teaching pedagogical practice that future teachers pass during the second and the third years of study in the higher educational institutions, constitutes 36 % for students of philological specialties and 38 % for students of historical specialties from the number of hours determined by the corresponding curricula for their conduct. Almost twice as much time - 65 % - is allocated to the subject pedagogical practice, which students of both specialties pass during the fourth and the fifth years of study in the higher educational institutions. However, it is common for future teachers at all stages of pedagogical practice to explore the level of development of components of methodological competence, to observe the drawbacks in their development and to identify ways to improve this competence. The development of methodological competence of future teachers of the humanitarian field will be at a high level in terms of serious attitude to all types of pedagogy and constant search for ways of professional and methodological self-improvement.