A special feature of the teaching profession is attitude. Features of the teaching profession

Features of the teaching profession

A person’s belonging to a particular profession is manifested in the characteristics of his activities and way of thinking. According to the classification proposed by E.A. Klimov, the teaching profession belongs to the group of professions whose subject is another person. But the teaching profession is distinguished from a number of others primarily by the way of thinking of its representatives, an increased sense of duty and responsibility. Its main difference from other professions of the “person-to-person” type is that it belongs to both the class of transformative and the class of managers professions at the same time. Having the formation and transformation of personality as the goal of his activity, the teacher is called upon to manage the process of her intellectual, emotional and physical development, the formation of her spiritual world.

The main content of the teaching profession is relationships with people. The activities of other representatives of human-to-human professions also require interaction with people, but here it is connected with the best way to understand and satisfy human needs. In the profession of a teacher, the leading task is to understand social goals and direct the efforts of other people to achieve them.

The peculiarity of training and education as an activity of social management consists in the fact that it has, as it were, a double subject of labor. On the one hand, its main content is relationships with people: if a leader (and a teacher is one) does not have proper relationships with those people whom he leads or whom he convinces, then the most important thing in his activities is missing. On the other hand, professions of this type always require a person to have special knowledge, skills and abilities in some area (depending on who or what he supervises). A teacher, like any other leader, must know well and imagine the activities of the students whose development process he leads. Thus, the teaching profession requires dual training - human science and special.

The uniqueness of the teaching profession lies in the fact that by its nature it has a humanistic, collective and creative character.

Humanistic function of the teaching profession. The teaching profession has historically had two social functions - adaptive and humanistic (“human-forming”). The adaptive function is associated with the adaptation of the student to the specific requirements of the modern sociocultural situation, and the humanistic function is associated with the development of his personality and creative individuality.

A person’s belonging to a particular profession is manifested in the characteristics of his activities and way of thinking. According to the classification proposed by E.A. Klimov, the teaching profession belongs to the group of professions whose subject is another person. But the teaching profession is distinguished from a number of others primarily by the way of thinking of its representatives, a heightened sense of duty and responsibility. In this regard, the teaching profession stands apart, standing out as a separate group.

Its main difference from other professions of the “person-to-person” type is that it belongs to both the class of transformative and the class of management professions at the same time. Having the formation and transformation of personality as the goal of his activity, the teacher is called upon to manage the process of her intellectual, emotional and physical development, the formation of her spiritual world.

The main content of the teaching profession is relationships with people. The activities of other representatives of human-to-human professions also require interaction with people, but here it is connected with the best way to understand and satisfy human needs. In the profession of a teacher, the leading task is to understand social goals and direct the efforts of other people to achieve them.

The peculiarity of training and education as social management activities is that it has, as it were, a double subject of labor. On the one hand, its main content is relationships with people: if a leader (and a teacher is one) does not have proper relationships with those people whom he leads or whom he convinces, then the most important thing in his activities is missing. On the other hand, professions of this type always require a person to have special knowledge, skills and abilities in some area (depending on who or what he supervises). A teacher, like any other leader, must know well and imagine the activities of the students whose development process he leads. Thus, the teaching profession requires dual training - human science and special.

Thus, in the teaching profession, the ability to communicate becomes a professionally necessary quality. Studying the experience of beginning teachers allowed researchers, in particular V.A. Kan-Kalik, to identify and describe the most common “barriers” of communication that make it difficult to solve pedagogical problems: mismatch of attitudes, fear of the class, lack of contact, narrowing of the communication function, negative attitude towards the class , fear of pedagogical error, imitation. However, if novice teachers experience psychological “barriers” due to inexperience, then experienced teachers experience them due to underestimation of the role of communicative support of pedagogical influences, which leads to an impoverishment of the emotional background of the educational process. As a result, personal contacts with children also become impoverished, without whose emotional wealth productive personal activity inspired by positive motives is impossible.

The uniqueness of the teaching profession lies in the fact that by its nature it has a humanistic, collective and creative character.

Humanistic function of the teaching profession. The teaching profession has historically had two social functions - adaptive and humanistic (“human-forming”). Adaptive function is associated with the adaptation of the student, pupil to the specific requirements of the modern socio-cultural situation, and humanistic- with the development of his personality, creative individuality.

On the one hand, the teacher prepares his students for the needs at this moment, to a specific social situation, to the specific needs of society. But on the other hand, he, while objectively remaining the guardian and conductor of culture, carries within himself a timeless factor. Having as a goal the development of personality as a synthesis of all the riches of human culture, the teacher works for the future.

The work of a teacher always contains a humanistic, universal principle. Conscious bringing it to the fore, the desire to serve the future characterized progressive teachers of all times. Thus, a famous teacher and figure in the field of education of the mid-19th century. Friedrich Adolf Wilhelm Diesterweg (1790-1866), who was called the teacher of German teachers, put forward the universal goal of education: service to truth, goodness, beauty. “In every individual, in every nation, a way of thinking called humanity must be instilled: this is the desire for noble universal goals.” In realizing this goal, he believed, a special role belongs to the teacher, who is a living instructive example for the student. His personality earns him respect, spiritual strength and spiritual influence. The value of a school is equal to the value of a teacher.

Great Russian writer and teacher Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) saw in the teaching profession primarily a humanistic principle, which finds expression in love for children. “If a teacher has only love for his work,” wrote Tolstoy, “he will good teacher. If the teacher has only love for the student, like a father, mother, he will better than that a teacher who has read all the books, but has no love for either the work or the students. If a teacher combines love for both his work and his students, he is a perfect teacher.”

In the 50s–60s. XX century the most significant contribution to the theory and practice of humanistic education was made by Vasily Alexandrovich Sukhomlinsky (1918-1970) - director of Pavlyshskaya high school in Poltava region. His ideas of citizenship and humanity in pedagogy turned out to be consonant with our modernity. "The Age of Mathematics is good popular expression, but it does not reflect the full essence of what is happening these days. The world is entering the Age of Man. More than ever before, we are obliged to think now about what we put into a person’s soul.”

Education for the sake of the child’s happiness - this is the humanistic meaning of the pedagogical works of V.A. Sukhomlinsky, and his Practical activities- convincing proof that without faith in the child’s capabilities, without trust in him, all pedagogical wisdom, all methods and techniques of teaching and upbringing are untenable.

The primary task of the school, noted V.A. Sukhomlinsky, is to discover the creator in every person, to put him on the path of original creative, intellectually fulfilling work. “To recognize, identify, reveal, nurture, and nurture in each student his unique individual talent means raising the individual to a high level of flourishing human dignity.”

This does not mean that a teacher should not prepare his students for the specific demands of life into which they will need to be involved in the near future. By raising a student who is not adapted to the current situation, the teacher creates difficulties in his life. By raising an overly adapted member of society, he does not develop in him the need for purposeful change in both himself and society.

The purely adaptive orientation of a teacher’s activity has an extremely negative impact on himself, since he gradually loses his independence of thinking, subordinates his abilities to official and unofficial instructions, ultimately losing his individuality. The more a teacher subordinates his activities to the formation of the student’s personality, adapted to specific needs, the less he acts as a humanist and moral mentor. And vice versa, even in the conditions of an inhumane society, the desire of advanced teachers to contrast the world of violence and lies with human care and kindness inevitably resonates in the hearts of students. That is why I.G. Pestalozzi, noting the special role of the teacher’s personality and his love for children, proclaimed it as the main means of education. “I knew neither order, nor method, nor the art of education, which would not have been a consequence of my deep love for children.”

The point, in fact, is that a humanist teacher not only believes in democratic ideals and the high purpose of his profession. Through his activities he brings the humanistic future closer. And for this he must be active himself. This does not mean any of his activities. Thus, we often encounter teachers who are overactive in their desire to “educate.” Acting as a subject of the educational process, the teacher must recognize the right of students to be subjects. This means that he must be able to bring them to the level of self-government in conditions of trusting communication and cooperation.

The collective nature of pedagogical activity. If in other professions of the “person-to-person” group the result, as a rule, is the product of the activity of one person - a representative of the profession (for example, a salesman, doctor, librarian, etc.), then in the teaching profession it is very difficult to isolate the contribution of each teacher, family and other sources of influence in the qualitative transformation of the subject of activity - the student.

With the awareness of the natural strengthening of collectivist principles in the teaching profession, the concept total subject of pedagogical activity. The collective subject is broadly understood as the teaching staff of a school or other educational institution, and in a narrower sense - the circle of those teachers who are directly related to a group of students or an individual student.

Great importance the formation of the teaching team was given by A.S. Makarenko, who believed that “there must be a team of educators, and where educators are not united into a team and the team does not have a single work plan, a single tone, a single precise approach to the child, there cannot be no educational process."

Certain traits of a team are manifested primarily in the mood of its members, their performance, mental and physical well-being. This phenomenon is called psychological climate of the team.

A.S. Makarenko revealed a pattern according to which the pedagogical skill of a teacher is determined by the level of formation of the teaching staff. The unity of the teaching staff, in his opinion, “is an absolutely decisive thing, and the youngest, most inexperienced teacher in a single, united team, headed by a good master leader, will do more than any experienced and talented teacher who goes against the teaching staff. There is nothing more dangerous than individualism and squabbles in the teaching staff, there is nothing more disgusting, there is nothing more harmful.” A.S. Makarenko argued that the issue of education cannot be raised depending on the quality or talent of an individual teacher; one can only become a good master in a teaching team.

V.A. Sukhomlinsky made an invaluable contribution to the development of the theory and practice of forming a teaching staff. Having been the head of a school himself for many years, he came to the conclusion about the decisive role of pedagogical cooperation in achieving the goals that the school faces. Studying the influence of the teaching staff on the group of pupils, V.A. Sukhomlinsky established the following pattern: the richer the spiritual values ​​accumulated and carefully protected in the teaching staff, the more clearly the collective of pupils acts as an active, effective force, as a participant in the educational process, as an educator.

The creative nature of a teacher's work. Pedagogical activity, like any other, has not only a quantitative measure, but also qualitative characteristics. The content and organization of a teacher’s work can be correctly assessed only by determining the level of his creative attitude towards his activities. The level of creativity in a teacher’s activities reflects the degree to which he uses his capabilities to achieve his goals. The creative nature of pedagogical activity is therefore its most important feature. It is due to the fact that the diversity of pedagogical situations and their ambiguity require variable approaches to the analysis and solution of problems arising from them.

Currently, the statement that pedagogical activity is creative in nature has become axiomatic. However, it is known that both a worker can introduce an element of creativity into unskilled, traditionally uncreative work, and, conversely, pedagogical activity can be built according to a template, depriving it of its inherent creativity.

Creativity is an activity that generates something new, something that has not existed before, based on the reorganization of existing experience and the formation of new combinations of knowledge, skills, and products. Creativity has different levels. One level of creativity is characterized by the use of existing knowledge and expansion of the scope of its application; at another level, a completely new approach is created, changing the usual view of an object or area of ​​​​knowledge.

Unlike creativity in other areas (science, technology, art), a teacher’s creativity does not have as its goal the creation of a socially valuable new, original, since its product always remains the development of the individual. Of course, a creative teacher, and even more so an innovative teacher, creates his own pedagogical system, but it is only a means to obtain the best result under given conditions.

The creative potential of a teacher’s personality is formed on the basis of his accumulated social experience, psychological, pedagogical and subject knowledge, new ideas, abilities and skills that allow him to find and apply original solutions, innovative forms and methods and thereby improve the performance of his professional functions. Only an erudite and specially trained teacher, based on a deep analysis of emerging situations and awareness of the essence of the problem through creative imagination and thought experiment, is able to find new, original ways and means of solving it. But experience convinces us that creativity comes only then and only to those who work conscientiously and constantly strive to improve their professional qualifications, expand their knowledge and learn from experience. best schools and teachers.

The area of ​​manifestation of pedagogical creativity is determined by the structure of the main components of pedagogical activity and covers almost all its aspects: planning, organization, implementation and analysis of results.

In modern scientific literature Pedagogical creativity is understood as a process of solving pedagogical problems in changing circumstances. Addressing the solution of an innumerable set of standard and non-standard problems, the teacher, like any researcher, builds his activities in accordance with general rules heuristic search: analysis of the pedagogical situation; designing the result in accordance with the initial data; analysis of the available means necessary to test the assumption and achieve the desired result; evaluation of the received data; formulation of new tasks.

The creative potential of any person, including a teacher, is characterized by a number of personality characteristics, which are called signs of a creative personality. At the same time, the authors provide different lists of such signs. They highlight the individual’s ability to notice and formulate alternatives, question the obvious at first glance, and avoid superficial formulations; the ability to delve into a problem and at the same time break away from reality and see the future; the ability to abandon the orientation towards authorities; the ability to see a familiar object from a completely new perspective, in a new context; willingness to abandon theoretical judgments, dividing into black and white, to move away from the usual life balance and stability for the sake of uncertainty and search.

Creative personality is distinguished by a special combination of personal and business qualities that characterize her creativity. E.S. Gromov and V.A. Molyako name seven signs of creativity: originality, heuristics, imagination, activity, concentration, clarity, sensitivity. A creative teacher is also characterized by such qualities as initiative, independence, the ability to overcome the inertia of thinking, a sense of what is truly new and the desire to understand it, purposefulness, breadth of associations, observation, and developed professional memory.

So, pedagogical creativity is a process that begins from the assimilation of what has already been accumulated in pedagogical experience (adaptation, reproduction, reproduction of knowledge and experience), to change, transformation of existing pedagogical experience. The path from adaptation to the pedagogical situation to its transformation is the essence of the dynamics of the teacher’s creativity (A.K. Markova).

IN AND. Zagvyazinsky identifies the following levels of pedagogical creativity:

Innovation. In pedagogy, it is associated with discoveries, their authors affirm ideas that can transform pedagogical reality;

Invention. Teachers develop and implement new elements of pedagogical systems;

Innovation. It is embodied in improvements associated with the modernization and adaptation to specific conditions of already used methods and means of education and training.

Each teacher continues the work of his predecessors, but the creative teacher sees wider and much further. Every teacher, one way or another, transforms pedagogical reality, but only the creative teacher actively fights for radical changes and himself is a clear example in this matter.

are as follows.

1. The activity of a teacher has a continual and long-term character. This means that the teacher, based on the experience of the past, projects personal development for the future. The teacher always looks ahead: what, what kind of life to prepare his students for.

Consequently, he needs to have a professional knowledge of the experience of the past, to be well versed in modern life and foresee the contours of the future, anticipate events that may occur in the coming life.

2. From the considered feature the following follows: the concentric arrangement of the content and organization of educational work. This means that the formation of given, even the same, personality traits occurs over many years, expanding more and more, being replenished with new characteristics, and in some ways changing, i.e., the idea of ​​the same concept is deepening and clarification . Thus, teachers begin to form physical, moral, environmental culture, communication culture, etc. among preschoolers. These same questions, but in a more complete and broader understanding, return to children in the lower grades, adolescence and young adulthood.

3. The object of pedagogical activity (pupil) is a constantly developing and changing dynamic individual (or group). He has his own needs, goals, motives, interests and value orientations that regulate his behavior. Consequently, the teacher has to “adapt” his work to the characteristics of this object so that he becomes an ally, an active participant in the teaching and educational process. Ideally, instead of a subject-object relationship, there is a subject-subject interaction between the teacher and the student.

4. Pedagogical activity is collective in nature. In schools and other educational institutions, it is not a single teacher who works, but one of the members of the teaching team. This is especially evident in a class where there are 8-10 subject teachers and, in addition to teachers, there are also educators. Any of them will achieve good results only when a common goal for the future is developed.

A.S. drew attention to this feature of the teaching profession. Makarenko. He believed that in a team of teachers, each teacher, educator, being a unique personality, enriches the team with something of his own and, in turn, enriches himself. The team that has different teachers is strong and good: young and old, beginners and experienced, men and women, amateurs different types art. It is in the team that the teacher receives help in case of difficulties arising in his work.

5. The purposeful and organized professional activity of a teacher takes place in the natural and social environment. The environment is a powerful, although often unorganized, random and therefore uncontrollable factor influencing the development and formation of personality. On young man, in addition to the teacher, influence and means mass media, and social circle; anything that carries information. In a situation where many factors simultaneously influence the development of personality, the teacher has to wage a “competitive struggle” with negative phenomena and look for allies in a favorable environment.

6. From these features the following follows: the creative nature of pedagogical activity. Diagnosing and assessing the dynamic teaching and educational situation, the teacher constantly adjusts the planned operations, techniques and actions, looking for new, optimal ways to achieve the goal. A teacher in live work cannot limit himself only to accumulated experience. professional activity, he is constantly looking for new things, replenishing and enriching his stock of techniques and methods of work.

7. The results of a teacher’s professional activity are distant in time, sometimes significantly. The teacher will learn only many years later about what his former student became as an adult, and whether the talented student lived up to his hopes.

This feature also has positive side: The teacher lives in the grateful memory of his former students. Here it is appropriate to turn to an idea that is perhaps thousands of years old: people have a need to imprint themselves on others. Most often, the teacher does not set himself the special task of imprinting himself in his students, but this happens by itself, regardless of his consciousness.

8. The teacher has no right to make a mistake: the fate of a person is in his hands. Figuratively speaking, the teacher’s work is completed immediately, without rehearsals and drafts, because his students are unique individuals who live not in the future, but now, today. In any other field of activity, a mistake can almost always be corrected and the defect eliminated without serious consequences. Pedagogical activity is another matter: it is impossible to look through and not notice a child’s inclination towards something (music, drawing, etc.). Undisclosed talent is the fault of the teacher.

It is unacceptable to suspect a child of any unseemly actions without sufficient grounds: he will become secretive, touchy, distrustful of everyone and, first of all, of the teacher.

9. A feature of the teaching profession is humanism: belief in a good beginning in every child, respect for the individual, love for people, the desire to help others in difficult life situations.

10. A professional teacher not only teaches others, but also constantly learns, improving his skills. If he does not replenish his knowledge, then the time will come when he will have nothing to give to others. Continuing Education – characteristic feature teaching profession.

Professional quality modern teacher. Back at the end of the 19th century. P.F. Kapterev, an outstanding Russian teacher and psychologist, wrote that one of the important factors for the success of pedagogical activity is the personal qualities of the teacher. He pointed out the need for a teacher to have such qualities as determination, perseverance, hard work, modesty, observation, and paid special attention to wit, oratorical abilities, and artistry. The most important qualities of a teacher’s personality can and should include readiness for empathy, i.e., understanding the mental state of students, empathy, and the need for social interaction. Great importance is attached to pedagogical tact, the manifestation of which expresses the general culture of the teacher and the high professionalism of his teaching activities.

When considering the qualities of a teacher as a subject of activity, researchers seem to differentiate between professional pedagogical qualities, which can be very close to abilities, and personal qualities. To the important professional qualities of a teacher A.K. Markov includes: erudition, goal-setting, practical and diagnostic thinking, intuition, improvisation, observation, optimism, resourcefulness, foresight and reflection, and all these qualities in this context are understood only in pedagogical aspect(for example, pedagogical erudition, pedagogical thinking, etc.). Professionally significant qualities of a teacher’s personality in A.K. Markova are close to the concept of “ability”. For example, pedagogical observation is the ability to read a person through expressive movements like a book (perceptual abilities), pedagogical goal-setting is the teacher’s ability to develop a fusion of the goals of society and his own and then offer them for acceptance and discussion to students.

Considering in the same way as A.K. Markov, professionally significant qualities of a teacher (pedagogical orientation, goal setting, thinking, reflection, tact), L.M.

Mitina correlates them with two levels of pedagogical abilities - projective and reflexive-perceptual. In the study by L.M. Mitina identified more than 50 personal qualities of a teacher (both professionally significant qualities and actual personal characteristics). Here is a list of these properties: politeness, thoughtfulness, exactingness, impressionability, good manners, attentiveness, restraint and self-control, flexibility of behavior, citizenship, humanity, efficiency, discipline, kindness, conscientiousness, benevolence, ideological conviction, initiative, sincerity, collectivism, political consciousness, observation, perseverance, criticality, logic, love for children, responsibility, responsiveness, organization, sociability, decency, patriotism, truthfulness, pedagogical erudition, foresight, integrity, independence, self-criticism, modesty, justice, intelligence, courage, desire for self-improvement, tact , feeling new, feeling self-esteem, sensitivity, emotionality. This general list of properties is psychological picture ideal teacher. Its core is the actual personal qualities - direction, level of aspirations, self-esteem, image of “I”.

One of the main professionally significant qualities of a teacher’s personality is personal orientation. According to N.V. Kuzmina, this is one of the most important subjective factors in achieving the top in professional and pedagogical activity. In a general psychological sense, the orientation of an individual is defined as a set of stable motives that orient the activity of an individual, characterized by interests, inclinations, beliefs, and ideals in which a person’s worldview is expressed. Expanding this definition in relation to teaching activities, N.V. Kuzmina also includes an interest in the students themselves, creativity, the teaching profession, a tendency to engage in it, and an awareness of their abilities.

The choice of main activity strategies determines, according to N.V. Kuzmina, three types of orientation: 1) truly pedagogical; 2) formally pedagogical; 3) false pedagogical. Only the first type of orientation contributes to achieving high results in teaching activities.

The main motive for a truly pedagogical orientation is interest in the content of teaching activity (according to N.V. Kuzmina, this motive is typical for more than 85% of students at a pedagogical university). The pedagogical orientation, as its highest level, includes a vocation, which in its development correlates with the need for the chosen activity. At this highest stage of development - vocation - the teacher cannot imagine himself without school, without the life and activities of his students.

Dominant qualities are the absence of any of which entails the impossibility of effective implementation of teaching activities. Peripheral qualities are understood as qualities that do not have a decisive influence on the effectiveness of activities, but contribute to its success. Negative qualities lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of teaching work, and professionally unacceptable qualities determine the teacher’s professional unsuitability. Let's take a closer look at these qualities. Dominant qualities include:

Social activity, readiness and ability to actively contribute to solving public problems in the field of professional and pedagogical activities;

Purposefulness – the ability to direct and use all the qualities of one’s personality to achieve the set pedagogical tasks;

Balance – the ability to control one’s actions in any pedagogical situations;

The desire to work with schoolchildren is to receive spiritual satisfaction from communicating with children during the educational process;

The ability not to get lost in extreme situations – the ability to quickly make optimal pedagogical decisions and act in accordance with them;

Charm is a fusion of spirituality, attractiveness and taste;

Honesty – sincerity in communication, conscientiousness in activity;

Justice is the ability to act impartially;

Modernity - the teacher’s awareness of his own belonging to the same era as his students (manifested in the desire to find a commonality of interests);

Humanity – the desire and ability to provide students with qualified pedagogical assistance in their personal development;

Erudition – a broad outlook combined with deep knowledge in the field of the subject of teaching;

Pedagogical tact – compliance with universal human norms of communication and interaction with children, taking into account their age and individual psychological characteristics;

Tolerance – patience when working with children;

Pedagogical optimism is faith in the student and his abilities.

Peripheral qualities: goodwill, friendliness, sense of humor, artistry, wisdom (life experience), external attractiveness.

Among the negative qualities are:

– partiality – singling out “favorites” and “hateful” students from among students, public expression of likes and dislikes in relation to education;

– imbalance – inability to control one’s time mental condition, mood;

– vindictiveness is a personality trait that manifests itself in the desire to settle personal scores with a student;

– arrogance – pedagogically inappropriate emphasizing one’s superiority over the student;

– absent-mindedness, forgetfulness, lack of concentration.

Professional contraindications include: presence bad habits, recognized by society as socially dangerous (alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.), moral uncleanliness, tendency to assault, rudeness, unprincipledness, incompetence in matters of teaching and education, irresponsibility.

A teacher’s individual style of activity is determined not by professionally significant qualities themselves, but by the unique variety of their combinations. The following types of such combinations can be distinguished in relation to the level of productivity (efficiency) of the teacher’s activities.

The first type of combinations (“positive, without reprehensible”) corresponds to a high level of teacher work.

The second type (“positive with reprehensible, but excusable”) is characterized by a predominance of positive qualities over negative ones. Work productivity appears to be sufficient; the negative, in the opinion of colleagues and students, is considered insignificant and excusable.

The third type (“positive, neutralized by negativity”) corresponds to an unproductive level of teaching activity. For teachers of this type, the main thing in their work is self-direction, self-expression, career. Due to the presence of a number of developed pedagogical abilities and positive personal qualities, they can work successfully in certain periods, however, the distortion of the motives of their professional activity, as a rule, leads to a low final result.

Thus, knowledge of professionally significant personal qualities modern teacher, their role in professional activities contributes to the desire of every teacher to improve these qualities, which ultimately leads to qualitative changes in educational work with children.

Teaching profession is a special field of activity aimed at transferring to a new generation of humanity the experience accumulated by previous generations.

In ancient times, when there was no division of labor, and the purpose of any human activity was reduced to obtaining food, knowledge and experience were passed on to children through labor. As tools improved, the elderly and disabled were freed from hard work, and the community entrusted them with looking after the children and teaching them the basics. Gradually, the amount of necessary knowledge and experience became so great that only the most knowledgeable, experienced and respected members of the community could raise children. These people formed a special social group educators, youth mentors.

The entire history of the emergence and development of pedagogical thought and pedagogical activity is closely connected with the changes taking place in society. With the emergence of the family social institution Some of the responsibilities for raising children were assigned to parents. The emergence of writing also influenced the development of pedagogical activity, since writing made it possible to retain knowledge longer than human memory. With the advent of the state, a need arose for mass training and reproduction of various specialists (primarily warriors for the protection and expansion of lands and officials for the state bureaucracy), so education systems began to form in states.

Different peoples in different historical eras have developed certain requirements for the level of education, and pedagogical activity has always been a means of preserving and increasing the knowledge accumulated by mankind.

Features of the teaching profession are manifested in its goals and results, functions, the nature of the teacher’s work and the nature of the interaction between participants in the pedagogical process (teacher and child).

1. The purpose of teaching activity– formation of a person’s personality.

2. The result of teaching activities– a person who is useful and successful in society.

3. The teaching profession in society has historically been assigned two main Features: adaptive And humanistic(“human-forming”). The adaptive function is associated with the adaptation (adaptation) of the child to specific social and cultural conditions, and the humanistic function is associated with the development of his personality and creative individuality.

4. Pedagogical activity has collective And creative character.

5. The peculiarities of interaction between a teacher and a child are that the teacher, firstly, manages the process of education, upbringing and development, Secondly, strives to meet the educational needs of the student.

6. The results of pedagogical activity are the knowledge he has formed in the child, attitudes towards various aspects of life, experience of activity and behavior. In other words, The work of a teacher is assessed by the achievements of his students.

The collective nature of pedagogical activity manifests itself in the fact that...

The result of an activity - a personality - is the result of the work of several subjects (teachers, family, social environment, the child himself), educational process carried out in the vast majority of cases in a team of pupils, which is a powerful factor in education;

The educational process is aimed at preparing the individual to live in a team and society.

The creative nature of a teacher’s work manifests itself in various components of pedagogical activity: in the analysis of the pedagogical situation, in setting and solving pedagogical problems, in organizing one’s own activities and the activities of students. If a teacher uses new, non-standard forms and methods of activity, finds and applies original solutions to the problems of education, upbringing and development of students facing him, then he shows pedagogical creativity.

Pedagogical creativity– the process of solving pedagogical problems in changing circumstances (, etc.). A creatively working teacher is able to choose the optimal combination of ways to transfer knowledge and experience to students, that is, adapt (adapt) the knowledge and experience transmitted to children to their individual characteristics and the characteristics of their students, without deviating from their goals. In this case, the result of pedagogical activity may be better than before, or the same result can be achieved at lower costs.

The basis of pedagogical creativity is creative potential teacher's personality, which is formed on the basis of the life experience accumulated by the teacher, psychological, pedagogical and subject knowledge, as well as new ideas, skills and abilities acquired as a result of self-development.

The activities of a teacher aimed at realizing professional goals and objectives are called pedagogical activities. Pedagogical activity represents the management of the pupil’s activities and the process of interaction with him for the purpose of his upbringing and training, his development as an individual.

Main types of teaching activities are teaching and educational work.

Educational work - this is a pedagogical activity aimed at organizing the educational environment and managing various activities of students in order to solve the problems of harmonious personal development.

Teaching- this is a type of pedagogical activity that is aimed at managing primarily the cognitive activity of schoolchildren.

To understand the essence of pedagogical activity, let us highlight it subject and object. Subject and object are general scientific concepts. In any activity the subject is usually called the one who performs the action, and the object is the one who experiences the impact. The object can be a person, a living creature, or an inanimate object. Thus, the subject influences the object, transforms it or changes the spatio-temporal conditions of the object’s presence.

Subject of pedagogical activity– teacher, object of pedagogical activity– the child’s personality. However, such a distinction between the subject and the object of pedagogical activity is very conditional, because an important condition The success of pedagogical activity is the activity of the child himself in training and education. Thus, the child is not only an object of pedagogical influence, but also a subject of cognition, acquiring the knowledge he needs in life, as well as experience in activity and behavior.

The teacher and the child are participants in the pedagogical process.

The teaching profession refers to professions of the “person-to-person” type. The activities of a teacher regarding social functions, requirements for professionally significant personal qualities, the complexity of psychological tension and emotional stress are close to the activities of an artist, scientist, and writer. According to psychologists, it contains up to 250 components in its structure. The lesson is sometimes called a "one-man show." However, for an actor, the screenwriter writes the script, the director helps during rehearsals, and other workers help with stage design, lighting, and musical accompaniment. And the teacher is at the same time a screenwriter, a director, a producer, and an actor; every day he stages not one, but several performances.

The profession of a teacher is one of the most stressful and psychologically stressful. It requires a person to constantly reserve self-control and self-regulation. The emotional load of a teacher is much higher than that of senior managers and bankers, that is, those who directly work with people.

High emotional tension is due to the constant presence large quantity risk factors, stress factors that affect the teacher’s well-being, performance, professional health and quality of work. In teaching activities, along with general risk factors for the health of workers in the mental sphere (for example, neuro-emotional stress, information overload, hypokinesia), there are also specific ones: significant vocal load, predominance in the process labor activity static load, large amount of visual work, violation of work and rest schedule, etc. The teaching profession is now feminized, so workload at home and lack of time for family and children are also risk factors.

According to World Organization healthcare, the stress coefficient of teaching activity is 6.2 points (with a maximum coefficient of 10 points). The American Institute for Stress Research's occupational rankings rank high among high school teachers, police officers, and miners.

Manifestations of stress in a teacher's work are varied. Experts primarily highlight anxiety, depression, frustration (the stress of “lost hope”), emotional devastation, exhaustion, and occupational illnesses. One of the consequences of long-term professional stress is the syndrome of emotional “burnout” as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion of the teacher, as well as the development of negative self-esteem, a negative attitude towards work and loss of understanding and empathy towards another person (K. Maslach). The high level of burnout among teachers with extensive experience is due to long-term action professional stress, young people - entering the professional sphere, the first steps in teaching.

The profession of a teacher stands out among others primarily in the way of thinking of its representatives, the sense of duty and the level of responsibility. Its main difference from other professions of the “person-to-person” type is that the teacher belongs to both those who transform and those; who is in charge. With the goal of his professional activity being the formation and transformation of a child, the teacher is called upon to manage the process of his intellectual, emotional, physical development, and the formation of his inner world.

The teacher's task is to manage learning, not to teach, to manage the process of education, and not to educate. The more deeply he understands his main function, the more independence, initiative, and freedom he provides to students. A good teacher is always in the educational process, as if “behind the scenes”, outside the free choice of students, and in reality - the choice guided by him. The teacher should help thoughts to be born in the student’s head, and not communicate ready-made truths. So, the core of pedagogical work is in managing all the processes that accompany the formation of a person. Nowadays, the work of a teacher is increasingly called “pedagogical management,” and the teacher himself is called a “manager of education, training, and development.”

Pedagogical activity cannot be an activity only “for oneself.” its essence lies in the transition of activity “for oneself” to activity “for others.” It combines the self-realization of the teacher and his purposeful participation in changing the level of learning, upbringing, development, education of the student, and his growth. Therefore, the profession of a teacher is considered a helper profession (English: Help - to help), since it is associated with providing support and assistance to others.

The uniqueness of the teaching profession lies in the fact that by its nature it has a humanistic, collective and creative character.

1. The humanistic nature of the teaching profession. In a holistic way pedagogical process The teacher performs two functions - adaptive and humanistic. Adaptive function is associated with preparing the student for a certain social situation, specific demands of society, and humanistic - with the development of the student’s personality, his creative individuality.

The work of a teacher always has a humanistic, universal principle, which directs it not only to knowledge, but also to the personality of the student. “Knowledge can be a pile of stones under which a personality is buried. But it can also be a pyramid, on top of which stands a personality,” notes Russian playwright Viktor Rozov.

Humanistic pedagogy considers knowledge as a means and condition for a person to understand his place in life, and to develop a sense of self-worth and independence. Such pedagogy reaches its goal, relying on the capabilities of a person, his creative potential, and not on the authority of power and coercion. its main task is to identify, reveal and develop everything valuable in a person, and not to form the habit of obedience and humility. Recognition of the human right to freedom, happiness, spiritual and physical development becomes an integral part of the pedagogical credo as a system of pedagogical values. This involves the implementation of personality-oriented education, providing the student with assistance in his self-development and the very formation of his personality.

2. The collective nature of the teaching profession. If in other professions of the “person-to-person” type the result, as a rule, is the product of the activity of one person - a representative of the profession (for example, a seller, librarian, doctor), then in the teaching profession it is very difficult to isolate the contribution of each teacher, family and other sources of influence in qualitative transformation of the subject of activity, that is, the pet.

The result of education depends on the unity of efforts of the teaching staff, the psychological climate in it, that is, the mood of its members, their performance, mental and physical well-being. Domestic teacher Anton Makarenko (1888-1939) noted a pattern according to which the pedagogical skill of a teacher is determined by the level of formation of the teaching staff: “The unity of the teaching staff is quite a defining thing, and the youngest, inexperienced teacher in a single, cohesive team, headed by a good master leader, is more Any experienced and talented teacher will do anything that goes against the teaching staff." He argued that it is impossible to raise the question of the dependence of education on the talent of an individual teacher; one can become a good master only in a teaching team.

Domestic teacher Vasily Sukhomlinsky (1918-1970) emphasized another pattern: the richer the spiritual values ​​that the teaching staff accumulates and carefully preserves, the more clearly the group of students plays the role of an active, effective force, a participant in the educational process, an educator. He argued that if there is no teaching staff, then there is no student body. And it is created, according to V. Sukhomlinsky, by collective thought, idea, creativity.

3. The creative nature of the teaching profession. This is its most important feature. The level of creativity of a teacher reflects the degree to which he uses his capabilities to achieve his goals. A creative teacher knows how to make original decisions, uses innovative forms and methods of work, effectively performing his professional functions. Pedagogical creativity is manifested not only in a non-standard solution to a pedagogical problem, but also in communication with students, their parents, and work colleagues. A teacher becomes creative only when he is conscientious about his work, strives to improve his professional qualifications, and learn from the experience of the best schools and teachers.

The teaching profession in modern social conditions has positive and negative aspects. TO positive include: opportunity for professional growth; variety of social connections with colleagues, students, and their parents; the opportunity to satisfy the highest human needs - creative; humanistic character; creative independence; summer vacation periods and its duration (48 working days). Among negative- low wage(teacher's remuneration is inadequate for its social significance and professional complexity; it lags noticeably behind the earnings of other specialists with higher education, which leads to a decrease in the level of its prestige) strict regulation of the teacher’s behavior and activities, high demands on his morality; significant nervous costs, high stress in teaching activities.

Consequently, the work of a teacher is one of the most important, but at the same time the most difficult. Therefore, a person striving to become a teacher must clearly understand what demands he will face, and not only acquire professional knowledge, but also cultivate his own character, develop intellectually and emotionally.