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ORGANIZATION OF SPIRITUAL AND MORAL
EDUCATION OF SENIOR PUPILS
IN THE SYSTEM OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
V. О. Gusakova
The article deals with basic issues of organizing spiritual and moral education of senior pupils considering their age-specific development. Special attention is paid to the development of senior pupils' motivation for lifelong learning and self-education.
Key words: spiritual and moral education, senior pupils, ideal, values, attitudes.
Spiritual and moral education, as a single continuous process of identity formation, which lasts throughout a person's life, is a key task of the Russian state policy in the field of lifelong education. Spiritual and moral education - the “pedagogically organized process of assimilation and acceptance by students of basic national values with a hierarchical structure and complex organization” - is not possible without taking into account spiritual and moral development, which is “consistent expansion and strengthening of a person’s value-based and meaning-based sphere” [1, p. 9]. The content of spiritual and moral education includes basic national values, and the vector of participation in them and self-determination in them is determined by the focus on the “national educational ideal”.
Such a focus is needed for establishing the idea of Truth in the minds of the young generation - the multinational character of the Russian people, which is important for our cultural tradition, and in view of the developing trend of postmodern society, which rejects the idea of Truth and strives to perceive the reality of life as many different and equal interpretations of historical events and representations of reality. These trends make it difficult to implement the process of value-based self-determination for senior pupils, and promotes the formation of their “citation-based consciousness”, when graduates of educational institutions have difficulty in determining their values and building their life prospects.
An introduction to the basic national values requires the organization of the education process “based on: (a) the moral example of a teacher; (b) the social and pedagogical partnership; (c) individual and personal development; (d) integration of programs of spiritual and moral education; (e) social demand for education "[1, p. 20]. In the system of lifelong education, the process of educating high school students must be accompanied by the natural motivation for selfeducation and self-construction carried out by the person him or herself during the entire course of his/her life.
A teacher should act as a “wise man - tutor”, who can share his or her own experiences of building life in accordance with the basic national values. Since senior pupils tend to identify themselves with adults, it is natural that they expect not guidance or advice from a teacher, but rather a friendly conversation. A high school pupil will be the most active interlocutor, if a teacher, being the pupil’s friend, listens to the pupil and helps the pupil in the process of his/her selfdetermination and search of his/her ideals and value-based orientations. A survey was organized at the educational institutions of Saint Petersburg from September to December 2014 to determine the value orientations of today’s senior pupils. The
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survey results showed that from the proposed list of basic national values -patriotism, the multinational peoples of the Russian Federation, civil society, family, work, art, science, religion, nature, and mankind [1, 18] - senior pupils mentioned Homeland and family as their priorities in life.
The concept of “Homeland” is usually associated by pupils in grades 9-11 with “Motherland”. Pupils mainly (84%) understand it to be their place of birth - a “small Motherland”, whereas students of military schools (96%) identify it with Russia. Largely, this is due to the fact that military families are usually forced to change their place of residence due to frequent transfers of a father or a mother to other regions. The respondents called family to be their main value (91%), seeing it as the only one area where “one can feel at home” in the changing, shifting world. High school students believe that patriotism is based on love for their country and pride in its past, where they see good examples of heroism, loyalty, kindness, and truth. They agree to call their ancestors “outstanding persons”, however, the definition of “loyal sons of the Motherland” is relevant only for students of military schools. School pupils find it outdated. As a synonym to the concept of “a loyal son of the Motherland” the schoolchildren offered: a “hero” (77%), a “leader” (21%), a “soldier” (2%).
Following the results of the survey, some general conclusions have been made: (a) in an unstable economic and political situation in the world, high school pupils have difficulties in understanding the Motherland in the context of a huge state, and often reduce this concept to the narrow field of family and small homeland (a city, a region); (b) as their ideals, the high school pupils tend to choose the heroes of the twentieth century - an era that is closer to them, of which they have heard from their parents and grandparents, and which is, according to pupils, more “understandable”.
Hence, there is a need to organize spiritual and moral education based on a socio-pedagogical partnership, which should be carried out through the “constellation of institutions” (museums, libraries, youth, historical and military-patriotic clubs, theaters, creative unions, and the church) and the “ensemble of ages”, which means the dialogue-based interaction between the parties (partners). Socio-pedagogical partnership should be accompanied by the achievement of a socially significant result (exhibition, conference, a collection of creative works, etc.), in which high school pupils can show their talents and abilities. The individual and personal development of high school pupils takes place in the process of spiritual and moral education, which should be directed towards the formation of readiness for professional, gender and role-based, civil and legal selfdetermination on the basis of basic national values. This requires integrated and varied programs that allow high school pupils to learn a full set of cultural models for self-determination in ideals. Orientation towards the national educational ideal in the formation of civic identity and a sustainable life position is the main goal of the spiritual and moral education of high school pupils.
The modern national educational ideal is a “moral, creative, competent citizen of Russia, who accepts the fate of the Motherland as his/her personal one, who takes the responsibility for the present and the future of his/her country, rooted in the spiritual and cultural traditions of the multinational people of the Russian Federation” [1, 11]. This definition emphasizes the connection of times and
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historical continuity of generations as the key idea of education in modern Russia. Therefore, development of the high school pupils’ personalized view of the history of the Motherland, knowledge of “virtues and traditions of Motherland”, based on the example of the fates of real men who created the history and morality of our country, is of paramount importance for development of a sense of a living connection with the spiritual traditions of Russia. Graduates should not only develop a value system of benchmarks, but should also know how to be guided by it in their life goals and actions, and to correlate it with their social activity.
The social relevance of spiritual and moral education of an individual is supported by documents defining the strategy of education in the 21st century. According to their text, a portrait of a graduate of an educational organization includes the following personal characteristics: love for the Motherland, respect for people and culture, knowledge of Russian language, the ability to build one’s life activities in accordance with the basic national values, social activity, and ability to learn, strive for self-education, etc. The desire for lifelong learning is developed (or, otherwise, is not developed), when a person receives secondary education. It is, therefore, particularly important to organize the process of spiritual and moral education in such a way so that a young man who finished school and made his/her first steps towards adulthood could be able to face the challenges of the time and, be guided by the ideals of culture, and realize his/her talents for the good of the Motherland and the people.
Bibliography
1. Концепция духовно-нравственного развития и воспитания личности гражданина России
/ А.Я. Данилюк, А.М. Кондаков, В.А. Тишков / Стандарты второго поколения. - М., 2009.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translastions Bureas
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