The Valuable Foundations For Diligence Education In Preschool

Abstract

The research subject is the education of diligence among preschool children in the axiological approach: determining the role of values ​​of experience and transformation and cognitive values ​​in the structure of diligence in preschool; diagnostics of the components of a value attitude to work in preschool children; means and methods of the education of diligence in preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work in kindergarten. The results of the theoretical and applied research, evaluating the effectiveness of incorporating pedagogical conditions in the educational process of kindergarten that contribute to the formation of a value attitude towards work in preschool children as the basis for the education of diligence are presented. The pedagogical experiment on the basis of a preschool educational institution has taken three years. The diagnosis of a value attitude to work and upbringing of diligence in children aged 5-7 years old is carried out. The assumption is made that the upbringing of diligence among older preschool children is determined by the integration of a set of pedagogical conditions in the educational process of the kindergarten. That ensures the formation of a value attitude to work involving three groups of values ​​(experiences, transformations and cognitive values). During the control phase, a steady increase in the upbringing of industriousness among all the children participating in the experiments found as well as positive dynamics in all the three groups of values, while the greatest is evident in the values ​​of transformation and experience.

Keywords: Value attitudeeducation of diligence

Introduction

One of the topical tasks indicated by the Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education of the Russian Federation is the education of moral qualities in children, which constitute the core of the individual and one of which is diligence.

The works of G.N. Godina, A.V. Zaporozhets, V.I. Loginova, Т.А. Markova, V.G. Nechaeva and D.V. Sergeeva, developing the content, means and methods of labour education of preschool children occupy an important place in the comprehension of the problem of the education of diligence. The works devoted to the education of diligence as a moral quality of personality of the child of preschool age (Ya.Z. Neverovich, E.I. Radina, etc.) are of particular importance. However, the researchers practically did not touch the axiological aspect of educating the diligence in preschool children. It corresponds to the realities of our time, since the development of the education system on an axiological basis has become one of the leading trends in Russian reality (Volosovets, 2017). In addition, the analysis of the modern theoretical and methodological literature shows that at the turn of the 20th-21st century, the issues of industriousness education in preschool children have received much less attention. In particular, R.S. Bure remarks that "the manuals created in the past years have become a bibliographic rarity ... The new generation of educators have no opportunity to get acquainted with the recommendations in them on the organization of labour upbringing in preschool children. And modern educational programs for upbringing and education of preschool children give little attention to these issues. The work of children in kindergarten becomes more and more episodic, and its opportunities for upbringing are not fully realized "(Bure, 2004)..

Problem Statement

There is an objective need to find the conditions that ensure the effectiveness of education of diligence in children of preschool age on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work.

Specific Provisions That Determine the Formulation of the Research Task

The statement of the research task is stipulated by the following points:

  • a social order of the society for a graduate of the preschool educational institution having a value attitude to work, enjoying the process and satisfaction from the result of their labour, so significant in the transition to the next level of the education system;

  • existing difficulties in the practice of the work of preschool educational institutions in the formation of children’s value attitude to work and the lack of methodological support for the process of the education of diligence based on the formation of a value attitude to work.

Research Questions

The contradiction between the need for the education of diligence in preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work and insufficient theoretical and methodological development of this aspect of education process in preschool educational institutions has determined the essence of the research question: what are the pedagogical conditions for educating diligence in preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work?

The Content of the Research Question

We are interested in three aspects of the stated problem. First, what is the role of the values ​​of experience, transformation and cognitive values ​​in the structure of diligence in a preschool child? Secondly, what is the level of the formation of the components of a value attitude toward work in preschool children? Third, what are the means and methods of diligence education for preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work in the educational space of kindergarten?

Purpose of the Study

The research objective was to determine the effectiveness of a set of pedagogical conditions that ensure the process of educating diligence for preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work.

Research Methods

The study has been conducted in stages over three years (2014 - 2017):

  • the first stage is devoted to the phenomenological analysis of diligence, a value attitude to work and the features of its formation atpreschool age;

  • the second stage contains the organization and conduct of an experiment on the education of diligence in preschoolers on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work;

  • the third stage includes the generalization of the study results

Research Base

The research base has been one of the preschool educational institutions of Cherepovets, the Vologda region. The contingent of subjects under test consisted of 86 pupils aged 5-7 years old and a pedagogical collective.

Findings

Let us refer to the main results of the study.

The Data of the First Stage of the Research

The theoretical position that formed the basis of this study is the assertion that the vital need for work is not only a requirement of time and society, but also the most important moral need of man, and not just a man, but a developing free creative personality (M. M. Bakhtin, N.A. Berdyaev, S.N.Bulgakov, I.A.Il'in, and others). The studies show that a human need for work was innate, but it can be developed or leveled out under the influence of social factors, especially in childhood and adolescence (R.S. Bure, A.V. Zaporozhets and K.D. Ushinsky). This gives us the right to speak about an exceptionally high importance of preschool age for the development of this ability and, ultimately, education of such a moral quality as diligence in a person.

We regard the diligence of preschool children as a quality characterized by a positive subjective attitude of the child to the process and result of work activities. It manifests in the desire to work, satisfaction with the very process of labour, enthusiasm, diligence and zeal. Diligence as a sufficiently stable component of a preschooler's personality can appear only if the child develops a value attitude to work (Kozlova, 2002). The value attitude to work in the philosophical (N.A. Astashova, D.A. Leontiev, N.Z. Chavchavadze and V.A. Yadov) and psychological-pedagogical literature (G.P. Ivanova, M.G. Kazankina and N. E. Shchurkova) is characterized by the awareness of the universal value of labour and a positive relation to its moral, cognitive, aesthetic, economic and practical significance for man. By the value attitude of preschoolerswemean a personal acceptance of labour on the basis of the awareness of its practical significance for man.

The nature of a value relationship is emotional, as it reflects the subjective and personal-experienced relationship of a person with surrounding objects, phenomena and people. A value attitude of preschool children includes three main groups of values ​​(Myasishchev, 1999):

cognitive ones, determining their relation to cognition in the process of labour (the need for a new knowledge acquired in the course of labour activity, the significance of knowing that what is made by the hands of man during the whole history of his existence);

the values ​​of transformation that determine the motivation of his work activity (there is a desire to do what is available to others, the child's own experience expands, he or she is included in the work);

values ​​of experience that determine an emotional attitude to work (the child has a sense of joy, satisfaction with the process and the result of his or her work; the child is imbued with a sense of beauty, the perfection of the things created by man, there is a feeling of respect for skill).

The process of formation of values ​​is called internalization (Ivanova, 2001). N.E. Shchurkova singles out the stages of internalization: mastering - assimilation - appropriation of values ​​(Shchurkova, 1997). At preschool age, an active appropriation of universal values ​​begins, including the values ​​of labour, which determines the growth of self-consciousness and moral consciousness of children and allows us to orient ourselves in the world around us.

Value relationship arises when its objects are involved in this or that kind of human activity. The analysis of the studies (E.I. Radina, Ya.Z. Neverovich, D.V. Sergeeva and R.S. Bure) allows us to affirm the necessity of integrating labour activity with other activities of preschool children. At that, labour motivation should be mediated by a leading activity taking into account the individuality of the child (game, productive activities and children's experimentation). Since in order for diligence to become a sufficiently stable feature, it is necessary to create conditions for the systematic exercise of preschool children in performing various labour activities (Ivanova & Timoshina (2014). Therefore, the education of diligence in preschool children is possible. And, it is necessary to educate purposefully in the framework of the whole educational process of kindergarten on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work involving all the three groups of values.

The Data of the Second Stage of the Research

In the course of the theoretical analysis, it was assumed that the upbringing of diligence in preschool children is determined by the child's appropriation of the values ​​of three groups: cognitive, values ​​of experience and transformation, with a priority in the structure of a value attitude to work of values ​​of transformation and experience.

To verify the assumptions, a verifying experiment was conducted. Its purpose was to determine the qualitative characteristics of a value attitude to work and the level of upbringing of diligence in preschool children.

The diagnostic complex (Uruntayeva , 2017) included the following:

  • the method by G.A. Uruntayeva "The study of the motives of work" in order to identify the motivation of activity in preschool children in the process of manual labour;

  • the colour diagnostics based on the method of colour choices by М.Lusсher with the purpose of studying the personal situational emotional states of children during the labour activity;

the methodology by G.A. Uruntayeva and Yu.A. Afonkina "The study of ideas about adult work", which allowed to determine the attitude of children to cognition in the process of labour and their presentation;

  • the methodology "The study of the peculiarities of work activity of preschool children", which made it possible to diagnose the activity as well as motivational and personal components of diligence;

finally, the "Individual Profile of the Labour Education of a Senior Preschooler", which was compiled on the basis of an expert assessment of educators in order to reveal the level of upbringing diligence among older preschool children.

As it could be seen from Table 01 , the children have a better developed content component of diligence, and to a lesser extent, an activity component.

Table 1 -
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Regarding the qualitative characteristics of a valuable relation to work of children, the analysis of the results of the first method showed that more than 28% of the senior preschool children found an insufficient level of development of the motivation of labour activity. For the children belonging to a sufficient level, a fairly frequent but not systematic manifestation of all the types of values ​​was characteristic. In addition, there were difficulties in planning work for the manufacture of crafts, the lack of desire to bring the case to the end, especially if the labour motive was unavailable to the child. The children with an optimal level were characterized by a sufficient development of social motives and a positive emotional attitude to work, in the process of which all the three groups of values ​​manifested.

Colour diagnostics based on the method of colour choices of M.Luscher showed the following results: for the children belonging to group A (28.2%) there wasa change in the emotional state in the course of working activity from unfavourable to favourable, i.e. the work improved the mood of these children. Sufficient was the percentage of the children in group B (19.4%) who experienced stable positive emotions during labour activity, they enjoyed the work. Group C (29.3%) included the children whose emotional state varied from favourable to unfavourable in the course of their work. The emotional state of the children of group D (23.1%) during labour activity was steadily unfavourable.

The correlation between the results of the two methods showed that for the children with an insufficient level of motivation of labour activity, an unfavourable emotional state or a change from favourable to unfavourable is characteristic. The children with an optimal level experienced steadily positive emotions, or changedtoward a favourable state.

The results of the expert assessment bythe educators reflected in the "Individual profile of labour education of a senior preschooler" showed a certain coincidence in the development of the motivational sphere, awareness and emotional richness of work.

If to compare theexpert assessments with the results of diagnostic techniques, a clear correlation was observed. It confirmed the assumption of priority importance of values ​​of experience and transformation and their impact on the level of educated diligence for older preschool children in the structure of their value attitude to work.

At the formation stage of the experiment, the assumption was made that children at senior preschool age could reach the optimum level of education of diligence, if in the educationalprocess of the kindergarten integrated a complex of pedagogical conditions ensuring the formation of a valuable attitude to labour with a priority of transformation and experience values.

In the logic of education of diligence among preschool children, the following pedagogical conditions were realized on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work in the educational process of kindergarten:

  • integration of the tasks of forming a value attitude to work with the objectives of the basic educational program, which operates the preschool educational institution, providing the targeted formation of all the three groups of values ​​in all structural components of the educational process;

  • integration of work with other types of activity of the preschool children, where labour motivation should be mediated by a leading activity taking into account the individuality of the child;

  • inclusion in the educational system of emotionally saturated forms of organization, means and methods for the formation of values ​​of experience;

  • enrichment of the developing subject-spatial environment of preschool educational institutions with attributes and materials, stimulating emotional manifestations and motivation for work activity;

  • inclusion of the parents in the educational activity of the children, stimulating all the groups of values by apersonal example and example of self-employment.

Within the framework of the stated goal-setting, the tasks of forming a value attitude to work were integrated with the tasks of the basic educational program. Therefore, it was planned to form a value attitude in preschool children to work in all the structural components of the educational process:

  • in the directly organized activity, the children formed the basic systematized knowledge of adult labour and cognitive values;

  • in the joint activity of an educator and the child conditions weere created for the formation of values ​​of transformation and experience;

in a free independent activity of the child, where the creative activity and the children's initiative formed in the developing environment created by the educator. There was a sense of satisfaction with the process and result of their independent work, etc., as well as the formation and consolidation of all the groups of values.

The need to integrate work with other activities of preschool children drew the attention of R.S. Bure, Ya.Z. Neverovitch and S.A. Kozlova (Kozlova, 2002) emphasizing that labour motivation should be mediated by a leading activity taking into account the individuality of the child, during which the social experience of the child expanded (Vinogradova, 2016). The system of educational work included emotionally intensive forms of work with children and methods, that significantly stimulate the formation of values ​​of experience and cognitive values ​​(the design of the "Gallery of Labour Glory" of parents, meetings with interesting people, parents and relatives of children, the creation of "The Tree of Family Professions" and other). And, at the same time, the results of their application made it possible to enrich the developing subject-spatial environment of the group and kindergarten with attributes and materials that stimulate emotional manifestations and motivation of work (Volosovets, 2017). The most active method was the method of projects that promotes the formation of all the groups of values as well as the method of demonstrating multimedia presentations or slideshows and video materials of local lore.

V.G. Nechaev and D.V. Sergeyeva drew the attention to the importance of labour education of children in the family and kindergarten, which would ensure the unity of approaches, the interaction of the both social institutions through the inclusion in the educational activity of parents of pupils. By their example and the example of their own labour activity, they stimulated the formation of all the groups of values. Thus, all the subjects of education were included in the process of education of diligence on the basis of a value attitude to work.

The Data of the Third Stage of the Study

To assess the effectiveness of the pedagogical conditions for the education of diligence in preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work, the data of the repeated diagnostics of the components of diligence were used.

According to the results of the study presented in Table 2 , positive changes occurred in all the components of diligence, upbringing of diligence on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work, and also due to this steady tendency to reduce the insufficient level.

Table 2 -
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The comparison of the diagnostic results for the three components of diligence showed that the greatest dynamics occurred in the activity component, based on the values ​​of transformation.

Conclusion

So, the provisions of science and results of the experimental research enable us to use the formation of a value attitude to work, taking into account the priority of the values ​​of transformation in its structure as a basis for the education of diligence in preschool children.

The following changes take place in the educational process of kindergarten as a result of the application of a set of pedagogical conditions: motives of labour activity and a conscious attitude to work; labour activity is emotionally saturated and social motives and personal qualities of a preschooler develop. Children enjoy the results of their own labour activities. They are more capable of an objective evaluation of their labour and the work of their friends.

The activity of performing non-preferable types of labour activity as well as the pleasure in performing them remain at a lower level. Therefore, this is a promising field of ​​activity in the education of diligence among preschool children on the basis of the formation of a value attitude to work.

Thus, the education of diligence in preschool children has value bases and is stimulated by a set of pedagogical conditions. The allocated conditions contribute to the formation of all the three groups of values ​​in senior preschoolers with the priority of the values ​​of transformation.

Acknowledgments

The study was realized owing to an active participation of the pedagogical staff of the preschool educational institution, on the basis of which the experimental work was carried out. It actualized the innovative potential of the teachers.

References

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Publication Date

13 July 2018

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978-1-80296-042-6

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Future Academy

Volume

43

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1st Edition

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Child psychology, developmental psychology, child care, child upbringing, family psychology

Cite this article as:

Timoshina, E., & Arsenova, M. (2018). The Valuable Foundations For Diligence Education In Preschool. In S. Sheridan, & N. Veraksa (Eds.), Early Childhood Care and Education, vol 43. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 551-558). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.07.73