Significance of Self-Regulation for the Professional Development of Prospective Teachers
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ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 6 No 5 S1 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy September 2015 Significance of Self-regulation for the Professional Development of Prospective Teachers Guzalia Rasikhovna Shagivaleeva Vilya Rustemovna Bildanova Galia Kamilyevna Biserova Elena Michailovna Yusupova Irina Anatolevna Talysheva Kazan Federal University, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, 423600, Elabuga, Kazanskaya Street, 89 Doi:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s1p128 Abstract The aim of present study is investigating the role of self-regulation in professional development of prospective teachers. Well- developed self-regulation may be defined as a person’s ability to adjust his or hers behavior to the conventional moral principles and values, as well as with professional requirements. Teacher’s self-regulation includes his active relationship with the students and with himself, his social affirmations, experience and interests. It can be concluded that the development of self-regulation basics happens during the period of professional learning, when the personality settlement occurs. Each teacher also discovers and uses his own methods and means of self-regulation during his professional activity, which helps him to affect his emotions and to control and regulate external signs of current psychological state. Keywords: personality and pedagogic self-regulation, moral self-regulation, professional development, professional behavior, self- regulation 1. Introduction 1.1 Psychology of pedagogic self-regulation Significance of present study is related to the fact that modern educational system, due to the occurring humanitarian and democratic tendencies, has extremely high requirements towards personal and professional qualities of the teacher. Such requirements become serious external reasons for teachers’ self-development. This implies the increase of professional culture level, fulfilling the need to change oneself, skills of creative self-development, building one’s professional self- confidence. Self-regulation is a highly significant aspect of a teacher’s professional activity. A young person’s development as a prospective specialist and teacher happens throughout the professional training. Self-regulation of the activity and personality reaches the highest efficiency level during the professional development, i.e. during the period of higher education (Tkacheva, 2010). The period of higher education becomes a basis for prospective professional activity. Studentship has high amounts of emotional experiences, which affects the lifestyle. On the other hand, in this period of life a young person rarely thinks about his health and is certain that his physical and mental resources are unlimited, which therefore may decrease his abilities to relax, rest and sleep. During the studentship years a person uses various means that might not always be health-oriented. Students’ environment provides overloads of all types. However, the future professional develops during this period, and the state of his mental health directly affects the success of his learning activity and lifestyle, which is very significant for the society (Mensh, 2012). The success in prospective pedagogical activity, which can be reached only in the state of general satisfaction with one’s own personality and professional achievements, highly depends on the ability of a prospective teacher to regulate his professional behavior, professional activity and personality characteristics. Self-regulation - (from Latin regulare - to regulate, put in order) - is generally an influence on a system with the aim of maintaining necessary measures of its operation, which is provided by internal changes of the system according to the laws of its organization (Dushkov et al., 2005). Significant impact on solving the problems of self-regulation was made by the scientists, who explored this phenomenon in various types of activity. For example, B.F. Lomov noted that “by 128 ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 6 No 5 S1 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy September 2015 studying the activity, psychology reveals the mechanisms of psychological regulation of this activity, i.e. it reveals the processes, which provides the activity compliance with its object, means and conditions” (Lomov, 1984). 1.2 Personality and pedagogic self-regulation Personality and pedagogic self-regulation is defined as a whole, unified psychological and behavioral characteristic, which presents as an ability to reflect, to conduct integral analysis and probability prognosis of one’s own activity. It includes the behavior itself, self-analysis, self-control, self-correction of the actions in accordance with social standards, values and behavioral norms. Personality and pedagogic self-regulation is also studied in context of pedagogic culture theory as one of its basic components, along with the other components. L.V. Zanina and E.N. Mashtakova describe pedagogic culture as an integral system of humanitarian pedagogic values, creative means of pedagogic activity and of professional pedagogic behavior, all of which are based on the potential of constant professional and personal life-long self-development and self-education. They describe the following components of this system: 1. Humanistic pedagogic position, which includes the initial individual position, systems of moral beliefs, creative and reflexive components. Each of these characteristics has its own structure and determines various aspects of teacher’s personality professional self-realization. 2. Professional and personality qualities of the teacher, such as empathy, tolerance, creativity, ability to reflect. 3. Tolerance presents as a personality trait in relation to beliefs, affirmations, points of view, positions and actual behavior of different people. 4. Creativity is the readiness to productively re-think the main professional activity fields. The significance of teacher’s creativity is defined by the wide variety of innovations and great amount of alternative pedagogic systems. Teacher’s participation in pedagogic creativity is described as “the most effective factor” in the characteristic of his pedagogic culture level. 5. Ability to reflect is the skill of the conscience to focus on itself and observe itself as an object, which has its own specific activity and knowledge. 6. Professional knowledge is a high level of theoretic generalization and implication to the standard situations (Zanina, 1994). Humanitarian and democratic tendencies in social processes, happening in the society and in school, determine the predominant need to address the internal processes and resources, personality potential of the teacher (Bildanova, Shagivaleeva, 2009). The need in teacher’s well-integrated and creative personality, which successfully adjusts its affirmations and transforms itself, is currently growing. This makes teacher’s self-development and professional self-realization the key problem in improving his professional culture level (Nemov, 2004). Thus, pedagogic activity success of prospective teacher depends on the level of development of his personality and pedagogic self-regulation, which is the teacher’s regulation of his own opportunities in accordance with the professional activity requirements (Baranova, 2008). 1.3 Moral self-regulation Personality self-regulation is the adjustment of one’s behavior in accordance with social and professional moral regulations. The most efficient personality phenomenon of behavior self-regulation is moral categories. Moral self- regulation is a process, which defines personality's ability to adjust its behavior to conventional moral regulations and professional requirements. This implies that the person actively sorts the influences of the social environment and determines his own attitude towards them. Self-regulation is not limited to the choice of single actions, it also consists of personality self-settlement. In order to provide this, personality has a multi-level system of internal mechanisms or processes, which happen in its moral conscience and provide a robust link between external requirements, presented as social and professional moral regulations, and the behavior. The person regulates his activity and behavior through reflection and experiencing of these regulations. Considering the above-stated, we also highlight the significance of internal factors stimulation for the development of moral self-regulation abilities and of the internal processes, necessary for teacher’s personality self-regulation. These factors include empathy, decision-making, freedom of choice in behavior, actions, reflection, self-analysis and self- esteem, mental correction of one’s own states and behavior. Teacher’s moral self-regulation consists of voluntary drive to compare his actions, intentions and interests with the interests, actions and intentions of his students and to encourage himself to act upon their interests. During his mentoring 129 ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 6 No 5 S1 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy September 2015 activity the teacher has to resolve occurring situations, which are impossible to predict and, consequently, it is impossible to model all ways to resolve them. Due to this fact, it is highly significant for the teacher to develop the ability to creatively imply the basic moral regulations in various conflict-solving situations and to adjust those regulations