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THE TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE AS A CENTER OF LIFELONG TEACHER EDUCATION
А.А. Miroshnichenko
The profession of teacher is one of several professions that require continuous work by the teacher to improve his/her professional qualities. It should be noted that in order to achieve this it is necessary to have something more than changing disposition and spirits or force majeure circumstances. Work to improve the professional qualities of the teacher him-/herself should be considered a professional quality. Consequently, this quality shall be developed purposefully and supported through the system of lifelong education for teachers. What is the role of a teacher training college in the organization of such a system? I think that it plays a key role not in the sense of its official or legal status, but from the point of view of development and professional activities of the teacher. That is why a teacher training college shall not be limited by standard terms of study according to the educational programs in its relations with the teachers. Its role is to ensure the continuity of teacher education, starting from a child’s wish to become a teacher and ending with a teacher’s decision to quit. In order to achieve this goal, a teacher training college shall ensure targeting, integrity, and efficiency of work with teachers, both with future and practicing teachers, and with veterans of pedagogic activity. Let us look at implementation of the conclusions above based on Glazov State Pedagogical Institute, named after V.G. Korolenko.
Targeting teacher education includes work at the following levels: (a) support of children who wish to become teachers; (b) preparation of students to work in a certain educational institution; (c) organization of a continuously operating, topical workshop and purposeful upgrade of teacher qualifications; and (d) attracting veterans of pedagogic activity to tutorship.
Work with children is organized through a system of pedagogical classes, psychological, pedagogical, and socially oriented academic competitions, schools for young teachers (full time, part time, evening, online), topical sessions in social networks, and purpose-oriented selection. By implementing this work together with the Ministry of Education and Science of Udmurt Republic, we managed to create a standard group of pedagogically oriented applicants. Competition among those who wish to enter the institution is steadily increasing, even when considering the worsening of the demographic situation. The following proactive direction includes creation of stability in the process of choice by future students of their educational profiles, and can be achieved through target enrollment using federal budget funds. The necessary precondition for this is the institution’s access to the long-term forecasts of demand for specialists in the region with the teaching profession. Based on this, the work is differentiated both with schoolchildren and with heads of the administration that sign the agreements for special-purpose education. Unfortunately, without such a forecast, and due to subjective and other reasons, the ratio of specially selected students does not correspond to actual requirements of the region. In a broader sense, I would like to point out that in the context of demographic recession the regions shall more actively manage educational
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migration, not using prohibitions, but rather increase the quality of education, creating clear and attractive prospects for graduates.
The need for special selection and preparation of students is determined by the fact that many graduates start working at school, but then they quit the profession. The reasons are not only material, but also professional and adaptive, as well as interpersonal and casual. The future student must receive information about his/her future group of colleagues and specific characteristics of professional tasks of a specific educational institution. The traditional work of an employment committee and special-purpose preparation of students through the system of training courses, but without practice, is not sufficient. It is necessary to create and place the electronic portfolio of each student with his/her individual achievements on the official website of the institution. Such portfolios will allow future employers to get connected with graduates before they graduate from the institution and let them know about the specific characteristics of the work offered. Other means of early connection between the employers and the students include pre-recruitment, when a student is in his/her senior years (3rd and 4th year of study). I think that it is also important to develop an All-Russia website of teacher vacancies. Exchange of graduates from teacher training colleges between the regions not only helps to solve the problem of employment, but also to exchange the achievements of scientific and methodological schools.
The important stage of targeting includes continuous work with teachers and periodic upgrade of their qualifications. Unfortunately, it should be noted that departmental disunity in teacher training colleges and extended education institutions, in general, decreases the quality of qualification upgrades. The region is characterized by unhealthy competition due to protection by the regulatory bodies of departmental institutions of the extended education. In this context, I think that qualification upgrades shall only be purposeful, and the right to determine the goal and manner of its achievement shall be given only to the teacher him-/herself through the system of education certificates. Forms and content regarding qualification upgrades shall be adapted to the intellectual and material potential of students to the fullest extent. For the purpose of such adaptation it is necessary to begin with mutual determination of the expected results and development of an action plan in the form of a “road map.” Periodical qualification upgrades shall be considered a result of lifelong work of the educational institution with a teacher through a continuously operating topical workshop. The forms of its organization vary from traditional and exercised on the basis of educational and methodological teacher unions to online, based on social networks.
Special-purpose work with veterans of pedagogic activities plays a special but not very important role nowadays. When working with a council of veterans the emphasis is placed not on social assistance, but on the attraction of veterans into active tutorship. In interaction with schoolchildren, applicants, students, and practicing teachers, veterans can tell very efficiently about the need and methods of lifelong work in improvement of a teacher’s professional qualities.
The need for integrity in the lifelong education of a teacher is determined by the personal integrity both the child and teacher, and the range of educational tasks. A teacher does not have secondary elements to his/her profession. The education and lifestyle of a teacher and children are of equal importance as is
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formal success in a specific area of knowledge. Based on this, the content of training courses shall be complex and shall include psychological and technological aspects of self-cultivation. The system of education created in the institution is based on complementarity of educational, training, and scientific and research work. This triple system is implemented at the level of the training process, at the level of students’ self-administration, and at all the aforementioned levels of special-purpose training. This made it possible to expand the possibilities for implementation of principles of state standards due to extra-curricular work. Our educational institution was the first in Russia that developed and protected at EMA, and is currently implementing the specialty of “supervising teacher,” which is indeed an example of achievement of a positive result. Along with the Ministry of Education and Science of Udmurt Republic, the institution is preparing to publish a magazine named “The Supervising Teacher’s Coin Box.” As a result, both future and practicing teachers are ready not only to organize lessons, but also to work in cultural and educational centers, to implement innovations and project activities, to implement health improving technologies, to carry out educational and career guidance work, etc. This is exactly the level of diversity required by the national educational initiative “Our New School,” and it will help each child to find a favorite occupation at school, and minimize the negative influence of abandonment and neglect.
And finally, the technology-based approach that will make it possible to protect children from unjustified experimenting will limit replacement of innovations by subjective experimental philosophy, and will allow a young teacher to achieve a certain guaranteed result. Considering the technology-based approach as a craft that can be experienced, we include into the educational process of the institution the technologies allowing teachers to qualimetrically evaluate the results of their activities, to carry out educational work efficiently, to use tests deliberately, and to work with children of different age groups and capabilities. We would like to stress the physical experiment technology tested and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and Udmurt Republic. The technology has a full set of demonstration kits developed in the institution. Presently, a company is being founded in the institution that will produce cheap and safe demonstration kits of physical practicum for educational institutions.
As a summary, we would like to point out that no matter how efficient the reforms are they will not release a teacher from the need for continuous selfdevelopment. Moreover, the reforms shall systematize and facilitate this work, and make it intellectually and materially attractive. To a certain extent it can be achieved by the activity of the institution as a center of lifelong pedagogic education for teachers through its targeting, complexity, and technological effectiveness. We would also like to point out that academic freedom in the implementation of new generation standards may result in differentiation of the level of pedagogical education by region. Lifelong pedagogic education shall be considered not as an individual initiative of a higher educational establishment or a region, but as a national goal, subordinating the academic freedom of higher educational institutions to the weight of their network association.
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