Natalia Drab, Teiana Kostiuk. Providing professional and pedagogical culture offuture English teachers in the context of European integration

Pedagogy and psychology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62204/2336-498X-2023-1-10

PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL AND PEDAGOGICAL CULTURE

OF FUTURE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN THE CONTEXT OF

EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Natalia Drab,

Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Cross-Cultural

Communication, Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University

natalia_drab1972@ukr.net; ORCID: 0009-0005-0296-481X

Teiana Kostiuk,

Senior Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages and Cross-Cultural

Communication, Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University

tatianakostiuk1983@gmail.com; ORCID: 0000-0001-9943-7285

Annotation. The article presents the features of ensuring the professional and pedagogical culture of future English language teachers in the context of European integration. By professional and pedagogical culture we understand the integral quality of the teacher’s personality, which is a prerequisite for effective pedagogical activity, a generalized indicator of professional competence and the goal of professional self-improvement. A modern future teacher must be comprehensively prepared for various aspects of the future work and demonstrate the results of learning – “knowledge, skills, ways of thinking, skills, views, values and other personal qualities.

Modern education and upbringing of an active and independent creative personality, competitive in the conditions of the information society, requires from the future teacher not only interactive skills, but also the ability to independently acquire knowledge, thoughtfully build a schedule, navigate information and prepare oneself for the use of these technologies in future professional activities. This approach determines the organization of pedagogical practice of students, which contributes to the formation of motivational-emotional, cognitive, activity and regulatory structural-criterial components of the intellectual culture of the future teacher.

Educators assure that sensitivity to suggestions and the value of accepting one’s own opinion dominate during education. They noted that in an educational institution it is very important to teach the material in an accessible way, as well as to encourage an increase in motivation for better assimilation of knowledge with words and support. They need such encouragement and motivation in writing papers of various research types, supervision and mentoring. Such support will contribute to the formation of the professional and pedagogical culture of future teachers of the English language and the possibility of applying the acquired skills, knowledge and skills in professional activities.

Keywords: professional and pedagogical culture, future teachers of English, motives, international organizations, European integration.

The State National Program “Education. Ukraine of the XXI Century” in the context of training a new generation of scientists and educators to reform the higher education system is based on the principles of humanization, individualization, democratization and ethnicization of the educational process. The solution to this problem is due to the creative approach of teachers who have a sufficient level of professional and pedagogical culture.

The theoretical analysis of scientific works (S. Vitvitska, V. Hrynova, I. Ziaziun, O. Mudryk, N. Seheda, O. Rudnytska, Y. Smakovskyi, L. Pekhot, O. Khoruzha, etc.) shows that there are currently quite a few aspects of the problem of forming the professional and pedagogical culture of future English teachers, but there are no studies of the peculiarities of its implementation and realization in higher education institutions [1-5].

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the peculiarities of ensuring the professional and pedagogical culture of future English teachers in the context of European integration.

In the European Union, other standards have been adopted and are in effect. The prestige of education and high qualifications in Europe is traditionally very high. In Europe, only those graduates who intend to enter higher education institutions complete secondary education at a high level. This is approximately 15 to 25% of all secondary school students.

Today, higher education institutions in Ukraine enroll more than 70% of high school graduates, which is 7 times more than the normal distribution of intelligence allows. Today, our diplomas are not recognized in Europe, and our specialists cannot find a job in their specialty without additional retraining. And although they are superior to foreign specialists in many respects, in terms of development, erudition, and special training, the discrediting of the Ukrainian diploma continues. What foreign employers are most dissatisfied with in the training of our specialists is the low efficiency of knowledge. Efficiency is the ability to use the acquired knowledge and skills in practice. According to expert estimates, this is the parameter in which we are the worst off. In connection with Ukraine’s declaration of its intention to join the European Union, the higher education system needs to be radically reformed.

A modern future teacher must be comprehensively prepared for various aspects of future work and demonstrate learning outcomes – “knowledge, skills, ways of thinking, abilities, attitudes, values and other personal qualities that can be identified, planned, evaluated and measured and that a person is able to demonstrate after completing an educational program (program learning outcomes) or individual educational components” [1, 3].

The teacher of the XXI century, as proclaimed in the documents of major international organizations, is a carrier of social change, and the potential of teachers is regulated by the principles that ensure high quality education and competitiveness in the global labor market.

It is necessary to find and implement the latest methods of ensuring new levels of quality of teacher training as a result of the process of integration of national education systems into the European and global educational space. The regulatory document of Ukraine – the National Doctrine of Education Development of Ukraine in the XXI century – emphasizes the training of teachers, promotion of their professional development as an important condition for the modernization of education in the country [3, p. 12].

In modern conditions, education in Ukraine needs to take into account current global trends, including, according to V. Kremen, “the renewal of the educational sector: training of a person who is aware of his or her belonging to the Ukrainian people, modern European civilization, is oriented in the realities and prospects of socio-cultural development, ready to live and work in a changing world; formation of qualified competitive personnel capable of creative work, professional growth, mastering and implementing information and communication technologies, and other

Among other educational specialties, the professional activity of an English teacher plays a significant role and is determined by its importance for the development and formation of a student’s personality. According to the regulatory and scientific basis of foreign language teacher training in Ukraine, the main principles are the teacher’s graduated training, its variability, professional orientation, humanization of education, interdisciplinary connections, and individual creative approach to the student [2, 4].

The Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine states that culture (from Latin cultura – cultivation, care, from colo – to grow, cultivate the land) is a manifestation of human life, which is expressed in behavioral patterns, means and products of activity, including ideas, ideals, norms and values. Culture reflects the peculiarities of human behavior, worldview, and consciousness in certain spheres of life, including social life. According to this, it should be assumed that, in particular, the culture of the teacher should be consistent with the requirements and needs of society, play a socially important role, and be the key to the formation and development of the worldview of future generations [3, 5].

Following A. Voloshchuk, we understand professional and pedagogical culture as an integral quality of a teacher’s personality, which is a prerequisite for effective pedagogical activity, a generalized indicator of professional competence and the goal of professional self-improvement [1, p. 174].

Teachers’ professional and pedagogical culture should also include their awareness of the principles of methodology. That is why it is worth noting that according to L. Kolosova, “the professional development of an English teacher is a process of qualitative change in the totality of scientific and methodological knowledge, skills, abilities in the field of methodological activity, which leads to the creative self-realization of the methodologist in professional activity and increase of the effectiveness of teachers’ pedagogical work, as well as personal and business qualities, creativity, motivational sphere and value orientations aimed at the positive development of an English teacher” [2, 4].

A high level of professional and pedagogical culture characterizes a teacher by the following indicators:

works professionally, in constant search of creative ways to solve educational and upbringing tasks;
strives for self-improvement through self-education;
achieves positive results in the educational process;
his/her work is aimed at improving, refining, rather than creating new models of pedagogical practice;
modifies his/her activity in accordance with professional requirements;
self-realizes as a professional, not as a representative of pedagogical culture.

Thus, modern training and education of an active and independent creative personality, competitive in the conditions of the information society, requires from the future teacher not only interactive skills, but also the ability to independently acquire knowledge, thoughtfully build a schedule, navigate information and prepare themselves for the use of these technologies in future professional activities. This approach determines the organization of students’ pedagogical practice, which contributes to the formation of motivational and emotional, cognitive, activity and regulatory structural and critical components of the intellectual culture of the future teacher [3, 4].

Modern education should organically incorporate creativity into the educational process, form a worldview based on multi-criteria solutions. It should ensure interdisciplinary organization of learning content, develop harmony in ways and levels of thinking, and graduates’ readiness not only to design objects but also to engage in new activities. At the same time, purely “subject” (disciplinary) education and an elementary approach continue to prevail in higher education. The key problem is the alienation of students and teachers from the quality of learning outcomes, the lack of demand for this quality at each subsequent stage of general scientific and professional training in relation to the previous one. The outlined changes allow us to conclude that the modernization processes taking place in the higher education system require scientific understanding, systematic research and perspective modeling of the educational process in higher education institutions.

At the beginning of the pedagogical practice in the first semester of the academic year 2022-2023, a survey was conducted among students of academic groups 1FA and 1FB of the Department of English Philology of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University to determine the level of socialization in the educational process and to identify the main characteristics and trends in students’ perception of the proposed educational material on the topic of the study. The research methods used include the following: empirical (surveys, observations, interviews with students to determine the dynamics of the respondents’ attitudes, multiple-choice tests on the Wordwall online platform to determine students’ motivation and perception of the material, and methods of mathematical statistics to conduct statistical calculations).

The survey was conducted via the Telegram messenger, where respondents could interactively choose their answers and offer their own. This form of survey is quite comfortable, which allows us to evaluate the results of the survey. The survey involved 55 university students.

Among the most important motives (Fig. 1) were financial incentives (scholarships), differences from peers, the need for specialists, a diploma for employment, and a sense of duty to obtain higher education. None of the respondents mentioned the motive of pressure from their parents, which indicates that they chose their profession independently. A clear understanding of one’s own position and the ability to defend it is an indicator of a holistic personality that will organize its internal qualities in relation to professional categories in the future.

Fig. 1. Dominant motives of students to enter

In general, students are satisfied with their learning outcomes (91.7%), but there is still some reluctance to study, health problems, laziness, work, homework, and pressure from teachers prevent them from achieving better results, which is an obstacle to improving their English language skills to ensure an appropriate level of professional and pedagogical culture of future teachers.

External and internal factors influence attitudes toward learning, among other things. Moreover, its result is an important component of the formation of relationships in the group. The postulates of mutual learning, the formation of a friendly atmosphere during practical classes and extracurricular activities have a positive impact on student motivation, self-awareness, bias and attitude to performing assigned tasks and meeting requirements. It is worth noting that the study of the reasons for a particular student’s learning outcome requires a better understanding of the conditions and ways to overcome them. That is why the next question was to ask what could be done to improve learning activities (Fig. 2).

Students say (Fig. 2) that responsiveness to suggestions and the value of listening to their own opinions dominate their learning process. They noted that it is very important for the educational institution to present the material in an accessible way, as well as to encourage motivation for better learning through words and support. They need such encouragement and motivation to write papers of various research types, as well as supervision and mentoring. In a certain ratio, the individual characteristics of each of them, better technical equipment of the department, and better technical support for the effective use of interactive implementations were noted. External conditions (in the form of better financial situation and living standards, etc.) have also become an integral part of this educational process. Such support will contribute to the formation of the professional and pedagogical culture of future English teachers and the ability to apply the acquired skills, knowledge, and abilities in their professional activities.

Fig. 2. Students’ suggestions for improving the quality

of life in higher education institutions

Thus, the level of students’ development is quite high, and all participants successfully interact with each other and jointly solve their tasks. In the realities of today’s life, students have the opportunity to communicate only through social networks and messengers, which in turn excludes personal contact, but friendliness, politeness and willingness to help create a positive atmosphere. In my opinion, the members of the academic group should introduce more internal traditions and be more active in solving various issues. In addition, it would be more appropriate to use group and pair work more often during classes. Drawing up the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of the academic group team allowed us to analyze the relationships between students, their common goals, motives, which in turn allowed us to select the best methods and techniques for working in groups and pairs.

Ukraine is an active participant in the integration of European countries in the field of education under the auspices of the Council of Europe and UNESCO. The first integration program for education development was developed and adopted by the Lisbon Convention in 1997. The general principle of this concept is to improve the quality of education. To do this, it was necessary to develop national standards, programs, criteria, and technologies for determining quality assurance in the countries that supported the Lisbon Convention, which was agreed upon in Bologna by European countries, including Ukraine. Implementation of the main provisions of the Bologna Declaration is realistic only if a productive system of national mobility, regulatory framework, organizational and economic mechanism, identification of funding sources and readiness for partnership are created. One of the main priorities that determines the trajectory of Ukrainian education is its transformation into an effective lever of cultural and economic development of the country; creation of an innovative environment in which the subjects of the educational process master the skills of independent acquisition of knowledge throughout life and its application in practice, become successful and competitive in the European and world markets.

One of the most important and constructive ideas in the strategy of raising the nation’s intellectual potential is the idea of advanced education. The essence of this idea is to prepare people for the future in a timely manner. A forward-looking education system should be created on the basis of a combination of the latest general scientific knowledge, and one of its priority tasks should be to develop in people the qualities that allow them to successfully adapt, live and work in the conditions of the new century. These qualities include: systematic scientific thinking; ecological culture; information culture; creative activity; tolerance; and high morality. It is these human qualities that should ensure the survival and further sustainable development of civilization and should be the priority goals for the system of advanced education. The principles of practical implementation of the concept of advanced education should be explained in contrast to the current system of higher education. Modern higher education systems implement a concept that can be called supportive education.

The training of specialists is carried out mainly on the basis of today’s requirements, without taking into account what awaits these specialists in the future. The system of supportive education clearly does not meet current and, especially, future requirements, as it does not provide full preparation of a person for new and rapidly changing conditions of existence. On the contrary, advanced education focuses on the future, on the conditions of life and professional activity that a graduate of a higher education institution will find after graduation, i.e. 4-7 years after entering the university. The pace of technological and scientific progress today is such that some knowledge becomes obsolete within 3-5 years, and it is unacceptable not to take this factor into account in a forward-looking education system.

That is why the system of advanced education should be radically different from the system of supportive education. The main focus should be on the development of a person’s creative qualities, his or her ability to act independently in conditions of uncertainty, as well as on the development of learning abilities and the acquisition of new knowledge.

Conclusions. It has been established that raising the level of students’ communication culture through the introduction of interesting and logically structured classes is due to the proposed topics of monologues, as well as the selection of tasks to improve the professional and pedagogical culture and the efforts to form the appropriate English speech of students. For each lesson, we used active vocabulary and sentence construction in the context of selecting synonyms and associating them with different pictures or events. This method had a corresponding effect on the faster memorization of active vocabulary. Watching thematic videos and movies helped to build the correct use of various phrasal verbs and idioms instead of ordinary words, which contributed to the ability to deepen knowledge on the topic of «small talk» and added motivation to move in the same direction further.

In future prospects, we see the possibility of studying content technologies for the formation of the professional and pedagogical culture of future English teachers in the context of linguistic support of students’ knowledge and skills in the distance format of organizing the educational process of a higher education institution.

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