Specialist’s Professional And Creative Abilities Development By Means Of Acmeology

Abstract

The paper focuses on the perspectives of including acmeological approach in development of students’ professional-creative skills during the process of professional becoming. It is noted that the university is designed to create such conditions which provide transformation of personal and social goals into an effective internal incentive for professional and creative development of the future specialist. That’s why acmeological ones for effective development of students’ professional-creative skills were proposed in this research. The authors emphasized that it’s necessary to take into consideration the category of maturity as an integral characteristic of the results of education. Developed technology of professional and creative skills formation is presented as well. It was proved that stages of person’s development are associated with periods of training. Comparative analysis of the results of students' assessment allowed to identify ones of different levels of formation. Analysis of the results of the formative experiment and systematic observation of educational activities of students proved the effectiveness of the acmeological approach. The authors come to the conclusion that the task of higher education of a new quality is the formation of students' abilities and needs for social and personal creativity. The results of our experiment show that consistent and purposeful implementation of the proposed approach to the problem solution in the educational process of the university ensures the effectiveness of the formation of professional and creative abilities of future specialists of economic profile.

Keywords: Acmeological approachprofessional and creative skillsphased technologycategory of maturity

Introduction

Modern enterprises need specialists who are able to use creatively in their professional activities the acquired knowledge at the university; who master the methods and techniques of their creative implementation in practical work; who feel the need to update and improve professionally significant knowledge and skills, which differ in the formation of professional principles, views, beliefs, interests, desires and motives of activity.

Such a task requires the higher school to organize the search for pedagogical measures to improve the effectiveness of the professional orientation of the student's personality, to determine the ways of its permanent formation throughout the period of study at the university. In the context of consideration of the problems of a competent specialist formation the particular relevance is a problem of training competitive specialist with a set of professional and personal qualities that ensure the effectiveness of his/her activity in society (Balynin, 2015).

Currently, the Russian Federation has more than 818 educational institutions of higher education and scientific organizations implementing bachelor's, specialist's and master's programs (by academic years) (see Figure 01 ).

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Number of students in educational institutions of higher education and scientific organizations implementing bachelor's, specialist's and master's programs (by academic years) exceeds 4399 (see figure 2 ).

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Problem Statement

Having analyzed the current state of higher education, we concluded that in the conditions of modern scientific and technological revolution “there is a gap between the historical tradition of learning in higher education and the needs of society. In the content of the modernization of the professional education system, a transition to the use of modern methods and technologies of training aimed at continuous development and improvement of creative thinking, skills and motivation, identification and formulation of problems” (Mikhaylova, 2016, p. 110).

The quality of modern education has become an important subject of discussion of the pedagogical community. According to Subetto (2014), "the management of the future is possible in terms of development of human qualities, social intelligence and educational systems in society" (Subetto, 2014, p. 15).

The higher school is designed to provide such conditions in which the possible transformation of personal and social goals into an effective internal incentive for professional and creative development of the future specialist, the development of an active professional position and creative style of activity. In our opinion, such conditions can be provided by acmeology. Acmeology (from the Greek. akme-the highest degree, the top) is a comprehensive science of man, located in the period of his/her maturity, i.e. the most productive period of life (Turgunbayeva, Martišauskienė, Bekzhanova, & Kelsievna, 2014, p.79).

In the process of globalization of the higher education system, a necessary condition for professional mobility of a student is the presence of his/her professional creative abilities. Due to professional creative abilities, future specialists have the opportunity to develop personal qualities and professional skills, which solves one of the goals of training – the education of a harmonious and comprehensively developed personality, that is, having reached "acme". Acmeology has acquired a special significance as a science that studies the regularities of professionalism and creativity development as “acme-forms” of optimal implementation of all kinds of professional activities.

Various aspects of professional learning were studied by domestic and foreign psychologists and teachers such as N. V. Vasilieva, A. K. Markova, L. A. Petrovskaya, S. A. Sysoeva, N. D. Levitov, I. A. Zimnaya, B. S. Gershunsky, V. V. Kraevsky, M. M. Levin, V. A. Slastenin, D. I. Feldstein, O. N. Shilov, A. S. Povidaichyk, I. D. Chechel and others.

One of the the best solutions for these problems is a training process formation with the support of acmeology theory (N. A. Ribnikov, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A. A. Bodalev, B. G. Ananev, A. A. Derkach, N. V. Kuzmina, and others).

Epistemological and discursive complexities in multidisciplinary practice were researched by Karin Wolff. The theoretical analysis showed that the question about the formation of professional-creative skills of future specialist is actual. In the pedagogical theory and practice, the techniques in the development of students’ professional-creative skills have not been researched yet.

Research Questions

In the process of globalization of the system of higher education, the students` professional mobility requires professional-creative skills. “Due to it, the future specialists have the opportunity to develop personality skills and professional creative abilities that one of the aims of education that is an education of harmonically and developed personality” (Mikhaylova, 2016, p. 112).

The content of the pedagogical process should include innovative aspects of educational technologies. One of these aspects is believed to be an acmeological one that stimulates the development of personal qualities needed for competitive specialist. However, the question of the use of acmeology to solve the problem of the quality of education is not sufficiently studied. Acmeological concept of education is based on the following leading ideas: the purpose and result of the educational process is a development of a growing person, which is expressed in the integral quality of maturity at each milestone stage of learning and maturation.

Maximova proposed to consider acmeological theory of maturity in the context of professional training. She believes that "the current educational institutions play a multifunctional role in the development of man and society and can provide a high quality of education, provided that it will function as multivariate models in the spirit of social order" (Turin & Stepanova, p. 9).

We agree that it is necessary to refer to the category of maturity as an integral characteristic of the results of education, development and education of a person. Based on the understanding of personality as one of the essential characteristics of a person, his/her social development, it is necessary to recognize that personal maturity (mature personality) does not reveal all aspects of integral human development. Every age stage of development is associated with periods of training. It ends with reaching its peak, a state of a certain kind of maturity, the essence of which is readiness for development-education at a subsequent stage.

Acmeology application to the studied problem will give an opportunity, to comprehend in a new way the essence of education quality. The relevance of this article is in the fact that the conditions of formation of professional creative abilities in the process of professional economic education are not researched.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this article is an identification, theoretical justification and experimental verification of pedagogical conditions that contribute to the efficiency of future specialist’s professional creative abilities formation of in the process of professional education.

With the purpose of formation of professional creative abilities taking into account an acmeological approach it is necessary to carry out purposeful impact on the motivational and regulatory-activity sphere of the personality, his/her “micro-acme” at different age stages. We have determined that this integral criterion is a phenomenon of maturity, where maturity is a subjective-objective component that reflects personal life experience and natural resources of a growing person. In our case, maturity is a social result that arose in the process of interaction between the educational and social environment, it is a micro-acme, which was formed at the intersection of the following processes: age-related psychophysiological maturation and educational, where priority is given to the laws of socio-cultural development. We found in the experiment that each age stage of development is associated with periods of training. Two stages were identified:

Stage I (social maturity) – transition from school to the university. The main features that must be considered in the formation of professional creativity are following:

• adaptation of first-year students, addictive to the university life (development of individual and group maps of primary diagnosis of psychosocial adaptation of students);

• overcoming the barrier of self-doubt (training tasks for cohesion, creative activation and cooperation).

Stage II (personal and professional maturity) – middle and senior courses. The main features are following: independence; responsibility for the decision; the desire for personal self-determination; meaningful and responsible choice of the way forward, the highest level of consciousness (see figure 3 ).

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The effectiveness of the adaptation process and the creation of a favorable adaptation period is the main task of the entire educational process of the university, during which the conditions are implemented that contribute to the identification and correction of negative trends in professional development in the context of adaptation period of first-year students. It is acmeology that solves a very difficult task: to find out features of a person on each phase of his/her life that he/she must reach “acme”.

Social maturity as an acme-form of a student includes the following indicators: the integrity of the worldview; sustainable professional choice and motivation for success; the ability to self-realization, self-development and self-improvement; the ability to adapt to society. Higher education orientation to the formation of social maturity can contribute to the integrity of the educational process and a higher level of quality. The implementation of acmeological theory in practice means the approach to solving the problems of continuity in learning, the stability of the development of professional creative abilities. The process of personality formation is associated with the self-determination of a person in the society in which his/her development takes place, in activity and communication with other people.

Research Methods

To solve the problem of verification of initial assumptions in the study, a set of complementary research methods is used:

• theoretical: (analysis of philosophical, sociological, psychological, pedagogical, social, engineering literature on the problem under consideration; analysis of documentation on the organization of the educational process at the University for the theoretical substantiation of the essence, functions, structural components of the model of formation of the future engineer of professional and creative skills; analysis, synthesis, and systematization for the theoretical generalization of the main approaches to solving the problem of research);

• empirical (study of documents, questionnaires, observation, interviews, testing, self-assessment, study of products, pedagogical design);

• experimental one.

For a more detail study of the socio-pedagogical conditions of the university, we have studied the following main points of training:

• transition features from the school program at the initial stage of training;

• improvement of the mechanism of self-control in the process of vocational training.

The initial stage of training plays a huge role in the future development of a competitive specialist. The tasks that should be solved in the transition from the school program should be as follows:

• formation both cognitive and professional motives;

• formation of a holistic view of professional activity;

• giving the learning process a creative nature that increases the interest of students, motivation for success and achievements.

Thus, today there is a growing need not only in a highly educated but also in highly professional specialist. This can be achieved with the help of acmeological conditions (Usata, 2016).

We define acmeological conditions as the circumstances on which the achievement of a high professional result depends on: inclinations; abilities; conditions of training and education; the role of the teacher in the interaction between students. Effective conditions providing professional creative abilities formation are as follows:

1) the content of economic education is aimed at the formation of students' economic knowledge to solve organizational and managerial problems of professional activity. The ability of future specialists to constantly enrich their knowledge and skills, the level of development of their professionally significant personal qualities, focus on “professional and creative self-development and self-realization” (Cherkas-Bystrova, 2016, p.34) are the dominant indicators of the quality of professional education, its targets.

2) the method of economic education should ensure a students’ position as a subject of organizational and managerial activities and contribute to the formation of their motives for mastering professionally significant knowledge and skills. The higher school should provide such conditions in which the possible transformation of personal and social goals into an effective internal incentive for professional and creative future specialist formation, the development of an active professional position and creative style of activity.

To do this, it is necessary to include a person in a variety of creative activities on the basics of clustering technique (Kurada & Kanadam, 2019). Developing the problem of abilities, B.G. Ananyev emphasizes the role of active individual in the assimilation of social experience (Loginova, 2016). Ability is the manifestation of the creative development of the mind, not the simple accumulation of knowledge. Consequently, the ability is a manifestation of creative application of accumulated knowledge, innovative position of the person regarding the knowledge that he learns, his/her independence and consciousness (Tajik & Ranjbar, 2018).

3) acmeological educational environment is created in the university that helps to overcome the difficulties associated with the adaptation period and achieve sustainable motivation for success.

Findings

At the stage of professional adaptation, an individual style of the future specialist's activity is also formed, which is based on his/her individual psychological characteristics (Norin, Norina, & Pukharenko, 2018) The effective development of personality and the formation of professional consciousness contribute to the fact that the inclusion of students in the system of industrial and social relations takes place without disappointments, crises and conflicts. Comprehensive development of the individual is carried out throughout the life of the person and consists of mental, physical, moral, labor and aesthetic education and development.

The effectiveness of the adaptation process and the creation of a favorable adaptation period is the primary task of the entire educational process of the university, during which the pedagogical conditions are implemented, contributing to the identification and correction of the initial negative trends of professional development that have arisen in the adaptation period of first-year students; the methods of activating educational activities, improving practical skills of independent work, strengthening interest in educational activities; psychological assistance, support and support in creating conditions for the independent choice of their style in various activities and communication; the student inclusion in the system of self-government, which is a form of student democracy with the relevant rights, are applied. At the stage of professional adaptation, an individual style of the future specialist's activity is also formed, which is based on his individual psychological characteristics (Irvine, Williams, & McKenna, 2018; Minghui, 2018).

A person's awareness of the progress their professional development inevitably leads to the understanding of inconsistency, and the inconsistency of this process, unevenness of the formation of individual aspects of its development (when, for example, the desire and motives ahead of real opportunities) or to the understanding of imbalance, harmony (when new goals require effort, which dredged all the reserves of the individual). To assess personality characteristics, optimization of the selection of vocational areas at the beginning of their professional career it is important to consider the type of human personality, activity and development zones (according to L. S. Vygotsky). Only such training will be "good" and "right", which is based on accordance of the nearest development zones of each student. Vygotsky (cited in Cherkas-Bystrova, 2016) realized that to ensure high rates of mental development, essential level of development is not so important as a zone of proximal development, i.e. functions, knowledges and skills that are formed and should be formed if we build training with a focus on person’s development.

According to Sutopo, Rahadianto and Nilan the motive for achievement consists of two opposite motivational tendencies-the desire for success and the avoidance of failure. A high level of achievement motivation means that the student is dominated by the pursuit of success; a low level of motivation, on the contrary, indicates that the desire to avoid failure dominates (Sutopo & Nilan, 2018).

For diagnosis we used the technique of personality diagnostics on motivation to success by T. Ehlers (Test/Questionnaire T. Ehlers for the study of motivation to succeed) and a technique of diagnostics of personality on motivation to avoid failures of the So-Ehlers (Ehler, 1968). The results of the ascertaining experiment showed a generally insufficient level of achievement motivation, which confirmed the need for the development of trainings. The purpose of the formative experiment was to include students in the process of mastering the specialty on the basis of the ideas of acmeological, communicative, contextual, personality-oriented and personality-activity approaches using active forms and methods of learning.

Comparative analysis of the results of ascertaining and forming experiments showed that the level of formation of motivation to achieve future professionals in students of the experimental group compared with ascertaining experiment tends to increase. The level of formation of achievement motivation in the control group has not changed. The results were summarized in the table 1 .

Analysis of the results of the formative experiment and systematic observation of educational activities of students revealed the effectiveness of the acmeological approach, in particular, training: students of the experimental group have reached a higher level of achievement motivation compared to the students of the control group. We have recorded a positive dynamics of development of the motivational component of future specialists in the experimental group in the process of economic education.

Conclusion

Comparative analysis of the results of students' assessment allowed to identify ones of different levels of formation. Their division into levels of formation and their subsequent study revealed the following signs of motivation:

• students of high motivation level are satisfied with their profession, students of low motivation level are either not satisfied, or they have uncertain or contradictory attitude to the profession;

• students of high level of motivation have active self-development, students of low level have either halt self-development, or there is no system of self-development;

• students of low level of motivation have high self-esteem, students of high level have low self-esteem or adequate;

• students of high level of motivation prefer productive teaching methods, students of middle and low level use reproductive teaching methods.

The implementation of acmeological theory in practice is the approach to solving the problems of continuity in learning, the stability of the development of professional creative abilities.

It seems that the task of higher education of a new quality is the formation of students' abilities and needs for social and personal creativity. Only that person can fully act in a changing world, which is able to act beyond the acquired information, a standard set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. He/she can make an independent choice and has a motivation to achieve.

The results of our experiment show that consistent and purposeful implementation of the developed approach to the problem solution in the educational process of the university ensures the effectiveness of the formation of professional creative abilities of future specialists of economic profile, which significantly improves the quality of professional training.

The analysis of the problem of future specialists’ professional creative abilities formation does not envelop whole problem. In this regard, it is possible to continue further work on the development of technology of future economists’ professional creative abilities formation.

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