Institutional And Pedagogical Conditions Of Professional Stability Development In Law Enforcement Officers

Abstract

The article considers a research of personality’s professional stability in the law enforcement agencies staff training system, as well as identifying a set of institutional and pedagogical conditions that ensure the effectiveness of developing professional stability process for enforcement units officers at the stage of higher education with the help of the pedagogical potential of the interdepartmental interaction system in the light of professional and office activities. The aims of the pedagogical experiment include practical implementation of the system of professional stability development in law enforcement officers; provision of the conditions for the effectiveness of this system, assessment of its effectiveness; diagnosis of the degree of the influence of the identified institutional and pedagogical conditions. A system of institutional and pedagogical conditions was introduced as a part of the experimental work; it allows to develop motivation-and-values-based attitude to professional engagement, encourage professional and social activity of students, actualize the needs of self-determination and self-improvement of an individual in professional activity. Theoretical, bibliographic, empirical and practical research methods were used. The efficiency of professional stability development in law enforcement officers is assessed through introduction of organizational and pedagogical conditions necessary for the formation of a new personality trait and includes coordination of efforts of all structural units of an educational organization and elements of interdepartmental cooperation concerning development of values-and-meaning-focused guidelines of an individual's professional stability. The research enables to increase the level of professional stability in law enforcement officers within the process of professional training and degree of their motivation.

Keywords: Interdepartmental cooperationpedagogical conditionprofessional stability

Introduction

The development of professional education taking place in Russia in recent years is associated with the buildup of competence and research component in the contents and technological aspects of professional training. The tasks of higher education concerning training of a competent, responsible, proactive expert capable of self-improvement and caring for the development of their enterprise (organization) are solved through the integration of traditional forms of educational activities and innovative initiatives (Amirova, 2017). These include clustering of educational space, combination of efforts of social institutions of educational, entrepreneurial and scientific profile, actualization of connection between professional and social competence of a person, problematization of social, organizational, economic, pedagogical and other conditions of formation and development of professionally important personality traits and interdisciplinary competences (Gordeeva & Savchenkov, 2016; Karasov, 2016). Socionomic occupations have special requirements for the personality of an employee. Here, the competence range is a fusion of general cultural, general professional, professional and professionally specialized competencies. At the same time, each area of professional activity has its own specific variable aspect along with the invariable one that provides the necessary and sufficient level of efficiency and productivity of professional results. The personality component of professional competence manifests itself through personality traits and, accordingly, in behavioral forms and reactions.

A professional and personal portrait of a Russian law enforcement officer is described in the following categories: highly educated, competent, patriotic, a specialist with a civic-minded position. This involves improving organizational, content and technological components of one's higher education training, development of defenders of the legal interests of citizens, their fundamental rights, manifestation of moral and ethical professional ideals (Plitka, 2017; Zakatov, 2017; Zhaksylykov, 2015). At the same time, professional functions of a law enforcement officer have a number of specific features. These include increased level of social and psychological strain, limited amount of time to perform professional tasks, irregular working hours, aggressive environment, stressful emotional setting of the working process, etc. (Bolshunova & Kononova, 2014). In such circumstances, a person lacking professional stability will not be able to act professionally and comply with legally defined rules and regulations governing conduct of an official.

In this regard, educational practice of organizations carrying out training of specialists for law enforcement agencies needs actualization, development and testing of a set of organizational and pedagogical conditions aimed at increasing the level of professional stability.

Problem Statement

Analysis of the researches showed that modern scientific ideas on the formation and development of professional stability are quite conflicting and require further development towards the specifics of the area of law enforcement agency specialists training (Efimova, 2014; Kiselev & Donskov, 2017; Mihajlovskij & Drobot, 2014). Development of professional stability in students is complicated by a number of contradictions of social-pedagogical, scientific-theoretical and methodological character. These are the contradictions between the social need for professional staff of law enforcement agencies possessing the quality of professional stability and the insufficient development of the conditions for professional stability development in educational organizations, between the existence of developed theoretical foundations of various types and forms of professional stability and apparent lack of up-to-date studies on the problem of professional stability development in law enforcement officers in the system of interdepartmental cooperation, as well as between the need of the higher education system for methodological provision of the process of professional stability development in the system of interdepartmental cooperation and lack of scientific and methodological developments in this area.

A problem of identification of a set of organizational and pedagogical conditions for the professional stability development in law enforcement officers at the stage of higher education using pedagogical potential of the system of interdepartmental cooperation clearly reveals itself by virtue of these contradictions.

Research Questions

Analysis of the scientific literature on the research problem has shown that the concept of sustainability (i.e. the concept of stability) is often used in recent years to characterize processes in different social contexts: "sustainable development", "education for sustainable development", "sustainable professional career", "sustainable professional growth", etc. The community of professional training teachers is guided by the understanding of stability that is most often connected in its meaning with the ability to keep and sustain personal, subject, professional position, especially in cases when it is necessary to act in accord with legal norms, social, professional, collective rules, laws, statutes. In the classical works of psychologists, the stability of personality is associated with its leading characteristic – orientation, which is indicated by psychologists (Bozhovich, 1966; Chudnovskij, 1981; Platonov, 1986).

Modern scientific ideas on the formation and development of professional stability are quite conflicting and require further development towards actualization of the resources of higher education and the specifics of the orientation of training or occupations concerning interaction with people. We assume that the development of professional stability will be effective in the conditions of interdepartmental cooperation. In this context, it is necessary to clarify the essence, structure and contents of the very phenomenon of professional stability in accordance with the specifics of professional activity, to execute theoretical modeling of procedural and content aspects of interdepartmental cooperation in accordance with the federal educational standard, to identify organizational and pedagogical conditions and to test our hypothesis on the basis of criteria indicators of professional stability.

Phenomenologically, professional stability is considered in our understanding as a systemic formation in personality which is an idealized set of personal characteristics providing its ability to carry out self-organization, to act consistently, to maintain a subjective professional position within the legal system, to control emotional outbursts.

Purpose of the Study

To identify, substantiate and verify the set of organizational and pedagogical conditions for professional stability development in law enforcement officers in the system of interdepartmental cooperation.

Research Methods

The following research methods were used to complete the tasks:

• theoretical: analysis, synthesis, theoretical modelling, specification, generalization;

• bibliographic: abstracting, citing, precis-writing, documentation analysis;

• empirical: study of the experience of pedagogical science and practice on the research topic, method of analysis of axiological and meaningful judgments of subjects in the conditions of ascertaining and formative experiment;

• practical: collection and accumulation of data, its mathematical processing, method of expert assessments, questionnaire, survey, testing, observation.

Findings

The acquisition of professional stability is complex and depends on psychophysiological and personal characteristics of a person, on the conditions of its spontaneous socialization and on its purposeful formation in the conditions of certain social, psychological and organizational pedagogical conditions, forms of collective and individual impact. Its formation and development within the framework of managed socialization of a law enforcement officer requires systemic organization of life-sustaining activity of a person, including correction of one’s self-concept during the whole period of training, education and development in the system of professional training (Petrovskij, 1987; Zeer, 2003). This system inevitably includes coordination of efforts of all structural units of an educational organization and elements of interdepartmental cooperation concerning development of value and meaning reference points of an individual's professional stability, taking into account peculiarities of a free choice of an employee from a wide range of their values, things they consider important, and the level of their motivation for longstanding and successful service.

The model of professional stability development reflects the set of content and procedural, internal and external systemic relations of an educational organization and territorial law enforcement agencies; displays the links and relations that imply purposeful, deliberate, constant and varied interaction of subjects and objects of the educational process, planned and implemented on the basis of pedagogical laws of interaction between people involved in relations in the field of education.

The leading principles of implementation of the model of professional stability development in law enforcement officers are:

• the principle of target orientation of the educational process in professional training organizations on the formation of a synergistic set of key personality traits that determine the quality of office duties execution;

• the principle of practice-based orientation of the involvement of students into the process of professional training to complete professional and office tasks;

• the principle of integrated interdepartmental cooperation (participation and interaction in the educational process of all participants of educational relations).

Interaction has the following features: 1) presence of subjects of education (educational organizations, employers, students) in the same meaning space; 2) cooperative immersion into the field of the problem being solved, i.e. inclusion of all subjects of education into the educational process; 3) consistency in the choice of means and methods of problems solving implementation both during theoretical training in an educational organization and in the process of practical training at territorial law enforcement agencies.

The aims of the pedagogical experiment were: practical implementation of the system of professional stability development in law enforcement officers; provision of the conditions for the effectiveness of this system, assessment of the effectiveness of the proposed system and organizational and pedagogical conditions in dynamics; diagnosis of the degree of the influence the identified organizational and pedagogical conditions have on the effectiveness of the process of professional stability development in law enforcement officers. The total number of law enforcement officers participating in the experiment was 312. Within the framework of the pedagogical experiment, participants were divided into groups – one control group and two experimental groups (with different sets of pedagogical conditions). As the contingent of each group was determined, conditions, factors and methods of officers' professional development were taken into consideration.

Taking into account the peculiarities of the subject of our research and having analyzed different approaches to the definition of professional stability, we drew the conclusion that there is no alternative in choosing a criterion that would allow us to measure quality and quantity of the changes. Taking into account pedagogical studies, characteristics and content concept of professional stability, we define the following criteria: activity criterion, personality criterion, cognitive criterion. The observed criteria of professional stability development in law enforcement officers are reflected in categories considered to be real manifestations of a criterion and the established data that shows results of professional stability development.

Within the research process the following activities were carried out: a system of professional stability development in law enforcement officers was introduced, organizational and pedagogical conditions of effective functioning of the system were actualized: a practice-oriented educational environment was created for the system of interdepartmental cooperation. A motivation-and-values-focused attitude to professional activity was developed, professional and social activity of students was encouraged, and students’ need for self-determination, self-realization and self-improvement in their professional activities was actualized in the created professional and educational environment.

In the process of organization of pedagogical experiment on professional stability development in the control group, the organizational and pedagogical conditions that we had designed were not provided and were not implemented, but were carried out as usual within the theoretical and practical training carried out during lectures, practical lessons, seminars, when studying at departmental educational organization, and in the course of professional office during internships.

On the basis of the system of professional stability development that we have designed, educational process was organized in the experimental groups. The first and the second organizational and pedagogical conditions, namely: 1) practice-based orientation of professional training of students to perform professional and service duties; 2) organization of educational process in the professional interaction of people participating in relations in the field of education was tested in the experimental group number 1. The first and the third conditions are provided for experimental group No. 2: 1) practice-based orientation of professional training of students to perform professional and service duties; 3) encouragement of professional self-determination of students in the process of professional training.

We assume that the first and the second conditions that were defined are indispensable, since the process implemented without their engagement would be unproductive. The third condition ensures an increase in efficiency. The proposed conditions make up a system and are interrelated. Introduction and implementation of conditions in the educational process determine the efficiency of professional stability development in law enforcement officers.

In the process of the formative stage, the organizational and pedagogical conditions proposed were tested according to the specified criteria (activity, personality and cognitive criteria).

The first section of the formative experiment in the experimental and control groups showed the following results (see table 01 ). The initial data was obtained as a result of calculation of the arithmetic mean of the data on the criteria of formation of professional stability development in law enforcement officers at the initial stage (section 1 ) of the formative experiment.

X² criterion – Pearson's chi-squared test – was used to determine the difference in the control and second experimental groups. Let's suppose: null hypothesis H ₀ : the distribution of levels of professional stability development in employees does not differ in the control and experimental groups at the beginning of the formative experiment and the alternative hypothesis H ₁ : the distribution of levels of professional stability development in employees mutually differs.

Critical value for the significance level of 0.05 and the number of degrees of freedom g -1=1 is determined with the help of the table for the Pearson criterion. Given ${\chi }_{\mathrm{0,05}}^2=\mathrm{3,84}$. Certain empirical value ${\chi }_{эксп}^2$ and tabular value ${\chi }_{\mathrm{0,05}}^2$ we conclude that according to the algorithm for selecting hypotheses according to the Pearson criterion, the hypothesis H ₀ is accepted_, since ${\chi }_{эксп}^2=\mathrm{0,37}<\mathrm{3,84}={\chi }_{\mathrm{0,05}}^2.$ Thus, at this stage of experimental work, employees of the control and experimental groups meet the needs of the experiment.

During the formative experiment, we recorded changes in the level of professional stability development for each criterion. Considering the results of the experiment on the activity criterion according to the results of the initial, intermediate and final sections, we can see that the results of the formative experiment (section 2 ) in comparison with the results (section 1 ) assumed an increase in the number of employees with high and medium levels of development of this criterion in the experimental groups in comparison with the control group. The high level in the experimental groups was increased by 8.5% on average whereas in the control group it amounted to 5%. The average level in the experimental groups decreased by 8.5%, and by 4.6% in the control group.

Comparative data on the development of the activity component of professional stability is presented in table 02 .

One of the priorities of the study conducted was to create conditions for the development of the personality component of professional stability in law enforcement officers. Considering the results of the experiment on the personality criterion according to the results of the initial, intermediate and final sections, we can see that the results of the formative stage of the experiment (section 2 ) in comparison with the results (section 1 ) also assumed an increase in the number of employees with high and medium levels of development of this criterion in the experimental groups in comparison with the control group. In experimental group No. 1 and experimental group No. 2, the high level increased by about 10%, whereas in the control group the increase in this level was 8%. The average level decreased by 10% in the experimental groups, and by 8% in the control group. The statistics of the final stage in the experimental groups shows that the employees with high and medium level make up the majority: the number of employees with high level is 56%, and the number with medium level is 44% in the expert groups, and 43% and 57% respectively in the control group. After analyzing the results of the intermediate section, we can note a positive dynamics of the experimental groups compared to the control group (table 03 ).

The next stage of the experimental work was to create conditions for the development of the cognitive component of professional stability. Considering the results of the experiment on the cognitive criterion according to the results of the initial, intermediate and final sections, we can see that the results of the formative stage of the experiment (section 2 ) in comparison with the results (section 1 ) tend to display an increase in the number of employees with high and medium levels of development of this criterion in the experimental groups in comparison with the control group. The high level increased by 7% in the experimental groups and by 10% in the control group. The average level in the experimental groups decreased by 7%, and by 10% in the control group (table 04 ).

Summary data of the final section of the formative experiment in the experimental and control groups is presented in table 05 .

At the final stage of the formative experiment the results of the study in the control and experimental groups differ statistically, and the positive dynamics of the changes in criteria in the experimental groups compared to the control group based on positive increase in all indicators at the intermediate and control sections and the subsequent increase at the final stage of the experiment proves the effectiveness of the proposed system and the sufficiency of the chosen organizational and pedagogical conditions.

Conclusion

Study of the influence of the developed organizational and pedagogical conditions implemented in the process of intradepartmental cooperation on the efficiency of professional stability development on indicators of the chosen criteria in the process of its introduction into educational process of a departmental educational organization showed the following:

1. The implementation of a set of organizational and pedagogical conditions in the system of professional interaction of people participating in relations in the field of education allows a higher number of employees to achieve high levels of professional stability development.

2. The exclusion of one of the organizational and pedagogical conditions in the organization of the educational process affects the level of professional stability development among the employees of law enforcement agencies.

References

1. Amirova, L. A. (2017). Dialog o professionalnom obrazovanii [The dialogue about professional education]. Professionalnoe obrazovanie. Stolitsa, 10, 28.
2. Bolshunova, N. Ya., & Kononova, T. A. (2014). Spetsifika voennogo kharaktera [Peculiar features of the military character]. Sibirskij pedagogicheskij zhurnal, 3, 144.
3. Bozhovich, L. I. (1966). Ustojchivost lichnosti. Protsess i usloviya ee formirovaniya [Stable personality. The process and conditions of its formation]. Moscow: Rabotnik prosveshcheniya.
4. Chudnovskij, V. E. (1981). Nravstvennaya ustojchivost lichnosti: Psikhologicheskoe issledovanie [Moral stability of the person: A psychological research]. Moscow: Pedagogika.
5. Efimova, Ye. M. (2014). Model sistemy formirovaniya sotsialnoj ustojchivosti lichnosti v usloviyakh vysshego professionalnogo obrazovaniya [The model of a system of forming the social stability of a person in conditions of the higher professional education]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 3(144), 110-116.
6. Gordeeva, D. S., & Savchenkov, A. V. (2016). Aktualnye problemy vzaimodejstviya vuzov s realnym sektorom ekonomiki [Topical problems of higher education institutions and the real economic sector interaction]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 7, 30.
7. Karasov, I. D. (2016). Metodologicheskie osnovaniya formirovaniya imidzha voyennosluzhashchego kak samoorganizuyushchejsya sistemy [The methodological basis for forming the image of the serviceman as a self-organizing system]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 10, 49-56.
8. Kiselev, A. M., & Donskov, D. A. (2017). Formirovanie emotsionalno-volevoj ustojchivosti kak osnovnogo komponenta adaptirovannosti sotrudnikov pravoohranitelnykh organov k deyatelnosti v ekstremalnykh situatsiyakh [Forming emotional and volitional stability as the main component of law enforcement officers being adapted to actions in extreme situations]. Pravo i obrazovanie, 7, 52-56.
9. Mihajlovskij, V. G., & Drobot, I. S. (2014). Ustojchivost professionalnogo stanovleniya ofitserskikh kadrov takticheskogo zvena RVSN [Stable professional formation of Strategic missile forces tactic level military personnel]. Mir obrazovaniya – obrazovanie v mire, 2, 34.
10. Petrovskij, A. V. (1987). Psikhologiya razvivayushchejsya lichnosti [Psychology of the developing personality]. Moscow: Pedagogika.
11. Platonov, K. K. (1986). Struktura razvitiya lichnosti [The structure of personality development]. Moscow: Nauka.
12. Plitka, V. I. (2017). O nekotorykh aspektakh voenno-professionalnogo stanovleniya ofitserov-vypusknikov voennykh institutov vojsk natsionalnoj gvardii Rossijskoj Federatsii [On some aspects of military and professional formation of graduate officers of the Russian Federation National Guard troops military institutions]. Pravo i obrazovanie, 7, 177.
13. Zakatov, V. V. (2017). Kontseptualnye polozheniya professionalnogo obucheniya sotrudnikov organov vnutrennikh del Rossijskoj Federatsii [The conceptual propositions of professional education of the Russian Federation internal affairs officers]. Mir obrazovaniya – obrazovanie v mire, 1(65), 160.
14. Zeer, E. F. (2003). Psikhologiya professionalnogo obrazovaniya [Psychology of professional education]. Voronezh: NPO MODEK.
15. Zhaksylykov, R. F. (2015). Pedagogicheskie usloviya podgotovki ofitserskikh kadrov dlya natsionalnoj gvardii [Pedagogical conditions for training the military personnel for the National Giuard]. Sibirskij pedagogicheskij zhurnal, 4, 81.