The Concept Of "Health" In The Structure Of The Teacher`S Professional Culture

Abstract

The article states the necessity to actualize the value of health, because the health of the nation is a condition not only of development and growth, but also the survival of society. Pedagogical activity, being one of the most difficult due to responsibility for the intellectual, physical and moral development of the growing generation, makes special demands on the professional culture of the personality of the future teacher: his ability to respond adequately to emergency situations, effectively overcome life and professional difficulties, the ability to constructively build interaction with other people, etc. All this requires a high level of formation not only psychophysical, but also professional personal qualities as meaningful components of the professional culture of the future specialist. The issues of the development of the value potential of physical education and health activities in the educational are of a pedagogical university as a factor in the successful further professional activity of the individual are considered.

Keywords: Healthpersonality of the teacheraxiological and sensemaking regulation of activitythe concept of health preservationprofessional activityhealthy lifestyle

Introduction

Currently, the educational policy in the field of science development and higher education is in the way of internationalization (Mardzhinson, 2014). According to Eric De Korte (2014), the educational system at all levels should be focused (more than ever before) on the developing in future specialist flexibility and creativity apply learned and meaningful knowledge and skills in various contexts, including upcoming professional pedagogical activity (Shukshina, Akamov, Neyasova, & Serikova 2019). The multicultural components of the professional preparation of the future teacher come to the fore in this process (Kostikov, 2018).

Focusing on the understanding of Carl Jung, the professional culture of the future specialist can be represented as “an inner vision” including attitudes and values that determine his attitude to the world, to the profession, to people, to himself. The culture of professional behavior of a future specialist reflects the space of a professional-psychological culture and appears as a personal form of behavior, conscious, constructive, collective and personal effort (Rubinshtejn, 2003).

Considering the phenomenon of professional culture, it is important to understand the psychological mechanism of the professional personal identification. This is a long process of harmonization of intrapersonal and socio-professional needs, which occurs throughout the life and career path. This is the process of the formation by the person of his attitude to the professional-working environment and the way of its self-realization, determined by the content of the motives of activity (Kolesnikova, 2008). Personality features are formed not so much due to the harmonious developmental environment, as they are revealed despite difficult life circumstances. Being connected with cultural context, the same personality characteristics can become both a feature of psychological health and a form of overcompensation of one or another deficit (Leont'ev, Lebedeva, & Kostenko, 2017).

And the features which characterize an experienced successful teacher his contribution to the fund of society`s material and spiritual values, high workability, reliability and productivity of labor, his resilience, optimism and expressed subject position, i.e. those mental reserves that help to overcome difficulties and feel healthy, filled with vitality, energetic, active, confident, did not appear suddenly, at the sunset of a professional career.

The teacher comes to productive longevity in the profession through a time-consuming process of professional development, by way of understanding the purposes of the profession, realizing the abilities to master it and assessing their current and potential professional skills. Furthermore, overcoming difficult situations of professional activity, the teacher is convincing in his profession, the degree to which a person is suitable, psychologically (physically), for his work. The teacher`s basic mission is to participate in formation the world view and personality of the students (Budnikova, 2018).

Problem Statement

Negative social and economic changes taking place in society have actualized the problem of the health of Russians, which has recently received sufficient attention from the government (Snyagina, 2011).

The value of health care among the working population is considered by the state as a key problem, since the health of a nation depends directly on the standards of health of every citizen and is an indicator not only of the stability of the society, but also its survival. This issue has a special significance when it comes to the teacher`s career.

The current situation implies a rapid reassessment of social values, namely the values of health and a healthy lifestyle among future teachers. In their study, Shukshina, Akamov, Neyasova and Serikova (2019) came to the conclusion that health and a healthy lifestyle as the basic value orientations of future teachers determine the direction of their professional activities, the basis of interaction with the subjects of educational relations, life priorities, attitude to other people and himself, ideological positions influence on the social activity.

According to Klimenko and Posuhova (2018) “ school teachers remain one of most numerous professional communities of modern Russia and play an important societal role: they implement knowledge and value socialization of youth and thus contribute to maintenance the unity of society. Therefore, stable positive professional teacher`s identification does not only improve the quality of the socio-cultural capital of school teachers, but also expands the resource base for social integration of the society " (p. 37).

This socio-economic situation has led not only to a significant decrease in the social status of Russian teachers (Malyarchuk, 2009b), but also to the progression of cardiovascular disorders, the emergence of chronic fatigue syndrome, the increase in neuroses and psychosomatic diseases of specialists working in the field of education. Pedagogical activity belongs to the category of complex, stressful, most strenuous in psychological terms, such that require large reserves of person`s self-control and self-regulation (Kriger, 2011). Only increasing the staff`s adaptability, openness in acquiring new knowledge, gaining experience, the adequacy of self-assessment, flexibility in communication with other people, rapid adaptation in a changing environment are necessary for successful professional activities (Nuttin, 1984).

Due to the intensity and friction of pedagogical work (Cibul'nikova, 2016), as well as excessive stress (Malyarchuk, 2009b), the teacher is in a state of chronic pressure associated with a large number of stressors accompanying him. As a result, there are various consequences of distress, manifested as health disorders and success of professional activity (Kolesnikova, 2008). Such a group of authors as Kotov, Rozanov, Aleksandrov and Ivanova (2017) consider that problems associated with certain aspects of teacher`s professional activities, impact negatively on psychological and physical health that undoubtedly are reflected on the quality of their lives.

The process of solving the problem of health care in the conditions of the professional activity of a teacher is characterized by multidimensional approaches, has philosophical, social, ecological, physiological, psychological, biological and other views. In this case, the psychological and pedagogical aspect are becoming more and more relevant. These aspects determine the issues of formation of the health`s value in professional activity among teachers.

Research Questions

Currently, the problems of preserving and strengthening the professional health of the teacher are considered by domestic scientists in the context of prevention, preservation and correction of the professional health of the teacher (Vasilevskaya, 2011) social aspects of the teacher's professional health (Shatrova, 2010); the axiological aspect of health creation in the professional activity of a teacher (Poletaeva, 2015); the researches which reveal the point of the professional component of the teacher's health culture are in demand (Kartashova & Kozhevnikov, 2011; Malyarchuk, 2009a, 2009b).

In addition, issues of resiliency formation, adaptability of personal behavior in extreme situations, which are often present in the day-to-day realities of the teacher’s activity, are still actual.

Nevertheless, noting the fact of the accumulation of scientific data on health problems, we have to recognize that the issues related to the establishment of professional pedagogical area are not studied enough and not systematized in the scientific psychological and pedagogical literature.

Modernization of modern education imposes high demands on the quality of pedagogical work, the effectiveness and efficiency of which is largely determined and ensured by the characteristics of the teacher’s professional health, which is one of the key components of the teacher’s labor potential (Cibul'nikova, 2017). According to some authors (Belous, 2008), the professional health of a teacher is primarily associated with the successful performance of professional functions. Awareness of health as a value implies recognition of the active role of the personality of the teacher in promotion their own health (Maslovskaya & Fomina, 2009).

Here the central place is occupied by the ability of the teacher to be the subject of his professional development, independently find an effective solution to professional problems and maintain professional balance.

In this case, professional balance implies the ability of personality to observe the optimal balance between: the impact of a complex of stress factors in the teacher’s professional activities, namely: the novelty of the work performed, the presence of professional stresses and conflict situations, high volume of work with a shortage of working time (Cibul'nikova, 2016) and professional arsenal of the teacher relevant rational strategies. Besides, the teaching profession has great social importance, since the teacher has a great responsibility not only for the education, development and upbringing of the child, but also for his health (Zhukov & Rossoshanskaya, 2011). Expanding the context of awareness of the social significance of their profession implies the presence of conscience (Frankl, 1975), which helps to maintain self-respect and peace of mind.

Awareness in the profession demands a high level of formation of both psychophysical qualities and the ability of the teacher to respond effectively to emergency situations, overcome life and professional difficulties, the ability to communicate with other participants in the educational process. Achieving a state of professional balance is possible through the actualization of the value of health in the structure of the consciousness of an individual and its contribution to building professional health saving strategies through the realization of the potential of physical culture and health activities. Professional harmony is the result of teacher training and is an indicator of his readiness to carry out professional activities.

Currently, the professional activity of a teacher is associated with large psychophysical volume of work, which adversely affect the general state of health and active professional longevity.

In addition, we can state the fact that psychophysical health does not occupy a leading position in the structure of the teacher’s personality consciousness, they lack awareness of the “health” phenomenon, which is manifested in low formation of needs and motives (Hohlova, 2016) in preserving their psychophysical abilities through active motor activities and values of a healthy lifestyle.

The current situation demonstrates the factors that impede the successful psycho-physiological adaptation of the individual to the professional activity and the further effective professional-personal development of the teacher. To actualize the value-semantic regulation of productive professional activity, it is appropriate to mention the concept of a semantic relationship introduced by Spranger (1921), understood as a relationship with a value that explains the personal experience, since all bodily functions are aimed at preserving one’s condition in these living conditions and this preservation can be considered valuable. Tillih (1995) in his work “The Courage to Be” says that a man is a man because he has the ability to understand and make his world and himself in accordance with meanings and values. The concept of meaning is largely characterized by its connection with the significance for a person of certain objects, phenomena, and actions (Gendlin, 1981; Obukhova & Komarovskaya, 2018).

In modern psychological and pedagogical research, the issues of preserving a teacher’s health in professional activities as its value foundation are mainly considered in the context of the problem of developing a teacher’s personality through a variety of pedagogical and psychological tools. At the same time, the possibilities of strengthening the value-semantic basis of sports and recreation activities in maintaining and strengthening the professional health of a teacher have not been studied enough. The health of teachers needs to be preserved and strengthened through physical education and health activities.

Here, an increase in the functional reserves of the body comes to the fore, since it is they who ensure the personality`s stress tolerance, their ability to resist the destructive influences of the profession, effectively overcome life and professional difficulties, constructively build interpersonal and professional interaction, and “maintain a dynamic balance in the system of “labor subject - professional environment ” (Nikiforof & Shingaev, 2015). It is the motor activity aimed at the improvement of the person himself, is the foundation of a successful and effective self-realization of the individual in the profession.

In this regard, it seems appropriate at the stage of professional training of a teacher to contribute to his gaining the experience of planning an individual strategy for professional and personal development, using the potential of physical culture and recreation activities. It becomes possible in a modular approach to the organization of the process of preparation teachers. In this case, the implementation of a modular approach involves the formation of a teacher's professional competence based on the concentration of inter-paradigm psychological and pedagogical knowledge about how to strengthen and preserve the internal resources of the personality necessary to effectively solve various professional tasks.

The algorithm for finding the best way to overcome difficulties that arise in situations of professional activity involves making necessary changes in the preparation system when a special educational environment is created that contributes to the formation of components of professional competence, the structure of which is reflected in the content of educational standards of the new generation and meets the challenges and risks of modern educational environment.

As a conditional “unit” of the process of professional preparation of future teachers, based on the realization of the potential of physical training and health activities, there are thematic situations based on the corresponding professional concept.

We put the concept of professional design into the system of professional training of future teachers assuming the actualization of the factors of mastering their upcoming profession based on an understanding of maintaining and strengthening their psychophysical health. The substantive content of a professional plan is formed by the labor functions that are adequate to the essence of a professional activity and form the basis of a teacher’s professional competence and are capable of accumulating the professional and personal potential of a future specialist. Realization of a professional plan involves the acquisition of experience in professional behavior, skills and abilities required for overcoming various difficulties, accepting health care values in professional activities, and the ability to communicate with other people.

The description of situations that are actualizing the concept of health in the professional training of future teachers is presented in the following table (table 1 ).

Purpose of the Study

Justification of the need to study the problem of preserving and strengthening the psychophysical potential of the teacher, ensuring the reliability and efficiency of professional activity.

Research Methods

The study and synthesis of educational experience; system-structural analysis of fundamental concepts that reveal the nature of the phenomenon of "health". A conceptual analysis of previously carried out research on the problems of health preservation in professional activities, the use of the value potential of physical culture in the professional activities of a teacher.

Findings

Thus, it can be stated that the implementation of thematic situations of professional activity in the process of professional preparation allows not only to increase the level of functioning of the functional systems of the body, but also to actualize the processes of formation of such valuable components in the professional self-consciousness of future specialists: with the presence of a fully harmoniously developed physical, mental and moral state of a person (Kagan, 1993), the desire to strengthen the level of their psychophysical health; understanding of the need to use health-saving technologies in professional activities, recognition of the value of psychological security of the person; learning how to achieve psychosomatic comfort and emotional well-being for successful psycho-physiological adaptation to professional activity. These health value forming bases of the future teacher’s self-awareness are designed to demonstrate the level of his readiness to carry out professional activities on the formation of a professional culture, and will allow to solve professional tasks more effectively and build constructive interaction with the participants of the educational process.

Conclusion

Development and testing of a typology of situations professional activities, which are based on professional design. The substantive content of a professional plan is formed by the labor functions that are adequate to the essence of a professional activity and form the basis of a teacher’s professional competence and are capable of accumulating the professional and personal potential of a future specialist. The implementation of the system of thematic situations of professional activity allows not only to increase the level of functioning of the functional systems of the body, but also demonstrates the level of professional culture, as well as readiness specialist to carry out professional activities on the basis of achieving a state of dynamic professional equilibrium, as the basis of productive professional activity.

Acknowledgments

The study is based on the realization of the research project No. 18-013-00712 “The value-semantic foundations of the teacher's professional longevity” supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR).

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