CC BY
85
Intercultural Pedagogy: Theory and Practice DOI: 10.24411/2470-1262-2018-10001
УДК (UDK) 378.2: 94(430)
Alla Konstantinovna Bolotova, National Research University "Higher School of Economics",
Moscow, Russia Ekaterina Yuryevna Bekasova, Moscow State Pedagogical University,
Moscow, Russia
For citation: Bolotova A.K., Bekasova E.Yu., (2018). Teaching staff development structure in Germany. Cross-Cultural Studies: Education and Science.Vol.3, Issue I, pp. 7-12 (in USA)
Received: February 08, 2018 CC BY 4.0
СТРУКТУРА ПОДГОТОВКИ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИХ КАДРОВ
В ГЕРМАНИИ
TEACHING STAFF DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURE IN GERMANY Abstract
This article analyzes the teaching staff development structure in the High School. German pedagogical education is closely connected to modern trends of international academic processes where problems of appreciating the value of human personality, its consciousness, self-determination and self-development prevail. Leading German school development areas can be described by the transition to subject-to-subject relations between teachers and students assuming full implementation of each student's potential. This has a remarkable impact on the nature and content of professional education of teachers. Leading traditional guidelines of German philosophy, pedagogy and psychology including emancipating, technocratic and humanistic theories create the basis for theoretical development and forming professional skills of future teachers. Professional training aims at changing curriculums and educational programs, increasing practice-oriented forms and methods of educating students and introducing psychotherapeutic methods of personal psychological support. The essential part of organizing pedagogical education in Germany is the reproportioning of fundamental and professional education, when vocational guidance comes after mastering the basics of fundamental sciences. The technocratic approach to the structure of developing teaching personnel aims at supporting the overall high potential of economic and educational development of European countries' society where Germany has a leading position.
Keywords: structure, practice-oriented methods, referendary, basic stage, humanistic course, biphasic model
Introduction
The situation with pedagogical education and development of teaching staff in Germany can be described as an orientation on ideals of humanistic pedagogy and psychology. In this regard, the situation in German schools reflects leading development trends of the world pedagogical process. This inevitably brings to the forefront a complex of problems connected with recognizing the personality value, forming self-consciousness and providing conditions for self-determination and self-development. Modern development trends of German schools can be described by clearly expressed transition in teacher-student relations from subject-to-object to subject-to-subject and conversational relations involving full self-fulfilment of one's potential by each student. These results in focusing attention on deeply personal and unique individualities of children, their moral mental qualities and emotions unlike previous focus on unified personal socialization which neutralizes its individuality. There is a remarkable increase in caring attitude to private and isolated spheres of human nature.
When analyzing these international trends a similar situation appears in modern German education where humanistic traditions of pedagogical psychology getswidespread use having meaningful effect on the nature and content of teaching staff professional training.
Theory
The organization structure of higher teacher education shows that from all Western European countries humanistic psychology and pedagogies are most popular in Germany. A number of causes including serious cultural and pedagogical traditions, post-industrial society needs and the overall high potential for economic and educational development of European countries' society where Germany plays a vital role can explain this.
Humanistic psychology has a growing influence on the German teacher education system. First, it is a growing network of seminars, educational centers and courses, training school teachers in accordance with humanistic pedagogy and psychology. Good examples are the Wolford School seminars widely spread around different German federal states. Second, this means a change in educational plans and programs of higher educational establishments towards increasing various practice-oriented forms and methods of education, detailed study of personal psychology, pedagogical psychology and different tactics and methods of psychotherapy work and methods of personal psychological aid. Third, this leads to reproportioning of fundamental and special education in German universities where professional specialization comes after long-term studying of the basics of fundamental sciences for three years.
An important structural change in organizing pedagogical education was the association of pedagogical establishments with universities. Now pedagogical education establishments function separately only in three German federal states. An example of this is the Higher Pedagogical School in Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein). Under present conditions, universities became key links in the process of teaching staff development. This novation took place in order to bring together standards of 8
special higher education of mainstream schoolteachers and senior high schoolteachers.
The delimitation of the theoretical phase of education (from 8 to 10 semesters) and its practical phase (so called referendary lasting up to 18 months) became a specific feature of German pedagogical education. Senior high school teaching staff development is primarily based on forming their knowledge of academic disciplines. Only after that, attention is paid to pedagogies. Within this framework, the first phase of education highlights two-three special subjects which the student will be teaching in the future. In most federal states the first phase of education includes school practice within the theoretical framework. Its procedure varies from state to state. Students have to pass their first state exam by the end of the theoretical phase.
Practical training of teachers is closely connected with general goals and objectives of pedagogical education. It differs depending on the type of school where the future teacher will be working. Universities also have special training for different school stages:
I - V grades - elementary school;
V - X grades - 1st stage of secondary school;
XI - XII grades - 2nd stage of secondary school.
Functioning of fundamental units of teaching staff development is based on three stages of the school structure. The 1st stage of secondary school is called general school (V - X school). It prepares students for further education in the system of industrial education and professional schools. Real schools (V - X grades) and senior high schools (X - XII grades) prepare human resources for further education in secondary special and high schools. Respectively, training of teachers for public schools on the one hand, and teachers for real schools and senior high schools on the other hand is slightly different. Teachers for elementary and general schools usually educate in higher pedagogical schools with a three-year course as well as in secondary special schools based on real schools.
The whole university system of developing teaching staff aims at entering the labor force as fast as possible. Such attitude is typical for most economically developed states. German universities comprise a lot of students, have serious academic and pedagogical potential and represent unique educational and research centers performing training of specialists and researches funded by state companies, monopolies and private enterprises.
The structure of the education process in universities can be divided into two stages: general (Grundstudium) and principal (Hauptstudium). The general stage takes two years and provides only theoretical training. The principal stage splits the students into two streams with practical (2 semesters) and theoretical orientation (4 semesters). While studying at this stage the student has to specify the field of his/her academic interests, broaden his/her scientific and practical knowledge gained during the general stage. University education plans encourage an interdisciplinary approach to the educational process by broadening of the elective subject compatibility. Good examples are education plans of such large universities like Gottingen, Heidelberg, Ruhr, Osnabruck and Hamburg. Each university has full control over the content of education depending on many factors. As a result, in practice its activities are not regulated. The practicability of introducing so called ''compact'' courses is defined.
Interdisciplinary seminars, seminars held by students and various forms of team work such as microteaching (training), i.e. imitation of separate parts of lessons, extracurricular classes, project planning with scientific research elements and participation in creating real projects on request of the federal and state ministries are of particular interest.
Theoretical training, training of professional teacher qualities and forming skills necessary for practical work are based on a variety of provisions and guidelines of the leading ideas of German philosophy, pedagogy and psychology. These are the ideas of emancipating, technocratic and humanistic theories reflecting various views on the perfection a school teacher. Ideas of the emancipating pedagogy, particularly the social-critical model are of particular interest. The works of H.U. Gamm, K. Mollenhauer, H. Groothof and others define the teacher as an organizer of the educational process who is called to help in releasing the individuum from dependence and vigilantism of society. The technocratic approach assumes that the process of teacher development should be in conformity with the necessities of social development and the level of economic and industrial development.
Methods education is considered to be the main function of pedagogical education. However, the concept of ''personality as an instrument'' shifted the emphasis in the process of professional training of teachers. Its program should help each student to find better methods meeting his/her purposes, responsibilities and problems which he/she will come across in his/her work. It is not just an issue of educational methods but also an issue of helping the students to discover new methods. Self-actualizing and unique person of a teacher is the main instrument for educating. The purpose for such teacher's behavior is encouraging and developing students' abilities to be independent and responsible people.
Purposiveness and content as well as methods and forms of internship or so called referendary and its three components: introductory stage, theoretical seminars and practical education of trainees, are of paramount importance. A positive aspect of the internship is the combination of practical work in schools with theoretical development during pedagogic seminars. Their functions come down to introducing a young teacher into the educational practice and assisting him/her in defining the leading function in class successfully. Organizational differentiation of seminars into ''principal'' and ''methodical'' is provided depending on the course of disciplines considered at the seminar. The problems of the principal seminar correlate with psychology-pedagogy and social-political disciplines. They have general pedagogical focus. Methodical seminars come down to studying didactic and methodical problems of teaching a particular subject.
Research of methods and forms of organizing the education process of teacher development based on the works of the leading German pedagogues such as R. Brunner, V. Niklis, H. Hayland, V. Tsifroynd and others shows a present trend of shifting accents from traditional methods of education to non-traditional (system of closed television chain, micro-education, group and dynamic training, project methods and others). The recent forms and methods of practical development are related to a more profound regard to individual and personal interests of the student, classroom climate as well student-teacher relations at the level of collective collaboration. Against the background of implementing the latest methods and effective pedagogical techniques of involving
future teachers into their profession, German pedagogical society acknowledges that the pedagogical exam has very difficult criteria and doubling of requirements and it has to be reformed or abolished. The second exam is conserved because of the two-phase model of teacher development and the selective function of the pedagogical exam plays a vital role due to growth of unemployment.
Conclusion
Taking into account the modern trends of education development in German universities which can be characterized by shifting from narrow specialization, it can be assumed that such orientation of the structure of education shall continue to develop in the future and allow to extend training of multi-skilled specialists, reduce the gap between psychological knowledge and pedagogical practice when developing a humanistic teacher. This means that purposiveness of the biphasic model of the German teacher development structure shall be preserved including different types of internship including the referendary - final pedagogic exam - and its three components: introductory stage, theoretical seminars and internship.
Therefore, modern Germany has a clear structure of professional pedagogical teacher development which is mainly oriented on the ideas of humanistic pedagogy and psychology - free creative self-development and personal self-actualization of future teachers as well as their students.
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Information about the authors:
Alla Konstantinovna Bolotova (Moscow, Russia) - Doctor of Psychology, Professor Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Head Department of General and Experimental Psychology, National Research University "Higher School of Economics" (HSE), address: Armyanskiy L., 4/2, Moscow, 101000, Russia, e-mail: [email protected]
Psychology of development; psychology of education; ontogenesis; social communication; applied psychology. Author of 180 scientific publications.
Ekaterina Yuryevna Bekasova (Moscow, Russia) - Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor Department of the Psychology, Moscow State Pedagogical University (MSPU), address: M. Sukharevsky L., 6, Moscow, 127051, Russia, e-mail:[email protected]
Psychology of bilingualism and intercultural communication. Author of 20 scientific publications. Acknowledgement:
The authors are very grateful to the colleagues from the Department of General Psychology and the Scientific Seminar of the Psychology Department of the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" for active discussion that influenced the content, style and academic line of this article.
Авторы весьма признательны коллегам кафедры общей психологии и научному семинару департамента психологии Национального исследовательского университета "Высшая школа экономики" за активное обсуждение, повлиявшее на содержание, стиль и академическую направленность данной статьи.
