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7EXPERIENCE OF FORMATION OF FUTURE PRESCHOOL TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION
Abstract
The paper deals with the formation of future preschool teachers' professional competence at higher education institution. The author views the conditions promoting formation of professional competence of a teacher (bachelor degree level), who is capable to solve professional tasks. The most important of them are use of pedagogical technologies modeling future professional activity in educational process of higher education institution; mastering components of professional competence during pedagogical practice; involvement of future bachelors in research activity from first years of learning, etc. The relevance of the paper is connected with strengthening of interest in problems of preschool education in general, and with the need to improve quality of training preschool teachers.
Keywords
federal state educational standard of preschool education, professional competence of a teacher, pedagogical technology, research activity, student teaching
AUTHOR
Valentina V. Abashina
PhD, Associate Professor Surgut State Pedagogical University. 9, Artyom St, Surgut, 628400, Russia.
E-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
In recent years, society makes more demands to quality of preschool education, considering it as the prerequisite providing success of a child at the following steps of educational system. Certainly, quality of education is directly connected with professional competence of a teacher working in the sphere of preschool education. Considering specifics of preschool age, it should be noted that a teacher plays an important role in development of basis of personal culture of a child, ensuring his emotional wellbeing, creation of psychological-pedagogical conditions for his development. Therefore, it is very important to have competent teachers fully realizing a worthiness of preschool childhood at preschool education organization.
It is also necessary to note that problems of staffing preschool education and problems of professional competence of preschool teachers become even more actual for a variety of reasons (updating of regulatory base of preschool education, increase in number of children of preschool age, aging of pedagogical shots of the preschool education organizations).
Now there are many various definitions of the essence of professional competence of a teacher. E.F. Zeer considers professional competence as the integrated quality of a personality including system of necessary knowledge, skills and abilities sufficient for performance of a certain type of professional activity (Zeer, 2002).
V. I. Baydenko determines competence of a teacher as manifestation by of his aspiration and ability to realize the potential for successful creative activity in practice in the professional sphere (Baydenko 2006).
V.A. Slastyonin believes that professional competence of a teacher expresses unity of his theoretical and practical readiness for implementation of pedagogical activity (Slastyonin, 2000).
Considering competence as a complete integrative education, V. S. Lazarev allocates four components: cognitive, approximate, operational and experience (Lazarev, 2001).
We understand professional competence as readiness of a preschool teacher to solve professional problems, relying on knowledge, skills, abilities and experience of practical activities.
To have the complete idea of the essence of professional competence of a preschool teacher at the present stage it is expedient to address to the existing normative documents regulating its activity.
The Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education (FSES) noted that the most important purpose of preschool education is personal development of a child, his positive socialization. To achieve this purpose teachers, have to own the competences necessary for creation of a social situation of children development:
• ensuring emotional wellbeing;
• support of identity and initiative of children;
• creation of conditions for positive, benevolent relations between children;
• creation of variable developing education focused on a level of child's development;
• interaction with parents concerning education of a child and their direct involvement in educational activity (FGOS TO, 2013).
The Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education imposes qualitatively new requirements to the organization of educational process. Readiness of a teacher to subject-subject model of interaction with a child allows to give him an opportunity to take an active position in educational process, not to master information offered by an adult, but to learn the world by an active dialogue with him. Formation of subject position of a child in activity, communication and knowledge provides development of such personal qualities as activity, independence, initiative.
The Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education demands teacher's readiness for organization of the variable developing education focused on a zone of the next development of a child. Thus, a teacher has to be ready to realize the key principle of FSES - to support the variety of childhood, form individual trajectory of development for each child. He has to be able to design educational process on the basis of specific children's kinds of activity - game, communicative, informative-research, motive, labor, musical, constructive, etc.
One of the key conditions for realization of the main educational program of preschool institution is creation of developing subject-spatial environment providing full physical, art and esthetic, informative, speech and social-communicative development of a child.
The actual direction of pedagogical activity of a preschool teacher is his interaction with preschooler's parents. FSES of preschool education staticizes ability of a teacher to interact with parents concerning education, upbringing and development of a child, their direct involvement in educational activity
Course and Results of Research
In modern conditions formation of a competent teacher capable to solve professional problems according to new normative documents in the sphere of preschool education becomes the most important purpose of higher education.
Requirements to professionalism of preschool teacher are described in such normative documents, as: "The uniform qualification reference book of positions of heads, experts and employees" (the section "Qualification Characteristic of Positions of Educators", the professional standard "The teacher (pedagogical activity in the sphere of preschool, primary general, main general, secondary general education) (tutor, teacher) (The uniform qualification reference book of positions of heads of experts and employees, 2010; The Teacher (pedagogical activity in the sphere of the preschool, primary general, main general, secondary general education) (the tutor, the teacher), 2013).
Changes in the purposes of training experts demanded formation of uniform target reference points of all subject matters. For example, if requirements to professional readiness of a graduate are formed by means of competencies (description of a group of professional tasks, which should be solved by a graduate), the purposes of subjects have to be focused on formation of professional competence of a student in this or that area. The main reference point here is the expert's model developed by university teachers and examined by employers.
It is necessary to form student's ability to use scientific contents to solve professional problems. During constantly operating methodical seminars-practices, production meetings we discussed the general strategy and all-pedagogical approaches to questions of formation of future teachers' professional competence and coordinated the effor ts. The purpose of each subject was formulated as a specification of a general objective on formation of professional competence of future teacher. Problems of a subject determined the purpose and they were oriented on formation of knowledge, development of professional and pedagogical abilities within the discipline, formation of student's subject position and professional position of future teacher. System, personal-activity and competence-based approaches to training students assumed the analysis of the scientific content of each discipline, interdisciplinary process of problems solution, creation of models for their decision.
One of conditions for formation of future preschool teachers' professional competence is use of modern educational technologies in educational process. We consider that contextual, position and module-rating techniques are the most effective for formation components of future teachers professional competence.
We were guided by the following features of contextual technology:
- the purpose is not assimilation of information, but formation of ability to solve professional problems;
- cognitive activity of students has problem-search character;
- during training we use situations approached to practice; situations and production tasks creating favorable conditions for development students' professional thinking are analyzed;
- use of such educational forms as problem lecture-visualization, joint lecture, lecture with planned mistakes, seminar-discussion, role-playing and business game, etc. create the conditions most approached to future professional activity;
- emphasis on socially professional context of activity.
From the aforesaid follows that use of contextual technology in our research allowed to solve the problem of formation of future teachers' professional competence.
The translation of students from actually educational activity through quasiprofessional and educational-professional to own-professional activity allows to give a
complete idea of pedagogical activity, promotes formation of professional motivation and cognitive, approximate and operational components of professional competence. Wide use of professional situations on studies promotes formation of ability to put theoretical knowledge into practice and develops reflection and professional thinking of students.
Problem-search nature of students' cognitive activity in various forms and methods of the "making active" training (problem lecture, projects method, business game, lectures-debates, etc.) promoted development of students' creativity, flexibility, ability to self-development. Wide use of professional situations (carrying out fragments of "lessons", discussions of problems at "faculty meeting", watching video movies with students practice, etc.) developed professional motivation, reflection, ability to work in collective.
Technology of position training allowed to create not only ability to the standard solution of pedagogical situations, but also promoted development of students' mobility and adaptability, ability to be guided in quickly changing conditions. Acceptance by students of a certain position during such occupations created conditions for the maximum judgment of alternative decisions, definitions of personal and semantic positions in the course of the solution of a professional task. Use of various roles (positions) during discussion developed flexibility, substantiality of students' thinking, which became more and more independent and was characterized by courage in judgments, focus and other qualities inherent to a creative person. At the same time, students have skills of pedagogical communication, ability to respect others' opinion, perceive an alternative position, show tolerance and empathy in the course of interpersonal interaction, etc..
The modular-rating training technique acted in our research as a technology of training individualization according to e contents, training methods, level of independence and rate of educational activity of students. Representing the purpose of studying and modules as its structural parts to the student at the beginning of training allowed to understand and realize personal and significant result of studying of the concrete discipline for formation of his professional competence. The choice of training methods or professional actions passed on such an algorithm: from information training methods (lecture, conversation, consultation, etc.) to operational (method of projects, practical training, etc.) and search (discussion, business game, etc.) methods. In a complex they form professional orientation of personality, develop the generalized ways of activity, the corresponding competences necessary for future teacher for this kind of activity.
Rating as the monitoring system of training results on the module allows to provide regular feedback between subjects of educational process, to correct training process, to stir up educational activity of student and his independent work. Such characteristics of a rating as an integration of total estimates, and also hierarchy, regularity, procedural clearness of control and its degree of structure help the student to take a subject position in training. It allows to understand and realize the potential opportunities, to find experience of planning and reflexive assessment for personal and professional development.
Techniques of educational process organization for formation of future preschool teachers' professional competence were the techniques of group and dialogue communication, during which abilities important for the modern teacher were formed (to hear other person, to ask questions, to participate in discussion, to work in team, to cooperate, solving the general problems). The special importance an algorithm of a task solution (formulation of a task, definition of steps according to its decision, registration of result and its analysis), which can be transferred to professional activity.
In educational process of higher education institution, student as the subject of vocational training seizes a profession, which result is his professional competence. The
academic forms of interaction of students with teachers and other students is not enough for an adequate translation of future expert's professional knowledge to the ability to think and work professionally. Experience of using knowledge in the course of professional interaction with subjects of receiving services that promotes formation of the corresponding competences is necessary. Accumulation of this experience has to happen in the course of the organization of educational and production practices of students.
During practice students learn to embody the concept of personally focused model of education and development of children, to solve the developing problems taking into account individual opportunities of each child. It was promoted by the organization of practical activities of students with children on a diagnostic basis: all training and educational events were based on the results of children's studying and level of their achievements.
During various pedagogical practices, students performed the various research tasks connected with ability to watch the child, to study and estimate activity of colleagues, etc. Students were convinced that the research component is very significant in the structure of teacher's activity. A poll among students showed that such early inclusion in research practical activities allowed them to come quickly into contact with children and teachers, to feel themselves more free and surely in the course of organization of directly educational activity, regime processes, diagnostic procedures.
And the most important is the fact that students get the most important component of professional competence - experience. It is experience of analysis, planning, organization and control of personally focused educational process, experience of planning and reflexive assessment of personal and professional development, communication with children and their parents, creations of favorable psychological climate in children's collective, participations in collective actions, etc. It should be noted that an important condition for the successful organization of student teaching is the choice of practice base, tutors of preschool institutions, heads controlling student practice. Emotional and constructive support of teacher-mentor and head of practice had an important value for the students experiencing difficulty in performing professional functions.
Thus, during student practice, the following objectives are achieved: formation of special competence of students in the course of professional tasks solution in conditions of real pedagogical process of preschool educational institution. Practice promotes students' formation of the main components of future teachers' professional competence:
- development of interest in professional activity, activization of processes of personal and professional self-knowledge and self-education, formation of individual style of future activity;
- increase knowledge of features of pedagogical process organization at preschool education institution, features of children development;
- development of research competence of studying a child, analysis of conditions providing efficiency of development, education and training of children;
- development of ability to the analysis and critical reconsideration of personal and others' pedagogical experience;
- formation of ability to design and organize pedagogical process focused on personal development of a child, readiness for communication with children and adults on the principles of cooperation and co-creativity, etc.
Feature of students' training process consists in its orientation on concrete professionalizing, therefore research work gets sense of professional characteristic of future expert. It increases spatial limits of self-realization of future expert, mobilizes personal potential of students, provides the birth of ideas in a situation of professional problem solution, helps understanding and experiencing of satisfaction from own activity.
Formation of professional competence of a modern expert is provided with inclusion in scientific and search activity, aspiration to creative, purposeful approach in the solution of professional tasks. I.A. Zimnyaya notes: "Students are the central period of formation of a person, personality in general, manifestations of the most various interests. The students age is a time of the most difficult structuring intelligence, intensive and active socialization of the person as a future "professional figure" (Zimnyaya, 1999).
Future teacher owning skills of research activity is capable to join the solution of pedagogical tasks creatively and from scientific positions. Research activity is a component of educational process and relies on cognitive readiness and personal relation of students to research.
Formation of students' readiness for research activity was carried out gradually. On the first and second courses it is motivation to research activity, acquaintance with research methods, ways of processing and submission of empirical data, understanding need of its implementation (cognitive and approximate component). Further it is formation of ability to plan and organize experimental work: formulate its purposes, tasks, hypothesis (operational component), have experience of implementation of this activity in preschool institution (experience).
For providing conditions for development of future preschool teachers' research competence the department organized problem and research groups of students and teachers. Organization and carrying out scientific and practical conferences as a form of students' involvement to vigorous research activity promoted development of interest in it and fixing skills of independent research. Both seniors, and junior students took part in conferences. It developed their motivation and aspiration to acquisition the experience of research activity.
Since the first course through research tasks were used during course and degree design. Opportunity for continuous work in the chosen scientific direction led to the fact that by the time of writing of the thesis students possessed theoretical information, collected empirical material in sufficient volume, seized various ways of solution of professional research tasks. Thus, the thesis accumulated all research experience gained by students during training.
Research work created necessary prerequisites for self-education and self-development of personal creative opportunities of students:
- provided conditions for identification, disclosure and development of abilities, personal interests of students;
- assisted all-round development of the personality, formation of objective self-assessment, acquisition of skills to work in creative collectives;
- developed ability to independent reasonable judgments and conclusions;
- gave opportunity to try the forces in the solution of actual problems of pedagogical science.
Strengthening of the developing function of education causes a need to design courses and practical works directed on formation of professional-significant competences of a preschool teacher.
Future bachelors of preschool education had the course "Innovative Programs and Techniques in the System of Preschool Education" providing them ability for self-determination in the conditions of variability of educational programs and pedagogical technologies when developing the main educational program of preschool education. The educational program of training specialists included elective courses. Let's characterize some of them.
The special course "Professional Activity of a Teacher in Conditions of the Federal State Educational Standard of Preschool Education" opened essence, contents and structure of expert's activity in modern conditions. In the course of studying, students
analyzed the variety of approaches to the characteristic of professional competence of a preschool teacher. The professional activity focused on development of child's identity was considered as the condition providing effective implementation of teacher's professional functions and improvement of preschool education quality. The special course promoted formation of professional motivation of students and improvement of their cognitive and approximate components of professional competence.
Special practical work "Management of Cognitive-Research Activity of Preschool Children" was directed on improvement of cognitive, approximate and operational components of professional competence of future teachers. Main objectives of the course are understanding the purpose and ways of its achievement in organization cognitive-research activity of preschool children; acquaintance with possible models of interaction between teacher and children taking into account their age and specific features, formation of individual style of interaction with children. Three primary activities on formation of professional competence of future teachers to management of preschool children's cognitive activity were planned: 1) theoretical, connected with judgment of essence and features of management of cognitive-research activity; 2) theoretical-practical, consisting in purposeful mastering ways of management of cognitive-research activity; 3) practical, connected with inclusion of students in educational process of kindergarten. At preschool organization students observed activity of a tutor, performed practical tasks, joined in activity that promoted formation of their special professional competence.
One of features for organization of educational process in higher education institution is discretization of control that influences decrease in its quality. In our research control is the system of ways for obtaining information on formation of professional competence indicators. It is about control of results of educational cognitive activity as the level of development of a complex knowledge, which possession is necessary for the solution of professional tasks, formation of planning ways, statement and decision, methods of performance of actions, which are required for the solution of problems of this type. It causes need of an optimum choice of forms and control methods taking into account their specifics.
The monitoring system of professional competence formation of future preschool teachers is directed on tracking the process of its formation on all main components and include monitoring and self-monitoring of professional and personal development of future teacher.
Process of professional formation of pedagogical shots demands application of pedagogical monitoring: personal development, quality of knowledge, formation of professionally significant qualities of a teacher. The results of professional development monitoring during students practice are the unique material reflecting a way of professional formation personality. The card of monitoring of future preschool teacher's readiness for personally focused pedagogical activity developed by us allows to trace dynamics of formation of significant professional competences. The judgment and acceptance of monitoring results induces the personality to self-development, self-change. Understanding external information on merits and demerits of the subject of professional development, in our opinion, promotes interiorization and transition of the subject to a condition of self-control and self-monitoring.
Change of relations in the system "teacher - student" is considered as one of the major conditions providing formation of professional competence of future teacher. The analysis of psychology and pedagogical literature and our experience show that process of formation of partnership between educational process subjects in higher education institution is caused by objective and subjective factors. We refer to subjective factors readiness of teachers for creation of partnership with students and readiness of students
to accept subject position in the course of training. It is promoted by creation of training on a dialogue basis, creation of conditions for individual manifestations, development and self-realization of students in independent work, learning-research activity of teacher and student focused on joint scientific search.
Conclusion
Our experience has no prescription character; it is only one option of vocational training of future teachers for the modern preschool education organizations. The major conditions are the following:
- modeling of future professional activity in educational process of higher education institution by means of appropriate training techniques;
- orientation of standard and elective courses on implementation of pedagogical support of students in educational process and formation of their professional competences;
- interaction of students and teachers on the principles of personally focused education;
- mastering components of professional competence during pedagogical practice;
- involvement of students in educational and research and research activity since the first year of training;
- implementation of continuous monitoring and self-monitoring for development personal and professional competence of future preschool teachers.
Recommendation
Our conclusions do not apply for the exhaustive solution of the considered problem; they assume some reference points for further researches of vocational training process of teachers for preschool education organizations at higher education institution.
The materials of the research can be used in educational practice at pedagogical higher education institutions and in the system of increasing professional and scientific qualification of educators.
REFERENCES
Abashina, V.V.(2010) Vocational training of the competent preschool teacher in higher education institution. The monograph. Pp. 169-183. Khanty-Mansiysk, JSC Pechatnoye delo Printing House.
About the approval of the professional standard "The Teacher (Pedagogical Activity in the Sphere of the Preschool, Primary General, Main General, Secondary General Education) (the Tutor, the Teacher)" the Order of Ministry of Labor of Russia No. 544n of October 18, 2013. Available at: http://rg.ru/2013/12/18/pedagog-doc.html.
Baydenko, V. I. (2006). Identification of structure of competences of the university graduate as necessary design stage of STATE VPO of new generation. P. 72. Methodical grant. Moscow. Research center of problems of quality of training of specialists.
Lazarev, B.C. (2001). Crisis of "activity approach" in psychology and possible ways of its overcoming. Pedagogics. No. 3. Pp. 27-34.
Slastyonin, V.A. (2000) Pedagogics. P. 79. Moscow. Schkola - Press.
The order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation) of October 17, 2013 N 1155 Moscow "About the approval of the federal state educational standard of preschool education": Available at: https://rg.ru/2013/11/25/doshk-standart-dok.html
Uniform qualification reference book of positions of heads, experts and employees. Available at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_97378/
Zeer, E.F. (2002). The key competences defining quality obrazovaniya. / Education in Uralsk regione: nauchny bases of development. Tez. dokl. II nauchn. - prakt. konf. - Ch.2. - Page 23-25..-Yekaterinburg: Publishing house of Dews. the state. the prof. - ped. un-that.
Zimnyaya, I.A. (1999). Pedagogical psychology: The textbook for higher education institutions. Prod. the 2nd, additional, ispr. and reslave. P. 184. Moscow. Logos, 1999. 476 P.
ECONOMIC GROWTH MODELING IN THE THEORY OF CYCLIC DEVELOPMENT
Abstract
Nowadays in the economy full of crises and general instability there appears the need to broaden and deepen the theory of cyclical development and economic growth. The development of the theory of economic growth shows that in the most general sense the economic cycle can be explained by different effects of feedback and multipliers acting in the economic system. Factorial structure of the growth is open enough, it is not limited by the interaction of labor and capital, or new technologies. The purpose of this article is the analysis of the main approaches to the modeling of economic growth. Under the conditions of the instability of the modern economy theories have greater diagnostic power, when they take into account a nonlinear nature of interrelation of development factors, the decision of which forms cyclic trajectories and also models that are directly based on the use of functions, reflecting the cyclic nature of economic development. To this end special attention is paid to dynamic models of economic growth.
Keywords
economic growth, modeling of economic growth, cyclical development
AUTHOR
Inna V. Babenko
Associate Professor Southwest State University. 94, 50 let Oktyabrya, Kursk, 305040, Russia.
E-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
In modern economic literature the interest in the problems of the unevenness economic development and its cyclic recurrence has been increased. Economic development is formed under the influence of economic reasons, and because of the influence of external to the socio-economic system of factors. Economic development takes into account the institutional, legal and religious peculiarities of education and accumulation of human capital, labor market and capital. It includes the combination and interaction of economic growth with fluctuations, differing in size, amplitude and duration. The main component of economic development is economic growth. The
