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THE TEACHER AS A KEY FIGURE
IN THE SYSTEM OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
O. S. Zadorina
The teacher is always referred to as a "key figure" in the processes that take place in society and education. The teacher is a key figure in the social processes of the 21st century, the key figure of the education paradigm, innovative development of education, and the modernization of education and lifelong education. This is due to the fact that the effectiveness of changes in society in general and in education in particular builds on the teacher's willingness and ability to give rise to these changes, accept and implement them. The opinion of the great K.D. Ushinsky that "Nothing can be improved in teaching and upbringing - in the entire school occupation - without avoiding the teacher" is still relevant today. Let us add: not only in school occupation, but also in other levels of education. It is thanks to the activities of teachers that the government policies for the creation of intellectual and creative potential of the nation, the development of science and technology, and the development of culture of the nation and individuals are implemented.
According to some authors (D. Blacker, K. Peters, M. Lippman, etc.) there is now a totally new dimension in the development of education where it increasingly "blends" into the culture and society that becomes "enlightened" or "educational". In this context, education is no longer the prerogative of formal institutions, but in a way it "encompasses" the entire socio-cultural environment. The educational sociocultural space in relation to the development of personality serves as a field of vital interests and cultural preferences and choices.
Lifelong education is conceived as an incremental and lifelong process which enhances, deepens and broadens knowledge of people of different ages. Lifelong education is a "process of growth of the educational (general and vocational) potential of a personality throughout life that is supported organizationally and meets the needs of the individual and society" (A.I. Kravchenko). The goals of lifelong education are to enhance the ability of a person to adapt to transformations in the economy, professional life, culture and society. Scholars associate the "continuity" of the educational socio-cultural space with its value-motivational dimension for overcoming the actual discreteness of formal education rather than with the material social organization of the educational process (L.L. Litvinenko). In this respect, the role of teacher is hard to overestimate.
Only the teacher can cope with the unfavorable environment in cultural and spiritual spheres and help the learner make the right choice of culturally-based preferences and behaviors. Only the teacher can develop in learners the ability to consciously adapt to new conditions of life in the information society and preserve their worldview, humanistic ideals and values. It is in the hands of the teacher (master) to develop in a student high social activity and responsibility, aspiration for creativity, and the ability to find optimal solutions to life's problems in critical or irregular situations. Filling the educational process with meaningful potential
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depends on the teacher through the design of the educational environment by searching for its meaningful characteristics. The teacher should know and use mechanisms for the translation of general cultural meanings into individual structures of students’ consciousness. This task involves creating conditions for the transformation of the educational content into a factor for mastering new experience and for developing and educating students. The teacher has to take into account the students’ age, and temperament, and students’ main channel of perception, and master various teaching methods, communication techniques and educational technologies. The computer, with all its diverse capabilities, placed on a pedestal by the information society, cannot play this role.
Being involved in the system of lifelong education, a student faces the need to choose their professional career or educational institutions many times. This makes the role of teacher as an advisor and mentor more relevant. He or she has to provide professional advice on different aspects of the educational, professional and personal development of the learner, taking into account their personal interests and needs. The teacher supports motivation for learning, helping a growing or mature personality to find their way through the range of educational services, and anticipating possible failures. Information technology and the Internet open up new horizons for this consultancy, although they do not replace direct advice and high-quality support of a person in finding their way through the information flow. The role of teacher as a source of information for students diminishes year after year, but the influence of his/her personality increases. The reasons behind the huge moral influence of the personality of teacher on the personality of the student are rooted in the nature of man and relationships that develop in the course of educational activity. No wonder that students often associate their choice of life strategy and changes in their fate with individual gifted and creative teachers.
The essence of the roles of teacher and learner, the forms and content of interactions between them, and the age and time limits of traditional education have changed over time, aggravating conflicts between information needs and information opportunities of different generations of students and teachers that manifest themselves in different degrees of preparedness of participants of the educational process for perceiving changes typical of the information society. But despite everything, the "teacher-learner" pair remains central in the educational process. The role of teacher in the modern education paradigm, albeit becoming less dominant, continues to be determinative for the process and outcomes of education. This role goes beyond understanding a teacher as an "indifferent coordinator of the learning process and customizer of software" (V.I. Zagvyazinsky). It obliges the teacher to be a proactive and creative well-educated person with communication skills, who is able to find an individual approach to everyone, and to use his or her positive energy to inspire others for doing something, and who places the development and health of personality in the center of educational interaction. Therefore, in the context of lifelong education in the information society, the personality of the teacher, with his or her values and definitions of professional activity, and the content and forms of professional training should be paid much attention.
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Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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