Kulikova T. Study of the formation level of psychology students’ professional self-consciousness // International scientific journal "Internauka". — 2019. — №12.
Психологические науки
UDC 159.99
Kulikova Tatyana
PhD, Associate Professor,
Department of Psychology and Pedagogy
Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University
STUDY OF THE FORMATION LEVEL OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS’ PROFESSIONAL SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
Summary. The urgency of the problem under investigation is determined by the interest of psychological science in the phenomenon of self-consciousness. At the present stage the necessity of reflecting the problem of self-consciousness within the framework of specific professional activity is especially clearly recognized. This problem is of special importance in connection with the fact that modern society needs a special type of personality - a person who not only adapts to the existing reality, but strives for success, showing activity, initiative and responsibility in his professional activities. The article substantiates the urgency of the problem of the development of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists, the theoretical analysis of the basic approaches to the concept of "professional self-consciousness" is presented. The author presents the results of an experimental study of the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists studying at the fourth (final) course. The effectiveness of training technology in the development of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists as a pledge of their success in the future professional activity is considered. The materials of the article can be used by teachers of practical psychology in the process of training psychologists at the university in order to improve the quality of professionalization and the level of professional self-consciousness of students in the learning process.
Key words: professional self-consciousness, the structure of professional self-awareness, training of development of professional self-consciousness, students-psychologists.
Introduction. Modern higher professional education, taking into account the needs and tendencies of the development of society, cannot be limited only to the tasks of transferring professional knowledge, skills and habits. The process of professional self-determination includes the development of self-consciousness of the individual, the formation of a system of value orientations, modeling of the future, the construction of standards in the form of an ideal image of a professional. The definition of one's place in the chosen profession among students is closely intertwined and interrelated with their personal development.
It is in the student's age that the formation of professional self-consciousness is the central new formation of the individual. The wide range of tasks to be solved at this age often leads to the fact that students, when faced with many serious internal conflicts, are immersed in emotional experiences that adversely affect their professional and personal growth.
Most researchers (V. N. Koziev, A. K. Markova, S. V. Vaskovskaya, E. M. Bobrova) note that professional self-awareness, especially at the stage of training specialists, requires special work on development and formation. But often it develops spontaneously, because the main attention in the learning process is drawn to familiarizing with the "technical content" of professional activity, the emergence of the same personality of future professionals is often pushed to the background. Negative tendencies in the formation of a student's professional self-consciousness indicate the need for a special integrated, integrated work to manage this process, providing students with timely assistance in the formation of an adequate "image of the professional "I".
We understand professional self-consciousness as "a reflection of the personal meaning of professional-pedagogical activity, a value attitude towards the profession, towards children, a condition for self-determination and self-realization in the profession" [2].
The structure of the image of the "I" in students of different courses has both a different representation and a different nature and content, reflecting the stage of mastering the educational and professional activities, the level of personal and professional development and the features of the learning process. According to the criterion of "integration - differentiation" of the "I" image in the first and second years of training, the variant of a partially integrated "I" is of the type "I am an entrant". One of the defining images of the "I" in the cognitive substructure is the disposition "I am a Person", which reveals the predominance of the tendency of not accepting oneself as a person. The category "Personality" is realized by students in the first and second years of training more often as "almost unattainable peak of growth". And this model of the structure of the image of the "I" is conditioned by the real features of the adaptation period in the development of educational and professional activity and characterizes the insufficiently developed image of the "I", including its structural component such as "I am in the future", "I am a future specialist" [9].
In the third year the trend of increasing the group "I" (variant of the partially integrated "I" as "I am a future psychologist") is emerging from the second year. That is, there is a more pronounced restructuring of the image of the "I" and a tendency is expressed towards its integration, which in its essence represents a real turn in the time space from the past to the future.
In the fourth year the transformation of the "I" system continues and the tendency of integration is further developed. The most presented version is the image of the maximally integrated "I".
In the cognitive substructure of professional self-awareness, the dyad "Psychologist-Client" occupies a central place, consisting of two interrelated dispositions: "I am a Client", "I am a Psychologist". First-year students have the identity of the images "I" and "Client", based on the notion of themselves and the client as not fully formed personalities. By the third course, the attractiveness of the client's image remains low, and the attractiveness of one's own image is growing. From the fourth year there is a renewed increase in the identity of the images of "I" and "Client".
An analysis of the dynamics of the development of cognitive components has revealed a trend in the growth of professional self-awareness which reaches its maximum by the fourth year, which indicates a qualitative change in the level of professional self-consciousness during this period. The peculiarities of professional self-consciousness on the fourth course allow us to state the situation of contradiction, which manifests itself in a decrease in the level of the personal component in its structure, which allows us to speak about the second critical period in the process of professionalization of practical psychologists.
The third course is the most favorable in the identification and development of the individual style of future activity, the choice of the direction of possible specialization. The adequacy of one's own perception, the integrated image of the "I" create optimal conditions for the formation of professional self-awareness. The phenomena of the psychological barrier in the form of a complexion, the "inaccessibility" of the image of a professional psychologist, which characterize the world perception of the students of the first and second years of education, give way to the centering on one's own image, the identity of the images "I" and "Personality", the maximum development and growth of the attractiveness of the image of the "I" [1].
The essence of the problem of the formation of professional self-consciousness among students-psychologists is that it is the students that are an important period in the life of a person when the preparation for independent life, professional activity is completed, values are formed and the professional training of students-psychologists is improved [8].
In the structure of professional self-consciousness of students, functional components are singled out - cognitive, emotional, motivationally-targeted, operational and structural - images of "I" [10].
The cognitive component is the idea of oneself as an individual; is realized through self-knowledge, knowledge of oneself in the process of human communication with other people in the process of the subject's activity. Turning psychic activity on himself, realizing self-knowledge, a person produces a conscious evaluation of himself and his actions.
The emotional component is manifested through self-understanding. Self-understanding as a process is manifested in self-esteem and acceptance of oneself, in the formation of individual situational images and vague ideas to a more or less holistic concept of self.
Motivational-target component is realized through self-actualization, realization of oneself in the profession. Stable motivational formations are personal values.
The operational component is realized through self-realization. It manifests itself in goal-setting, aspiration for the future, taking responsibility for the realization of one's goals for oneself. Allows you to build a strategy for your own professional growth, to form an active professional position of the individual.
The image of "I-real" is a complex of ideas about myself. It is formed in interaction with the student's ideal of his future. "I-ideal (professional)" - is a set of ideas of the student about himself as the future subject of professional activity in the ideal, the idea of a professional personality standard. "I am the future (developing professional)" is a set of student's ideas about himself in the future, about the prospects of his development on the professional path, the way out to the meaningful self-determination.
According to the ontological concept of A.A. Derkach and O.V. Moskalenko, the development of professional self-consciousness at the stage of training is conditioned by the organization of the educational process in a professional educational institution and the personal characteristics of the student himself [8].
Thus, the professional self-consciousness of students is a complex, dynamic, personal education that represents the unity and interrelationship of the functional (cognitive, emotional, motivational, target, operational) and structural (images "I-real", "I-ideal (professional) "I am the future" (developing professional) of components, the development and formation of which is manifested in the gradual recognition of myself as a subject of future professional activity.
Materials and Methods. Proceeding from the structure of professional self-consciousness we defined, we tried to create such a system of work on its development that would correspond to this structure. The experiment was conducted with students during the school year. In the experiment, 60 students enrolled in the fourth year of the Faculty of Psychology took part. This stage of the training was chosen taking into account the fact that students are on the line between educational and professional activities.
The purpose of our research was a theoretical and experimental study of the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists as a pledge of the success of their professional work and the definition of technologies for the development of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists.
We assumed that professional self-consciousness is a dynamic three-component structure, and in its development there passes a number of stages, conditioned both by the individual characteristics of the students and by the course of their education. As a private hypothesis, it was suggested that the formation of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists in the process of education in the university will be most successful, provided timely diagnostic research and special purposeful work that contributes to the formation of professional self-consciousness [4].
In the course of the experimental work the following tasks were solved: 1) a description of the essence, features and stages of the formation of professional self-consciousness of students in the learning process in the university; 2) determination of the basic structural components of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists; 3) selection of diagnostic material for the study of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists; 4) development of a training program for the development of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists in the process of studying at a university.
To test the hypothesis, a set of theoretical and empirical research methods was used. On the basis of the structural and functional components of the formation of professional self-consciousness, we have developed a diagnostic program (Table 1). The diagnostic program is aimed at studying the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness of students-psychologists in the process of studying at the university and includes five psychological methods.
Table 1
The content of the diagnostic program is the study of the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness of psychological students
|
Components |
Methods |
|
Cognitive |
Diagnosis of self-actualization of an individual (A.V. Lazukin in the adaptation of N.F. Kalina) |
|
Emotional |
Diagnosis of the level of empathy (I.M. Yusupov) |
|
The method of diagnosing socio-psychological adaptation of K. Rogers and R. Diamond |
|
|
Motivational-targeted |
The test of meaningful orientations (D.A. Leontiev) |
|
Questionnaire "The level of subjective control" by J. Rotter (adapted by E.F. Bazhin, S.A. Golykina, A. Etkind) |
The purpose of the diagnostic program is to determine the level of the formation of structural and functional components (cognitive, emotional, motivationally-purpose) for students-psychologists, necessary for the successful development of professional self-consciousness. When selecting methods we tried to take into account the positive assessment of the use and reliability of the method according to a number of foreign and Russian researchers; availability of techniques for participants; the possibility of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results.
Results. In the process of ascertaining the stage of the experiment, the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness of fourth-year students was analyzed. The developed diagnostic program allowed to obtain results for each component of the proposed structure of professional self-awareness.
Discussion of the results of the experiment we will begin with a review of data characterizing the cognitive component of professional self-awareness. For the study of the cognitive component, we used the method of self-actualization of an individual (A.V. Lazukin in the adaptation of N.F. Kalina). Analyzing the obtained data on the level of formation of the cognitive component, it can be noted that on the scales of values and self-understanding, average indicators (78% and 70%, respectively) were revealed. This indicates that respondents in general understand and share the values of a self-actualizing person (kindness, truth, beauty, order, justice, self-sufficiency, etc.), they express such qualities as the desire for harmony and healthy relationships. They are not inclined to substitute their own tastes and assessments with external social standards. High scores on the scale of flexibility in communication (71%) indicate the ability of respondents to adequately express themselves in communication, the ability to self-disclosure. There is an orientation to personal communication, avoiding lies and deceit in communicating with others.
Two methods were used to study the emotional component. Results of the technique "Diagnosis of the level of empathy". Yusupova show that respondents have a very high level of empathy (62%). This indicates a developed ability of empathy and a subtle reaction to the feelings and mood of the interlocutor. A very high level of empathy also speaks about the vulnerability of respondents, increased sensitivity and the need for support from outside. Often people with very high levels of empathy are prone to nervous breakdowns.
Of the total number of respondents with a high level of empathy, 27% of the subjects were identified. Such people are sensitive to the problems of others and often tend to forgive others a lot. They are able to show emotional responsiveness, sociability, can easily establish contacts with strangers. They expressed their desire to avoid conflicts and readiness to compromise, even to the detriment of their own interests. They constantly feel the need for social approval of actions and the desire to work in a team. The average level of empathy is revealed in 9% of respondents, which indicates a tendency to rationally evaluate others by their actions, and to a lesser extent trust their impressions. Their emotional manifestations are in most cases under control, and full perception of people is hampered by a slight stiffness of feelings.
According to the results of diagnosing the social and psychological adaptation of K. Rogers and R. Diamond, the respondents had average indicators on the adaptability scale (71%), which indicates a normal ability to adapt and change the ways of thinking and intellectual activity in accordance with the tasks set. On a scale of emotional comfort, high rates were found in 23% of subjects, and average indices - in 64% of respondents, which reflects the predominance of positive emotions and self-confidence in life. The scales "disadaptivity" and "emotional discomfort" do not have a vivid expression and are at the normal level.
Two methods were used to study the motivational-target component: a test of meaning-oriented orientations. Leontief and the questionnaire "The level of subjective control" by J. Rotter, adapted by E.F. Bazhinym, S.A. Golykina, A.M. Etkind.
The analysis of the results of the sense-of-life orientations test shows that respondents have a high level of emotional saturation of life (70%). Respondents lead a rich, interesting and meaningful life. On the scale of satisfaction with self-realization, subjects also show a high level (80%). This suggests that respondents adequately perceive the productivity of their lives, give a correct assessment of their past lives and are ready to realize themselves in the future. Thus, respondents have high satisfaction with self-realization, however, some students have problems with emotional saturation of life.
According to the results of the questionnaire of the level of subjective control, none of the scales is of high severity. Moreover, the internality scale in the field of failures is low (40%). This reflects an undeveloped sense of subjective control in relation to negative situations and events, which manifests itself in a tendency to blame others for various troubles, failures and sufferings. Also, there were revealed reduced indices on the scale of internality in the field of production relations (36%). This indicates that respondents consider their actions not to be important, both within the framework of the organization of production activities, and within the framework of relations within the collective. Respondents are inclined to attribute the greatest importance to external circumstances, comrades in work, leadership, luck or bad luck.
Discussions. The data obtained in the course of the study make it possible to say that the students of the fourth (final) course in the concept of professional activity are increasingly becoming motivated and valuable characteristics. In the professional image of themselves, the students of the 4th year have significant characteristics. They are characterized by a new understanding of their communicative abilities in relation to the profession, i.e. sociability, benevolent attitude to others is considered not as a separate personal quality, but in interrelation with practical activities. Based on the results of the methods, we see that the students of the final year as a whole assess their professional abilities highly, but their real professional achievements are low.
Realizing that the success of the professional work of a psychologist, as in no other profession, is determined primarily by his personal characteristics and the level of the formation of professional self-consciousness, we consider it necessary to organize a special purposeful work to correct and develop the professional representations of students.
In order to form psychological readiness for professional work and the necessary competences for effective solution of future professional tasks, as well as personal self-development and self-improvement, a special training program was developed [3].
The basis of the training is the idea of integrity, unity of professional and personal development of a person. The resulting new emotionally charged information about themselves and others encouraged students to rethink the existing components of the I-concept and helped to form an adequate image of themselves. When organizing the classes, we took into account the youth age of the respondents who already have a certain set of knowledge, ideas, attitudes, values, the attitude to the world, people, tasks, to oneself and life in general, own certain ways of activity. This led to the choice of the personality-activity, humanistic approach to the formation of the personality of the student as a whole and the development of his professional self-awareness, in particular. We did not set ourselves the goal of achieving global transformations of the individual in a short time. For us it was important to gradually realize the students the possibility and necessity of self-knowledge, self-development and self-improvement; strengthening the need to build a positive professional self-concept.
When organizing training sessions with students, the following principles should be observed: the principle of activity, the principle of open feedback, the principle of "here and now," the principle of trust in communication. Compliance with the above principles will allow successfully to solve the organizational tasks of the training.
The training program includes three conceptual blocks. The first block – psychodiagnostic – involves identifying the characteristics of students' professional representations, the patterns of awareness of their ideas about the integrity of the life path and the possible professional future. To achieve this goal, students are invited to answer a series of questions with a subsequent group discussion of the answers. The second block - the motivational one - is aimed at creating a motivating basis for the subject's transition from the everyday, pragmatic to the cognitive attitude to the professional self-concept, to the formation of conscious self-regulation of one's own vital activity. The third block – psychocorrectional - is focused on teaching productive forms of organization of students' life time, actualization of mechanisms of self-knowledge and self-regulation. As a result, at this stage there is an independent nomination by students of goals related to educational and professional interaction, communication; goals of self-regulation of personal and professional development; development goals of an adequate professional self-concept [5].
Conclusion. As a result of the study, it was determined that the period of university training is a productive stage in the development of professional self-consciousness of future psychologists, on the level of which the effectiveness of professional activity depends on the successful completion of training. Professional self-consciousness is an evolving system, and the formation and development of its components is influenced by professional and educational activities in the course of psychological support, which provides the necessary conditions for the development of the personality of a specialist [6].
The obtained results of the conducted research can be reduced to the following conclusions.
References
