The problem of understanding the essence of professional duty is the subject of study by representatives of different fields of scientific knowledge. But most of all, it worries philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and educators. Let's try to understand the concept and role of professional duty, arguments confirming its social significance.
Terminology features
It is unlikely that a unified interpretation of the concept of “professional duty” can be derived. Representatives of different fields of activity have their own vision of its significance. Nevertheless, some common symptoms can be identified. Let us turn to the dictionary of S. I. Ozhegov. In it, the concept of “duty” is equated with the term “duty”. The word is defined as a certain set of actions assigned to the subject and required to be performed.
In the framework of ethics, duty involves the transformation of the requirements of morality into the personal task of the individual. It is formed taking into account its status and the conditions in which it currently resides.
In philosophical literature, emphasis is placed on the social nature of debt, its subjective and objective features are revealed, their relationship is determined, the presence of motivating, regulatory, and evaluative functions, the mechanisms of transformation of external requirements into an individual’s personal (internal) beliefs, attitude, motive, need to fulfill certain other actions.
In psychology, the concept is considered in the context of consciousness as an integral psychological structure inherent in a particular personality.
In pedagogy, the concepts of professional duty and responsibility are identified with individual qualities. They are considered as a willingness to carry out pedagogical activities.
As can be seen from the above examples, “professional duty” in the scientific literature is used in different meanings. At the same time, as the analysis of theoretical material shows, in any case we are talking about the real, real embodiment of it in the actions, behavior of people.
The professional duty of a teacher
Relatively recently, reforms of the domestic education system have been passed. As a result, new goals and objectives were set for teachers. They updated the problem of professional debt and professional responsibility.
Today, many questions have accumulated: what is the new education system, how does it function in the teacher’s professional activity, how is it formed, due to which the teacher becomes able to fulfill his duty, etc.
According to many experts, conviction, professional responsibility and duty are among the labor qualities, not personal ones. The fact is that the latter are long-existing characteristics that are manifested in the actions of a person in different situations. This or that quality can characterize an individual to a lesser or greater degree. If we talk about personal characteristics, then they correlate with the limits of their manifestation in different individuals.
Sources of professional debt and teacher responsibility are still attitudes that determine his attitude to his work. They can be considered as a combination of motives, methods, forms of labor behavior. It is through him that the person’s attitude to his profession is realized.
Professionally significant qualities
In general, the concept of "significance" combines the external and internal relation to the subject. In itself, it implies a dialectic of the objective and subjective. In this concept, the main thing in the content of the regulation and motivation of teacher behavior is highlighted and concretized. The personal qualities involved in the process of carrying out pedagogical activities have a significant impact on the effectiveness of work in such key parameters as quality, reliability, productivity.
It must be said that domestic scientists have repeatedly raised the question of the influence of professionally significant personality characteristics on the effectiveness of professional duty, arguments that justify the existence of this dependence.
At different periods of the development of the educational system, the approach to determining the characteristics of the teacher, ensuring the fulfillment of his tasks and goals, changed. Among the key professionally significant qualities were noted:
- wide outlook;
- sociability;
- active attitude to educational activities;
- ability to be creative;
- exactingness to oneself;
- emotional stability;
- value orientations, etc.
Foreign scientists in the course of numerous studies in the process of constructing the personality model of the teacher identified criteria based on which various qualities were selected, which, in turn, served as a basis for determining the effectiveness and success of the teacher. An analysis of the results made it possible to formulate very interesting conclusions. There was some coincidence in the determination of personal qualities by various researchers. However, there was no indication in the compiled lists of a sense of moral and professional duty.
The specifics of the teacher
A study of issues related to the implementation of professional debt shows that it depends not only on the regulatory requirements established in the standards (GEF), qualifications, job descriptions. Equally important is the personal quality of the teacher as a motivational-value attitude to his profession.
The work of the teacher differs from others in that its key goal is to create conditions for the formation and improvement of the personality of other people, to manage the processes of their diverse development with the help of pedagogical tools. An understanding of the significance of this work is expressed as a result in the pedagogical orientation of the person’s personal qualities.
Teacher position
It should be said separately.
One of the key requirements of the teaching profession is the clarity of not only professional, but also social position. It is with their help that the teacher can express himself as a subject of educational activity.
The position of the teacher is formed by a combination of intellectual, emotional-evaluative, strong-willed relations to the environment, pedagogical reality and their work. They are sources of teacher activity. It is determined, on the one hand, by the requirements, capabilities and expectations presented and provided by society. On the other hand, the position of the teacher is determined by his personal, internal sources: motives, goals, value orientations, ideals, worldview, type of activity and civic behavior.
Professional thinking
The social position of a teacher largely determines his attitude to his work. It, in turn, reflects the attitude towards the manifestation of professional duty as a sense of civic responsibility. The effectiveness of its implementation is greatly influenced by such a personal quality as a culture of thinking. It includes the ability to analyze information, self-criticism, independence, speed and flexibility of the mind, memory, observation, etc.
In a practical sense, the culture of pedagogical thinking can be represented in the form of a three-level system:
- Methodological thinking. This is the first level, which is determined by the professional beliefs of the teacher. They allow him to quickly navigate the aspects of educational activity and develop a humanistic strategy.
- Tactical thinking. It allows you to materialize professional ideas into specific technologies of the educational process.
- Operational thinking. It is expressed in the manifestation of creative abilities in the organization of educational activities.
Of paramount importance in the structure of the teacher’s thinking culture is the subject’s awareness of his professional duty. There are a great many examples when a teacher does not understand all the responsibility that lies with him. A teacher is a role model. Therefore, even outside the school walls, no immoral, immoral, corrupting actions are unacceptable, even if they are not specifically aimed at children and look completely harmless. Being a teacher is not an easy task.
Awareness can be achieved by reflection, due to the analysis of the educational process.
Formation of pedagogical duty
An integral education system acts as a means of ensuring the teacher’s readiness to carry out tasks and responsibility for their actions. Currently, pedagogical activity is carried out on the basis of the principles of democratization, continuity, being one of the mechanisms for the formation of individual qualities of students. Given this, many experts believe that the acquisition of a sense of professional duty should have a systematic nature and include 4 components:
- Motivational. It provides the desire, the motivation of the person to fulfill a pedagogical duty.
- Cognitive. It provides the accumulation and systematization of knowledge necessary for the performance of his duty.
- Strong-willed. At the expense of it there is a realization of debt in a specific behavioral act.
- Reflective. It involves self-analysis of the effectiveness of the activities carried out, as well as the difficulties that appear in the process.
Among the above elements, the leading place is occupied by the cognitive element. The knowledge about the consequences of fulfilling or not fulfilling professional duties by a teacher is determined by his motives, emotions, feelings, which are associated with the concept of duty. Awareness of specific ways to implement the tasks, probable difficulties, methods of overcoming them are determined by volitional regulation of the teacher’s behavior in a specific situation. The cognitive component, of course, has a close relationship with other elements. It follows from this that during the training of teachers, the main emphasis must be placed on it.
Features of pedagogical duty
The deeper the teacher realizes his responsibility, the freer he chooses his actions and actions in accordance with moral ideals.
In contrast to the professional duty of persons employed in other fields, pedagogical duty has a number of features:
- The complex of its requirements reflects the interests of all members of society.
- The incentives and motives for taking appropriate action are largely identified.
- The interests of society members merge with the interests of the educator himself. At the same time, the demands made by society on the teacher become his internal motives and motivations.
- The pedagogical duty reflects the moral values that determine the nature of the teacher’s behavior.
The specifics of the implementation of professional debt: examples from life
In pedagogical practice, situations are frequent when teachers try to honestly fulfill their duty, however, due to various circumstances, their results are unequal. As a result, a conflict arises between society and a specific person: society gives a person an unsatisfactory rating. Let's look at a few situations.
Recently, more and more parents are dissatisfied with the work of the teacher. Although the teacher is aware of the requirements of professional duty, he does not want to fulfill them for one reason or another. There is a frankly negative attitude towards teaching. In such situations, it is advisable to apply not only social impact, but also administrative measures.
Very often there is another situation: the teacher knows exactly what the duty is, realizes the need to fulfill the requirements, but he does not have the willpower to work on himself qualitatively and bring all the things started to a logical conclusion. In such cases, the team comes to the rescue. The teacher can be helped by tightening the requirements for him.
It is difficult enough to find a solution to the conflict caused by temporary difficulties that objectively impede the performance of duties. For example, many teachers do not have comfortable housing, some are forced to care for a sick or elderly relative, etc. Nevertheless, as practice shows, in a well-coordinated team there is always a way to solve such problems.
Debt functioning mechanism
One of the key requirements placed by society to a modern teacher is the need for constant replenishment of knowledge. Studies show that duty motivates teachers to work qualitatively to improve their level of professionalism, even if it is limited in time. Fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the teacher requires a high pedagogical culture and skill, efficiency, self-discipline, the ability to find everything necessary for work in an increasing information flow.
conclusions
Professional duty is a certain self-restraint aimed at achieving professional success and personal realization. Defining the essence of this concept, most domestic researchers consider it as an obligatory functionally significant personal quality of a teacher. It reflects the optimal variant of the person’s labor behavior due to requirements arising from the essence of the pedagogical activity itself.
Now you understand the importance of professional duty.