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THE ROLE OF SPIRITUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION IN TODAY'S LIFELONG TEACHER TRAINING SYSTEM
V. A. Belyayeva
At present, "the educational system of modern Russia is still under the influence of the general spiritual crisis called by the system reforms of the late 20th century” [3, p. 4]. The major problem of vocational training has always been and still is to define its aim. This is generally represented as "the major aim of education in the modern world and lies in creation of material, spiritual and organizational conditions necessary to form an entire complex of socially valuable features, views and beliefs in each citizen, thus providing his/her successful development. So, the today's educational guidelines are education of a spiritually and physically healthy person; a citizen, a patriot and a humanist; a hardworking and competitive person; a creative and self-developing personality” [1, p. 228].
Humanistic pedagogics pays attention to the formation and development of the axiological features of a person. Our analysis unambiguously reveals the necessity to include the formation of such a high spiritual and moral values as a professional duty to serve the Fatherland in would-be graduates in the purpose of professional education and particularise such lines of their education as the traditional values of domestic culture. In 2007, the Russian Federation law On Education was amended to specify the primary goals of education, with the major one being the formation of a spiritual and moral personality. At the same time, the result of attainment of this goal set for a particular person still remains unpredictable. Howlingly significant for contemporary society becomes V. V. Zenkovsky's postulate: "The theme of the person appears wider and deeper, more complex and tangled than modern education knows” [2, p. 29].
In Russia, the psychology and pedagogics of the early 21st century accentuate the spiritual component of the personal essence, but do not consider the phenomenon from the point of view of scientific research, a priori representing it "as the highest form of relation to the self, others, nature, society” [2, p. 11]. The concept of spirituality is somewhat similarly treated in the secular sciences and the traditional Russian Orthodox doctrine about education of citizens and patriots. This idea of spirituality stands for personal reference to the highest values as the basic reference points of the personal spiritual life, recognition of having meaning in life as a normal/healthy spiritual condition, identification of conscience as an
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indicator of the manifestation of a spiritual life, and recognition of the necessity of a person to experience the highest moral feelings as an activator of his/her own spiritual formation and self-development. Accordingly, spirituality can be considered as the personal Divine Principle focused on the highest values of a human being, a creative force and the source of the creation of values of people's life and self-creation, including those in professional work.
The definition of the goal of education is complicated by the idea of "free” education in the Western way. The belief of modern psychologists and teachers in the creative power of a person and an internal factor of his/her self-development leads to free education in the "creation of conditions” for self-determination and self-actualization of a person. The above is unconditionally valuable in education, but it shows that their attention is focused on those abilities that provide personal "success” in life. Here, the personal soul as the centre of human, internal life is out of focus. Thus, education basically concentrates on the "periphery” of the personal essence. Preparation of a person toward self-determination and liberation of his/her creativity in self-development become the major task of education in modern pedagogics.
"Everything authentic in a person can be only free, coming from within”, wrote V. V. Zenkovsky [2, p. 29]. He continued, "freedom invariably and inevitably puts us before a good vs. evil dilemma - and how often freedom, authentic, deep, shining with all the gifts of a human soul - sets us on the path of evil and destruction of ourselves and other people! If it is impossible to set the task of development of a personality without its connection to the sphere of senses, then it is even less possible to develop freedom without its connection with the good” [2, p. 31]. We can find similar judgements in the philosophical and pedagogical work of N. I. Pirogov, I. A. Ilyin and other Russian teachers and philosophers. The importance of the above for the spiritual improvement of our society is seen in how relations in society have changed over the last two decades. The training of a person to be good has become so obvious that everybody speaks about it at all levels of public and family life. At the same time, there is the danger of understanding the problem only as far as forming a habit of undertaking acts of kindness (a level of adaptation to life in society or the professional sphere, i.e. developing a tool-like character) without teaching the freedom to choose an action or take a stand in life in the face of unpredictable situations. The question arises if it is possible to provide the connection between freedom and goodness in education so that "freedom would be internally and authentically connected with goodness” and how the goal of
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professional education and training can be interpreted in this case. Neither modern psychology nor pedagogics knows the answers to these questions. The main obstacle in their development is the unilateralarity of pedagogical anthropology that developed in the Soviet period (the suppression of the spiritual and mental essence of a person), the undeveloped hierarchy of the highest spiritual and moral values of human life, and the scantiness in the definition of the meaning of personal existence.
Russian culture formed in the stream of Christian anthropology over many centuries. The Christian values of goodness and mercy penetrate all spheres of life of a person in the world. An adequate understanding and adoption of these values is only possible if they are systematically learned in the course of studying humanities in an institute of higher education. In this respect V. I. Slobodchikov states, "The anthropological approach to the sphere of humanistic knowledge is, first of all, orientation toward human reality in all its plenitude, in all its spiritual, mental and corporal measurements; it is the quest for methods and conditions of the formation of a whole person; a person as the subject of his/her life, as a personality in its meeting with the Others, as an individuality in the face of the Almighty...
"The philosophical, psychological, social, pedagogical, political and economic bases of modern humanitarian practice should be systematically revised today from the point of view of their authentically anthropological modality. It is essentially necessary to harmonise Christian anthropology as a doctrine of the origin and assignment of the person, psychological anthropology as a doctrine of the development of a person in ontogenesis, and pedagogical anthropology as a doctrine of the formation of basic abilities and intrinsic forces in education. The thesis of the primacy of the spiritual principle in a person poses the question of the phenomenology of an individual spirit, the steps of its disclosure and embodiment in the empirical life of each of us. In our opinion, this issue is central for Christianity-focused psychology and pedagogics, which - as it is becoming clear now - is a synthesis, an agreement of discordance, a mutual compensation, but not mutual exclusion and fruitless parallelism, of initial principles and living knowledge of Christian pedagogical and psychological anthropology” [4, p. 38]. This statement discloses the necessity of integrating all knowledge that considers a person in his/her integral spiritual, mental, biological and social spheres. It is then that the purpose of vocational training will be fully defined as an expected and real result.
So, it is not only to provide spiritual and moral education of trainees that higher education is intended, but also to prepare them for educational activity in society in the field of the preservation of the spiritual and moral
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traditions of Russian culture in its service to the Fatherland and surrounding people. It is this approach to professional education and training that can guarantee spiritual safety for each citizen in the country as a whole.
References
1. Анисимов В.А. Общие основы педагогики: учебное пособие для вузов / В.А. Анисимов, О.Г. Грохольская, Н.Д. Никандров. - М.: Просвещение, 2006.
2. Зеньковский В.В. Проблемы воспитания в свете христианской антропологии / Зеньковский В.В. - М.: Изд-во Свято-Владимрского Братства, 1993.
3. Руденко В.А. Образование и духовность в современном российском обществе: факторы и вектор диспозиции в процессе системных реформ: автореф. ... д-ра. социол. наук. Ростов н/Д, 2007.
4. Слободчиков В.И. Философско-педагогические и религиозные основания образования в России: истоки и современность // Шестые Междунар. Покровские образовательные чтения. - Рязань, 2008.
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