Designing experience of developing space promoting transformations of a teacher’s professional image of the world

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Designing experience of developing space promoting transformations of a teacher's professional image of the world

The transition of developed countries to a postindustrial stage of evolution of the human civilization has been marked, on the one hand, with a person appointment to a role of the subject of knowledge, activity and communication who creatively approaches to designing the reality in which he has to live. On the other hand, in this stage we can observe the quiet destructive interaction with the Nature the part of which is the Person himself. Therefore it has got natural that a new field of human knowledge has been originated - the ecology solving the problem of preservation all alive on the ground, and, in its turn, the development of ideas of the ecological psychology examining psychological aspects of Person and Environment's interaction, including the educational environment. In our society the process of formation of objective preconditions for application of a personal-oriented approach to education that could solve a problem of development of ecological educational technologies is also obvious.

The designing of special pedagogical conditions for development of a child's personality as individuality gradually becomes the purpose and the main value of a modern comprehensive school. In accordance with it the task of a teacher consists in disclosing this individuality, helping in its display and development, finding selectivity and stability to social influences by the child. In opinion of I.S. Yakimanskaya [5] the decision of this problem is possible on conditions that the teacher analyses each pupil as an individuality in his/her subject displays and, on the basis of such analysis, he chooses differentiated forms of training. And, in this case, it is necessary to consider the differentiated training not as a purpose, but as means of formation and development of an individuality. Then, in our opinion, the main function of an educational process consisting in organizing an integrated space of knowledge and individual development of the personality both the pupil and the teacher can be realized.

One of the conceptual bases for representation of features of organizing such a space under the conditions of a comprehensive school has become the approach of I.S. Yakimanskaya who is the author of the educational project «The personal-oriented school». Under modern conditions the principles of construction of personal-oriented educational environment developed by I.S. Yakimanskaya are of special interest:

1. Variety (an opportunity of children's free choice of means and forms of self-expression on the basis of the offered alternatives).

2. Flexibility (an opportunity of a teacher to change the plan of interaction with the pupil flexibly).

3. Openness (readiness of a teacher to use children's ideas and proposals in co-activity at a lesson and out of it).

But there is one more problem occurred here - first of all, the personaloriented pedagogics means a personal-oriented teacher realizing the social importance of his role of «Intermediary» between Culture and Child. This problem includes the main contradiction between traditional ways of teachers' vocational training and modern requirements of the situation of educational system development. Such a teacher cannot realize a new paradigm in education: the professional attitudes and the value-sense reference points developed in the old paradigm prevent him from doing it.

Certainly, one of the important problems of realization of the personaloriented approach in education is not only a creation of conditions for forming the psychological readiness for its realization, but also specially organized teachers' training in the bases of pupils' pedagogical diagnostics, to elaboration of specific didactic materials, and also in the bases of personaloriented communication with pupils. And, what is especially important that this problem should not be solved «from the top», only with efforts of the administration and experts invited «from the outside», but with joint efforts of teachers, psychologists, and administration in various forms of «joint productive activity» [1].

In other words, the personal-oriented approach should be realized with regard to all subjects of education, otherwise teacher's additional load in reorganization of the professional work would result for him in the most negative psychological consequences. They can develop into rejecting new ideas, in occurrence of a state of anxiety and discontent that can cause the origin of a various sort of professional deformations. We deliberately fix attention on the personality of a teacher because the success of experimental work in the given orientation directly depends on his readiness and desire to realize new values in education.

Psychological readiness is a complicated phenomenon by means of which the stability of human activity in polymotivated space is explained, and which, in O.M. Krasnoryadtseva's [2] opinion, is shown:

1. In the form of attitudes (as projections of the previous experience onto «here and now» situation) preceding any mental phenomena and forms of behaviour and activity.

2. As a motivational readiness for «putting in order» one's image of the world. Such readiness enables the person to realize sense and value of what he does.

3. As a professional-personal readiness for self-realization.

Starting from the above-enumerated theoretical premises, we, together with J.S. Krupnova and G.V. Kaplina, have organized a research of psychological readiness of members of a pedagogical collective (49 persons in number) from Chelyabinsk school, planning to work with a pilot programme of application of the personal-oriented approach to education into the pedagogical process.

Research tasks:

1. The diagnostics of teachers' motivational readiness for transformation of their own pedagogical activity during the acceptance of values of the personal-oriented approach to education.

2. The definition of the professional-personal readiness for selfrealization in pedagogical activity (through revealing the features of professional self-consciousness shown in satisfaction of professional activity).

3. The revealing social-perceptual attitudes of teachers towards the perception of a pupil.

Methods of research:

1. A procedure of studying of teachers' satisfaction with vital activity in educational institution. The author is E.N. Stepanov.

2. A questionnaire aimed at revealing a degree of teachers' vocational orientation toward the values of directive (traditional) and nondirective (the personal-oriented) approaches to education. The authors are O.M. Krasnoryadtseva and V.E. Klochko.

3. F. Fidler's procedure in the modification of I.P. Volkov, N.J. Hryashcheva, A.J. Shalyto, directed towards diagnostics of social-perceptual attitudes of a person.

The analysis of the results:

The study of teachers' vocational orientations toward the values of directive and non-directive approaches to educational process has become the task for the first investigation stage.

On the whole it is possible to say that the orientation of members of the pedagogical collective toward the values of the directive approach is characterized by a low degree of its acceptance (Хmean = 7,6 when Хmax = 40), and toward the values of non-directive approach - an average degree of acceptance (Хmean = 19,89 when Хmax = 40).

The analysis of the received data has allowed us to differentiate some groups of teachers with a different degree of acceptance-rejection of these values. On the whole it is possible to say that according to the results of the diagnostics in the pedagogical collective there are no people unambiguously rejecting the values of the non-directive (the personal-oriented) approach to education. However (as it has been shown by the investigations carried out in different pedagogical collectives), declaring at the level of the consent with this or that professional value (revealed by testing) does not mean yet that a teacher will creatively reconstruct his pedagogical activity according to these values, and change the strategy and the tactics of his professional activities.

The matter is that in this case teachers' position can reflect the presence of the internal conflict (the struggle of motives) in consciousness of teachers that is confirmed by the qualitative analysis of the received data.

On the one hand, teachers recognize the child's right to the «internal world», to «a free choice and the responsibility for it», to his position of «the subject», «the creator of culture»; define the primary goal of a teacher as a problem of «stimulating and organizing the sensible learning»; designate a «personal development» instead of «mastering some sum of knowledge» as a priority of educational process.

And on the other hand, the position of teachers is equally characterized by «school-centrism» shown in intensified search of opportunities «to adapt (to adjust) the child for the accepted system of education and for the contents of that which is provided for by the government standard». At the same time the teachers themselves display the «compounding approach» to solving the problem of reforming the education with the purpose of its humanization because they consider «good pedagogical technologies» as the primary factor of solution of a similar problem. In the very raising of the humanization problem of education in such a way there is a hidden global contradiction therefore the personal-oriented education resists technologization (becoming technological), and therein indeed lies its main value as it is focused on the process of development of individuality, instead of on the average result of mastering ZUNs.

In this case there is a supposition that the motive of transformation is present at consciousness of teachers as «known» (because it gradually gets an urgency under the influence of the social demand), but, unfortunately, it does not exert a real inducing action on the process of professional development of a teacher.

The research of the level of teachers' satisfaction with their work, reflecting the correlation between motivational-valuable sphere of a teacher's personality and an opportunity of success in work with realization of leading motives of his professional-pedagogical activity, has allowed us to make the general idea of the fact what in particular does not satisfy teachers in professional work to a greater extent. The greatest percent (31%) of teachers with a low level of satisfaction is observed in the «Organizing the work» scale and as many (31%) teachers have an average level of satisfaction in the given scale, that is more than a half of teachers can be dissatisfied with their academic load, the schedule of lessons, the work of the methodical association, and also with an irrational use of their working time due to actions of administration or their own efforts.

But the sphere of professional work of a teacher, which causes the feeling of dissatisfaction at the least number of teachers (17%), though fixes the biggest percent (50%) of average satisfied teachers, is the «Opportunity of display and realization of professional-personal qualities». The qualitative analysis of this scale data has shown that in most cases teachers do not feel a need for professional and personal growth; do not feel a real opportunity to master their professional skill, to display creativity and their gifts. They are not satisfied with that fact that their progress and achievements are missed by the administration and their colleagues.

F. Fidler's procedure used in our research has allowed us to fix teachers' behavioural stereotypes through express-diagnostics of professional attitudes to pupils' perception. The analysis of results has relatively permitted us to divide teachers into four groups according to the prevailing type of their attitude:

The active-positive type of attitude is revealed in 27% (12 persons) of teachers what is shown in a benevolent inclination to all pupils, irrespective of their progress, diligence, discipline. And this benevolence can be shown at a very high level of exactingness. The distinctive feature of these teachers is a skill to respect children in advance, not for the certain merits, but simply because each of the pupils is the personality with his own private world, opportunities, and with his own development potential.

As researchers mention among those teachers who show (by the results of the supervision) their opportunity to work in a subject-subject educational paradigm, the active-positive type of attitude is observed on the average in 87% of cases. And this fact is not admitted as casual, because the attitude to the pupil as to the subject of activity is recognition of the pupil's right to be like he is. The benevolent attitude to pupils, independent on the educational progress, is a display of the attitude to him not as to a social role (the pupil), but to a person as value to which are not affected marks of progress in performance of only one function (to study).

The functional type of professional attitudes dominates over 44% (20 persons) of teachers. For the functional type a stable casting attitude to the pupils, dependent on a degree of the pupil's progress in performance of educational tasks, on his diligence, assiduity, and discipline is typical. He can presume with «good» pupils an informal communication in a friendly atmosphere; he tries to provide maximum favourable conditions of their activity. Such teachers, in particular, frequently have so-called «favourites». Such a teacher treats the pupils who do not perform the standard (do not prepare for a lesson, do not carry out tasks, badly answer, etc.) or who are insufficiently disciplined rigidly, intolerantly; places them in much less favourable conditions of development. The high level of exactingness for himself at such teachers is combined with a high level of exactingness and uncompromising attitude to pupils in rigidly prescribed frameworks of social roles of «teacher»-«pupil».

The situational type of attitude dominates over 16% (7 persons) of teachers. As a whole this type is characterized by variability of the treatment with the same pupils, irrespective of their progress, merits and discipline. The reason of change of such a teacher's attitude to the pupils can be changes of any circumstances or even simple fluctuations of personal mood of the teacher.

The secretive-negative type of attitude is found out in 13% (6 persons) of members of the pedagogical collective. As a rule, such teachers are characterized with an external politeness or self-possession during communication with pupils; but they are inclined to support only business contacts and not to show interest in the personality of pupils, and not to enter into informal communication with them. In its extreme variant the negative attitude is shown in inability and unwillingness to see positive qualities in children, in the prejudiced approach to people's estimation which is masked with high exactingness, with words about the importance of the studies, about the significance of their subject what is frequently connected either with the psychological illiteracy of the teacher, or with the some features of character, such as suspiciousness, intolerance, malevolence in relation to people in general.

As a whole it is possible to state that in the given pedagogical collective the functional type (in its different variations) of attitude to the pupil's perception (these are 73% of teachers), and accordingly the readiness to cooperate with him in a definite way are prevailing.

Functional attitudes represent the «classical» type of professionalpedagogical attitudes as its formation is promoted by the social system existing in our society and directive pedagogics realized in it. The situational type and the secretive-negative type of attitudes are very closely connected with the functional attitudes. As it is customary to consider the situational attitudes are personal-caused deviation from functional attitudes, and the secretive-negative ones are understood as «degenerated» functional attitudes, because in spite of the efforts of their masking, they function within the limits of rigid distribution of roles (teacher-pupil) and have the same psychological characteristics as a basis.

We see that within the framework of one separately taken educational establishment completely different orientations to the system of professional values coexist. Analyzing the results of the humanistic psychology main ideas distribution for educational practice, K. Rodgers has noticed that the pedagogics does not represent a certain single method, but the aggregate of values, the special pedagogical philosophy inseparably linked with a personal way of a man's existence. Such sight has allowed A.K. Markova [2] to single out objectives of professional-pedagogical mentality humanization among the directions of activity of modern psychological service in education, and as one of the first objectives she names a problem of humanization of teachers' value orientations and attitudes.

The solution of this problem is predetermined in many respects by the system of extra education (different forms of improvement of level of professional skill), promoting to the inclusion of teachers into «quasiprofessional activity» [A.A. Verbitsky] and changing the features of the valuesense structure of the «professional image of the world» [O.M.

Krasnoryadtseva] of teachers during it. On the other hand, specific targets of psychological support of the professional development of a teacher in conditions of a stable pedagogical collective of a concrete school are facing practical psychologists of education nowadays.

The main principle of such support can become the principle of transformation of the «professional image of the world» (PIW), which can be realized in two directions:

- as a movement of professional thinking which is provided with new formations including products of cogitative activity in the form of the found conclusions, knowledge of oneself. In this case the image of the world extends

«from within» due to the inclusion of the products of cogitative activity in it; - as a process opposed in its direction when some knowledge gaining by the acting subject on the part of participants of the group cogitative activity, being entered into PIW, find value, expand it and create an opportunity for reorganization the previous found conclusions.

For providing the pedagogical collective's work for the purpose of the professional development we have taken as a basis a model of arrangement of conditions for the transformation of the pedagogical activity, the suggested by L.M. Mitina [3] and supposing some stages: preparation, comprehension, reconsideration and action.

In the course of an academic year the first stage of the preparation has been realized. It has included the psychodiagnostics of teachers and relatively allowed us to divide them into three groups: those who do not wish to introduce innovative technologies into the educational process, those who have doubts in the efficiency of the personal-oriented approach to education, and also those who are ready and already try to introduce new forms in their pedagogical activity.

During the second stage the varied program of an improvement of the psychological-pedagogical competence of the members of the school pedagogical collective has been elaborated and introduced. The program implied not so much the enlightenment of teachers (as they show high enough level of psychological information distribution), as a creation of the problem situations connected to comprehension of modern education development tendencies, cultural-historical factors of this development, and also the necessity of changing the very strategy of transformation of the educational environment on a humanistic basis. The main themes for the discussion with teachers have become the following:

- The psychological analysis of pedagogical theories of teaching.

- The pedagogical analysis of theories of the developing education.

- The types, the structure, and the sources of educational activity in informational educational technologies.

- The realization of an individual approach in training, taking into consideration the cognitive styles of pupils.

- The mental states of pupils arising in the educational process.

- The personality-sense aspects of a pupil's subject position display at juvenile age.

- The psychological readiness of senior pupils for vital self-determination.

- The expectations of education subjects (teachers, pupils and their parents) from teaching and educational process.

The realization of the program has allowed us to turn to the third stage of reconsideration implying the inclusion of teachers into active forms of interaction during discussions, trainings, business games. For this purpose the varied psychological-pedagogical seminars have been organized for the teachers during spring vacation:

- The foundations of teachers' personal-oriented interaction with children.

- The use of differential psychology means in organizing of pedagogical process.

- The psychological-pedagogical problems of realization of innovative technologies into the educational process.

And at the same time it is necessary to note that realization of the such a program would have been impossible, if there had not been an effective cooperation with the chair of the life-span (developmental) psychology of SUSU (the South-Ural State University) of Chelyabinsk which we represented in this work together with G.I. Zaharova and T.A. Kirdyashkina, and also colleagues professor N.N. Tulkibaeva and professor L.V. Trubaychuk from Chelyabinsk State Teacher's Training University. In this case we have got a

remarkable experience of joint solution of a problem of integration of science and practice in education.

The conclusion of the stage of reconsideration can allow us to give teachers an opportunity to develop and realize new forms of pedagogical activity. And it is impossible to program rigidly the assumed prospective results of the similar work because in each specific case they will be individual.

And at the same time at all stages the work should be under construction in such a way that it could make more active the cogitative activity of teachers. For this purpose during the practical and theoretical research we have distinguished the following types of problem situations:

1. The situations, arising at discrepancy of the existing image of oneself with that one which is opening during the group work under the influence of feedback means (videotape recording), in estimations of others, and during the comparison of oneself to others.

2. Problematical character arises as a result of the detection of an opportunity of new sights at the professional activity, acceptance of other pedagogical decisions. Here there is a phenomenon of «failure of the attitude», stimulating a search of new ways of interaction with children, their new understanding, etc.

3. The transformation of joint activity into the space for the development in which the participants can open opportunities of self-development, and professional self-movement.

As a result of our reflections we have the developed program of realization of the fourth stage of the action, directed to teachers' designing the conditions of experimental work of introduction the personal-oriented approach into the educational process. The work is continuing. Certainly, many questions are left unclear, for example, «what are the psychological mechanisms for becoming and developing the individuality of a child during the educational process?» or «what pedagogical or psychological criteria can be used in modern circumstances to estimate an overall performance of school?». Many problems arise in connection with organizing the process of psychological support of teacher's professional development because this work is not always supported by administration of a different level. Nevertheless, there is a certain hope that the similar work will be claimed by our society and there will be created adequate conditions for it that could confirm the words of well-known academician A.D. Saharova which have already become an axiom: «the World, the progress, and human rights - these three purposes are inseparably linked, and it is impossible to achieve any one of them, neglecting others» [4, P. 128].

education personality prerequisite

Bibliography

education personality prerequisite

1.The innovative training: strategy and practice / Edited by V.Y. Lyaudis. - M., 1994. - 203 p.

2.Krasnoryadtseva O.M. The features of professional thinking under the conditions of psychodiagnostics activity: the Manual. - Barnaul: BSTTU, 1998. - 112 p.

3.Mitina L.M. The personal and professional development of a person in new social and economic conditions // Questions of psychology. - 1997. - № 4. - P. 28 - 38.

4.Fokin J.G. The teaching and education in the higher school: Methodology, purposes and content, creativity. - M.: Publishing center «Academy», 2002. - 224 p.

5.Yakimanskaya I.S. The technology of the personal-oriented education at the modern school. - M.: September, 2000. - 176 p.

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