On The Issue Of Institutional And Methodological Foundations Of Teachers Training

Abstract

The paper attempts to outline some approaches to creating an organisational and theoretical and methodological basis of training teachers of the tomorrow world. The foundation of his/her professional training should be not only a subject specialisation. The focus in the teacher’s training is on some essential questions of three fundamental elements in their harmonic unity: intellectual, aesthetic and moral. According to the authors, the school of the 21^st century will need a teacher-anthropologist who is willing to work in the conditions when the upbringing has the truly regent function in the conditions of the globalising, rapidly changing world. One of the principal requirements for the teacher of the school of the 21^st century is to care about the child's progress, about the comprehensive implementation of his/her potencies. A teacher whose good pedagogical training is combined with fundamental education and a skill of accompanying the child in his/her ascension to the apex of his/her personal progress.

Keywords: Specifics of pedagogical workteacher-anthropologistthe unity of intellectualaesthetic and moral principlespedagogical skillsthe art of upbringingthe regent function of education

Introduction

The Russian education is constantly being improved to become the “locomotive” of the country’s modernisation and to ensure its competitiveness in the world market of educational services (Nacional'naja doktrina obrazovanija v Rossijskoj Federacii, 2000).

Reforms in education are not possible without the main thruster of the school life, a teacher. The twenty-first century puts forward a set of the most complex problems. In this connection, our society needs a teacher of the new formation. A school teacher of the future cannot be confined to the role of a knowledge transmitter. His/her role seems much wider, and a specialist can perform it having got not only a high level of professionalism but also some fundamental intelligence, possessing the fine art of accompanying the child in his/her ascension to the top of a personal development (Adol'f, Il'ina, 2007; Der Beruf der Lehrerin und des Lehrers in Berlin und Brandenburg ist ein Beruf mit Zukunft, 2016; Novyj uchitel' dlja novoj shkoly, 2012; Sovremennaja sistema obrazovanija v Japonii. Vysshee i pedagogicheskoe obrazovanie, 2015; Cherkesov, Loboda, 2015).

The uniqueness of the pedagogical activity consists in the fact that it is called upon to fill the gap between the rapidly developing science, the constantly enriched culture of the world and the actual level of development of children and young people, to help them in settling problems for which solution they are not ready yet and in transiting to new forms of the activity demanded by the society of the 21^st century (Muehlberger, 2007; Sovremennaja sistema obrazovanija v Japonii, 2015; The Further Education Teachers’ Qualifications (England). Regulations, 2007).

The Russian education (the 20^th – the beginning of the 21^st centuries) implemented several models of the teacher training: polytechnic, didactic, knowledge-centered, artistic, creative, social-creative, etc.

The history of formation and development of pedagogical education in the USSR and modern Russia shows that the humanistic paradigm and associated anthropological, cultural and context-activity approaches turned out to be the most productive, stimulating social and cultural change in the sphere of teachers’ training. It is the humanistic paradigm, which contributed to the development of a variety of pedagogic thinking types and is the prerequisite for democratisation and humanisation of education (Kazanskiy, 1996; Shhurkova, Muhin, 2014; Vaal, 2014).

Research Questions

The essence and specifics of pedagogical work are in the fact that every day dozens of children’s eyes screen the teacher like the x-rays. His/her level of professionalism, moral and aesthetic principles, the mental state are constantly open to curious children, as well as to their parents, community and authorities. The teacher has no other choice but to always be “up to the mark”.

Everybody recognises such qualities as great efficiency, concentration, discipline, responsibility, commitment, perseverance, an ability to set optimal goals and determine ways of achieving them, the constant improvement of their professional skills to be the most important for a teacher.

The teacher should be resourceful, always ready for independent resolving of any situations. The teacher should possess stamina and self-control. He is an optimist. In our case, we are talking not about a philanthropic optimism, but about the energetic one, shown when the teacher penetrates into the child’s internal world deeply and, depending on what he has seen there, looks for acceptable models of supporting the child in his entering "a complete image of the person, the image of the human world, the human micro space" (Griffin, 1999; Moiseev, 2003; Muehlberger, 2007; Rubcov, Margolis, Guruzhalov, 2010).

The teacher, perhaps more than any other specialist, performs many simultaneous social roles. Still, he has everything an earthly human has: a smile and austerity, modesty and restraint, sociability, sensitivity and sincerity, etc.

The teacher will not be a teacher without such qualities as genuine humanity, love for children, kindness and respect, sensitivity, faith in the students, respect for the kids’ spiritual world and nature, objectivity and integrity, self-criticism, reasonable demands. The research question is how to develop these indispensable qualities in a future specialist.

Purpose of the Study

The study aims to identify and disclose (as fully as possible) some approaches to constructing organisational and theoretical-methodological foundations of training a school teacher of the future world.

Research Methods

The authors use the following methods: the bibliometric method, the comparative analysis, independent characteristics, observation, the content analysis, the system analysis and synthesis, methods of extrapolation and modelling, analogy, systematisation and generalisation, an assessment of the revealed tendencies in retrospective and perspective plans.

Findings

The monitoring of the teacher’s personal traits conducted by the same technique in different regions of the country showed the following results: speaking about the teacher’s qualities, the youngest students tend to appreciate friendliness (95 %), patience (83 %), love for children (64 %), fairness (57 %), responsiveness (51 %), while professional skills (the degree to which lessons are informative and interesting) were indicated only by 36 % of the students. For students of a secondary and senior school, the main factor is the level of their teacher’s professional skills.

Today there is no objection to the fact that the effectiveness of teachers’ educational activity is largely predetermined by his/her "charisma" and consists of a number of characteristics (the level of creative thinking; the level of "transformational abilities"; completeness, depth, adequacy and sustainability of pedagogical reflection; the wealth of moral and ethical qualities, structure and volume of dialogical interaction, etc.).

In this regard, the principal requirement for the teacher of the school of the 21^st century is to care about the child's progress, about the comprehensive implementation of the potencies inherent in him. In other words, the requirements should be aimed at creating conditions for the flourishing of the student’s creative capacities, his inclinations, talents, specific features, at building a strong spiritual and moral core of the maturing personality.

Therefore, we believe that the educational process in the school of the future should be structured in such a way that the pupil had the opportunity to express him/herself:

• as a personality;

• as a citizen;

• as a worker;

• and, finally, most importantly — as a human being.

One of the most important principles of humanistic pedagogy, which we expect to be the key one in the emerging school of the 21^st century is the principle of cooperation. Its main idea is the interaction of two worlds – the world of a teacher and that of a pupil. They may not be the same. However, if I am a teacher, then I am not a knowledge transmitter, but the organiser of conditions for the student’s progress, for the disclosure of his/her instincts and skills. The point of my teaching activities is the organisation of a student's success, his/her comprehensive self-realization.

I know that learning is difficult. But as a teacher, I should motivate my students to master the fundamentals of science and values created by the humankind. It is my job. Like a doctor, who not only eases the pain but also tries to cure the person, I create conditions, gradually and patiently guide my pupil onto the stairs of his ascent to the top of his progress.

To do this, I:

• try to make hard aspects possible to overcome;

• focus my whole pedagogical activity on the organisation of children’s success;

• do everything so that my students could present their "self" (open them in themselves) (Kaydalov, 2005, pp. 24-25).

A school teacher of the future ensures that every student should reach the peak of his/her possibilities’ implementation. Besides, the specialist is always mindful of maintaining the health of the children. With this purpose, this person constantly seeks and implements health-sustaining educational technologies and their separate elements into the educational process, allowing everybody to learn well doing no harm to their health.

Today the quality of education leaves much to be desired. The claims are non-coplanar, multifaceted… Unfortunately, this is true, as well as the fact that the quality of education cannot surpass the quality of teachers.

Speaking about the level of professionalism of the school teacher of the 21^st century, we also mean his/her compliance with the changed political and socio-economic conditions and the global challenges that occur in the world.

Today judgments about updating the educational aim are expressed more insistently; this aim should meet the spirit and requirements of the third millennium. According to some opinions, such a goal must ensure "the formation of a man with a new level of consciousness aimed at preserving life on the planet" (Novyj uchitel' dlja novoj shkoly, 2012, p.266). Others believe that the global objective of modern education should be a person of culture (Villegas-Reimers, 2003; Bondarevskaya, 2012). The third idea is that this goal must be a person "able to build a life worthy of a man" (Shhurkova, Muhin, 2014). It seems to us that the aim of education should be to create a highly educated creative person with a well-developed initiative basis and well-formed moral and spiritual core, who has a planetary responsibility (Mukhin, 2013).

In this context, the objective of the school of the 21^st century should be not only to identify and promote the maximum intellectual development of each student, but also to care about the development of children’s personal autonomy, to develop the student's ability to be a subject of his/her own conduct and life, the ability to combine personal interests and the interests of society, to promote the awareness of the connection of the "self" with others, to understand that every student is an "I, human being", and therefore, it is the student who represents not only him/herself but the whole humanity, i.e. this person is a part of humanity.

The above-said is another reminder to some functionaries that the school is not an organisation, providing services, but the leading institution for making up the personality with stable moral and spiritual core of responsible future citizens of the society, country and planet.

The modern reality is such that the spiritual-moral basis, anyhow present in every adolescent personality, should come to the fore in the educational process in the school of the future and become a daily concern of the teacher.

Discussion

According to scientists, the next stage of human evolution will be determined not by selfish competition, but by the gradually asserted collectivity [See: 13]. Much-touted competitiveness in education must step aside. In a multipolar world, the concept of "we" and "they" will not be so antagonistic. "The whole world, the whole planet are "we" (Dalaj-Lama XIV, 2006, p. 7). In this context, it is natural to agree with those who argue that the task of education in the 21^st century is to recreate a unique human image in the person, to find the man in a man (Oelkers, 2004; Novyj uchitel' dlja novoj shkoly, 2012, p. 61).

The results of the monitoring of the contemporary students’ level of education revealed weaknesses in teachers' training. This situation is also explained by the fact that the basis of teachers’ training is made up by the so-called flow method. With this method, the emphasis is on providing the student with a certain amount of knowledge and on implementing a variety of techniques and technologies. The future teacher’s intelligence is left outside the curriculum.

Meanwhile, it is clear today that in the conditions of the globalising, rapidly changing the world, we need a teacher-anthropologist – a specialist whose good pedagogical training is combined with fundamental education and a solid moral core. We’ll need a teacher oriented to a situation in which upbringing in the pedagogical process will perform a regent function.

The above-said convinces us once again that the school of the future needs a new teacher. Today the following specialists are becoming increasingly popular:

• Teachers-moderators. This teacher can hear each student, initiates discussions, becomes an active participant, gradually leads the discussants to general conclusions;

• Teachers-tutors. This tutor can quickly find the area where the student can be the most successful; together with the children, he/she builds the trajectory of their further ascent up the stairs of learning the scientific basis of the subjects, the objective laws of nature and society;

• The teacher-organizer formulates an interesting problem, discusses the solution algorithm, becomes the coauthor of creative research the students do.

• A teacher of games. A game is an opportunity for boys and girls to really live through any topic, to grow the knowledge in themselves.

In reality, the schoolteacher of the 21^st century, depending on the situation, is equally able to play different roles (Gumanisticheskaya pedagogika: XXI vek, 2015).

So that a teacher, as Sh. A. Amonashvili said, should be the sun of the whole educational space, it is necessary to complete a number of tasks:

1. To focus attention on the central question of pedagogy: "How?" The answer to this question is largely determined by pedagogical thinking, pedagogical skills and the art of upbringing. It is hard to disagree with that. These three components will determine the success of the educational activities of the school of the 21^st century. We believe it is them that should be the centre of attention of both scientists and education practitioners.

2. One needs to decide what paradigm of education at the present historical development stage should be the most acceptable. It has been suggested that we should move away from the norms-oriented education, structured according to the paradigm "knowledge – skill – behaviour" to the paradigm of value-oriented education: "state – attitude – action".

We believe that in the school of tomorrow, the acquired knowledge and skills will be directed not so much at organising lifestyles "as a system of knowledge and methods of activities", but at the independent creation of the world image, the development of creativity and generation of new ideas. Accordingly, a "school of memory", which underlay the knowledge-centered paradigm, will be changed for the culture–forming school.

Accordingly, there should be a change of pedagogical focus from the "norm" to "relation" with the "shoulds" to "free choice", from "obedience" to "self-regulation".

3. One of the most important conditions for personal development and child’s progress is a schoolteacher’s professional position. In the new conditions, the professional position of the teacher has fundamentally changed. From the known characteristics of pedagogical positions (remote, "level", kinetic; social), in this case, the kinetic one is primarily important for us.

This characteristic determines someone’s position in relation to another in a joint activity, a mutual movement towards the intended target: "ahead", "behind", "together". In our case, the position "ahead" suggests that the teacher leads the pupils. The "behind" position indicates that fulfilling his vanguard function, the teacher still does it quietly, subtly, being "in the shadows"—“behind”. Finally, the position of "together" states: both subjects of the educational process jointly develop a strategy of actions to achieve a common goal (Sovremennaja sistema obrazovanija v Japonii, 2015, p. 289).

4. Historically, a monologue is still the predominant form of activity at school. This is also proven by the results of Russian and German studies. The teacher pronounced 90% of all the words spoken at the lessons included in the experiment (Novyj uchitel' dlja novoj shkoly, 2012, p. 193).

Meanwhile, the emerging multipolar world may come true only if there are relationships based on dialogue. The twenty-first century is increasingly showing that today the dialogue is perhaps not only the optimal form of the development of each particular society but also the basic condition of coexistence of different nations, peoples, religions, humanity in general. This makes the school education (and the teacher in particular) face the necessity to form a person who is able to carry out a dialogue. We need a person who has "I" and "We" in a dialectical unity in his consciousness.

5. A school teacher’s task is not the only transmission of knowledge. His/her key mission is to promote the formation and development of a spiritual and moral core of the maturing person, approving a person in the person. Speaking about the teacher’s role in the future, a famous scientist, Academician Moiseev said, "It’s not a politician, not a general and not even a scientist—it’s a teacher who will become the central figure of the coming age" (Moiseev, 2003, p. 13).

The dynamic changes experienced by the humanity were especially noticeable in the twentieth century and in the early twenty-first century. This circumstance dictates frequent social changes and the need for constant updating of professional skills. The school of tomorrow will have to prepare the young growth for life in the third millennium. It should be noted that little or nothing is known about this generation. The solution to this problem will lie entirely on the shoulders of a school teacher who needs to see the real life and to anticipate how it will have changed by the time his current students get older.

In this regard, there is a need to modernise the system of teacher’s training more quickly. The foundation of his professional education should be not only a substantive expertise but also the essential, culture-contextual aspect of practice. In the emerging multi-polar rapidly changing world, we need a widely educated teacher with fundamental knowledge which is constantly updated.

This leads us to the conclusion that the teacher’s professionalism can not only be enhanced by computerization and other modern teaching facilities. The teacher professional competencies being formed will not help the issue of education quality. It is time to thoroughly revise the national system of pedagogical education, starting with the updates of the theoretical and methodological foundations.

6. Practical philosophy, practical psychology and practical ethics have been justified among the main vectors of the basic school teacher’s training. The emphasis on education is shifting from the cultural-educational model, dominated by the systematic assimilation of scientific bases towards a socio-cultural model. We believe that the central place in the future teachers’ training is taken by essential questions of three fundamental elements in their harmonic unity: intellectual, emotional-aesthetic and moral-spiritual, which determine their professional, socio-ethical and cultural aspirations.

Pedagogical Science and teachers-practitioners agree that the classical approach to teacher’s training "from theory to practice," gradually gives way to the more popular alternative systems of teacher’s training: a bachelor’s degree in Education and a subject master’s degree; a subject bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Education. Innovative systems of school teacher’s training, involving, for example, working at a school, in another humanitarian field, back at school, in the management system, participation in research, working at school again and other productive combinations are in great demand (Gumanisticheskaya pedagogika: XXI vek, 2015).

7. A school teacher of the 21^st century must be prepared to ensure that education will finally fulfill its regent function, and, accordingly, to fully master the art of upbringing, which, following the wise remark of Professor Shchurkova, is born in the bosom of the "tender pedagogy" (Shhurkova, Muhin, 2014).

In this regard, let us recall the parable about the Hammer, which was trying to create objects that would dazzle the eye, but in reality, they only annoyed others. Then the Hammer had to turn to the sea:

Why are the stones on your beach so smooth, while mine are sharp and prickly, no matter how much I beat them?...

- I caress them! - the Sea answered.

8. And one more thing. A school teacher of tomorrow should learn to be happy. After all, an unhappy teacher will never bring up a happy student.

Let us ask ourselves: "What is a person born for?" He or she is born to live a life happily. The core goal of humanist education is a happy man.

Respectively, at school, the teacher is the closest person to professional goals’ implementation. So, it is the teacher who should possess the technologies for creating the conditions and constructing the mechanisms which help to achieve this goal. In other words, together with joining the socio-cultural experience accumulated by previous generations, the teacher provides the students with the ability to be responsible for their own happiness. In this regard, he/she should be not only a connoisseur of the "art of life ", but also an expert "in the art of constructing happiness."

Plato once said, "Caring about others’ happiness, we find our own happiness." Constantly taking care of the formation of the students’ ability to build personal happiness, looking at the happy faces of the children, the teacher also feels happy. And it is true.

If we analyse the well-known levels of happiness, we will see that the teacher can be directly responsible for "the cultivation of happiness" of the last 3 levels. The teacher accompanying the children’s ascent to the apex of their intellectual development, however, is also involved in the formation of relationships and develops children’s creativity. He/she is a subject of their physiological upbringing.

Conclusion

Plutarch says, "The wildest foals make the best horses if they are well raised and trained". It is not easy for a school teacher to nurture a fully developed personality, a responsible citizen with a steady moral core from a restless first-grader. Only a top professional can do this. However, we know that a person isn’t born wise, wisdom comes with age. Yet, it is very important not to forget the irrefutable truth that "wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone".

We believe that high school, absorbing the centuries-long experience of teachers’ training in our country and abroad, will be able to build such a system that will meet the challenges of both the present and the future.

The key task of the 21^st century’s teacher is to ensure the freedom of the children while they are climbing the stairs of knowledge. Unity* is in the diversity of approaches to organisation and realisation of pedagogical process, consistency in work, sustainability in the development of children and youth, responsibility for the results of their training and education. If the teacher changes, everything will change: the school, the students, the parents, the entire educational system.

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