Pedagogical university student: life and professional prospects: Monograph.

While studying at a university, the foundation for a future career is laid, the student enters into new contacts, and gains experience in professional interaction. The requirements for a modern graduate of a pedagogical university are quite high.

All skills are divided into two categories.

The ability to learn is an important component of the teaching profession. Today, the rate of knowledge becoming obsolete is higher than before, so it requires constant updating. The ability to learn is manifested in the ability to organize one’s time, plan and control one’s educational work, organize the search for necessary information, choose appropriate methods, and establish mutual cooperation. It is also the ability to make decisions regarding one’s own learning process and self-motivation.

The educational process at the university includes theoretical and practical classes. Theoretical classes include mainly lectures, practical classes include seminars, workshops, laboratory work and educational or industrial practice. You should not underestimate the importance of lectures and try to master the material on your own. The teacher can choose the right material and present it in the required context.

Studying at a pedagogical university gives you the opportunity to find yourself immediately inside the pedagogical process. At the same time, acting simultaneously as an object and subject of pedagogical activity. The learning process at a pedagogical university is at the same time a moment of teaching practice. Here there is an opportunity to analyze the educational process not just from the point of view of an ordinary student, but also from a professional position.

Sources of self-education

It is important in the learning process to expand the number of sources of self-education by attracting external resources. External resources in this case include traditional ones: books, periodicals, mass media, distance self-education.

The second source is research activities. In the process of studying the surrounding world, the future teacher organizes his knowledge and forms a personal pedagogical style, professional and personal worldview. There are many opportunities for research activities at a pedagogical university. Research activities increase the level of self-education and help in finding like-minded people.

The third source of systematic self-education is training in various courses. These could be shorthand courses, foreign language learning, public speaking courses, and so on.

Work can be an additional source of self-education. During your studies, there is a great opportunity to try yourself in various activities and take on different professional roles. Students of pedagogical universities can engage in tutoring, work as nannies or counselors, and do linguistic translations.

The surrounding reality is the fifth source of self-education, which includes events happening around; people with whom communication takes place, their knowledge and experience. You need to learn how to transform information from the outside world into something useful for yourself, and pass it through a professional prism. This approach develops reflexive skills and helps to develop your own model of behavior in similar situations. Teamwork skills are of particular importance for teachers. It includes:

the ability to involve others to help in your activities;
ability to level out conflicts;
ability to plan your activities;
ability to edit group work;
ability to summarize disparate material.

For a future teacher, another source of self-education is very important - his hobbies, the so-called “special skills”.

Sometimes students, when entering a university, discard everything that, in their opinion, is “superfluous,” “interfering with their studies,” or “entertaining.” But in vain. An additional area of activity that is not directly related to professional self-education is extremely necessary for a teacher. Why is it important to have a broad outlook rather than a narrow one? First of all, to increase your own authority in the eyes of future students and colleagues. If you sing well, or love scuba diving, or know how to play chess, or cross-stitch luxurious landscapes, this experience can also be useful to your students, because they, like you yourself, always want to communicate with an interesting person who can teach them something. something new in addition to the school curriculum. Therefore, no matter how passionate you are about achieving professional heights, do not forget to develop in other directions!

Conclusion

We can conclude that studying at a pedagogical university provides an opportunity to improve professional competence, self-diagnosis and correction skills of both professional and personal qualities, orientation in the educational field and the acquisition of useful connections.

Professional activity of a young teacher

After graduating from a university and receiving a diploma, a professional activity awaits the teacher. New responsibilities await the young teacher. From the very first day of work, he bears the same responsibility as experienced specialists. Entering a specific school environment with special customs and laws that will need to be mastered and accepted. A young specialist will have to combine the role of teacher and student, and listen to the advice of more experienced senior colleagues.

The professional development of a teacher, leading to the achievement of professionalism and pedagogical excellence, is a long, continuous process. You could say this is a lifelong journey. Along this path, certain phases of becoming a professional can be distinguished:

The optant phase is a period of professional determination,
the adept phase is the period of mastering the chosen profession in a vocational educational institution,
the adaptation phase is the period of entry into practical teaching activities,
internal phase – the formation of a teacher as an experienced teacher,
the mastery phase involves the teacher acquiring special qualities, skills or becoming a generalist,
phase of authority - the acquisition of authority and wide fame within one’s circle or beyond, accompanied by the presence of rich teaching experience,
mentoring phase - characterized by the presence of like-minded people, followers, students among colleagues and the opportunity to share experience.

In today's difficult sociocultural situation, there is a contradiction between the increasing demands on the personality and activities of a teacher and the real level of motivational, theoretical and practical readiness of a pedagogical university graduate to implement his professional functions. Resolving this contradiction requires solving a large number of problems from the teacher education system:

transforming the goals of professional training,
improving the structure and content of teacher education,
updating organizational forms and methods.

The monograph is based on the results of a sociological study conducted within the framework of the comprehensive research program of the Russian Open Society "Sociology of Education". The book contains materials from a sociological survey of 1,469 students from pedagogical universities in Moscow. The paper analyzes issues related to the peculiarities of selecting students for a pedagogical university, motivation for obtaining higher pedagogical education, and professional plans of students after graduation. Particular attention is paid to studying students' attitudes to the content of the education they receive. Separate chapters of the monograph are devoted to consideration of issues related to the interaction of students with teachers, combining study and work, and participation in research activities. The materials obtained during the sociological survey are analyzed regarding the influence of gender, age and social stratification factors. The book is addressed to specialists in the field of pedagogy, psychology, sociology and cultural studies, workers in the system of higher pedagogical education. The materials of this monograph can be used in training students of pedagogical, sociological and psychological faculties of universities, and in advanced training courses for educational workers.

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The second important indicator indicating the family’s “investment” in the child’s education is the students’ assessment of the level of school education received. The survey results show that students of technical universities, in comparison with students of pedagogical universities, are more satisfied with the level of their pedagogical university school preparation, believing that “the knowledge acquired at school was quite sufficient for entering a university” (33.8%, respectively). and 22.7%, p=.0001). Let us note that the answer to this question significantly differentiates graduates of specialized schools, lyceums and gymnasiums who entered pedagogical and technical universities. These data are shown in Figure 2. As can be seen from the data shown in the figure, among those students of pedagogical and technical universities who graduated from general education, Figure 1 V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko Student Distribution of students of pedagogical and technical universities by type of school they graduated from before entering the university (%) Figure 2 Opinions of graduates of different types of schools about the sufficiency of the knowledge they received at school for entering a university (%) 12th school, almost the same share (only every fifth) who positively assess the quality of the school knowledge they received. A different situation arises when comparing the responses of graduates of specialized schools, lyceums and gymnasiums. Graduates of these institutions who entered technical universities, significantly more often than those who entered pedagogical universities, believe that the knowledge they received at school was “quite enough for admission to the chosen university.” On the one hand, these differences may indicate that the level of education of lyceums, gymnasiums and specialized schools that students of technical universities graduated from is significantly higher than that of students of pedagogical universities. On the other hand, another explanation is also legitimate: students of specialized schools, lyceums and gymnasiums who are weaker in their academic performance ultimately turn out to be students of V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko Student of pedagogical universities. 1.2 type of school education received and academic performance at a university Of particular interest is the question of the influence of the type of education received at school on academic performance while studying at a university. The results obtained during the survey show that studying in a particular type of school has an impact on the academic performance of a student at a pedagogical university. for example, among students who graduated from secondary school, 34.4% have a high level of academic achievement when studying at a university (they study with straight A’s); among those who graduated from special schools, the share of excellent students is 40.9%, and among graduates of lyceums and gymnasiums - 41.2% (p = .03). Let us note that among students of technical universities, no significant differences in academic performance were found depending on the type of educational institution they graduated from before entering the university: the share of “excellent students” among those who graduated from secondary school is 28.3 %, special school - 29.7%, lyceum or gymnasium - 33.7%. This gives grounds to conclude that the enrollment of students from general education schools into technical universities is carried out more strictly, since in terms of their academic performance at the university they do not differ from graduates of special schools, lyceums and gymnasiums. At the same time, the question arises about how long-lasting the effectiveness of the type of education received during school years is. For this purpose, we will compare the academic performance of students in the 1st, 3rd and 5th years of pedagogical universities who graduated from different types of schools. The analysis shows that significant differences in academic performance appear only between first-year students who graduated from secondary schools and lyceums (gymnasiums). Thus, among students who graduated from general education higher educational institutions, the share of “excellent” students in the 1st year is 26.0%, and among those who graduated from lyceums and gymnasiums - 35.1% (p = .03). Accordingly, among graduates of secondary schools there is a noticeably higher percentage of “C” students than among graduates of lyceums and gymnasiums: 15.2% and 8.1% (p=.02). We emphasize that in older years (3rd and 5th years) such differences no longer appear. Thus, the data presented show that training in specialized types of educational institutions (such as lyceums, gymnasiums) is a very significant contribution (“social capital”) of V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko A student at the initial stages of studying at a pedagogical university. further academic performance depends on other factors. In general, the presented materials allow us to conclude that recruitment into the teaching profession already at the stage of obtaining higher pedagogical education is focused on weaker social groups (compared to technical universities) both by the educational status of parents and those who enter pedagogical universities , and according to the level of their school preparation. 1.3 tutoring as a mechanism for social selection into a university, in addition to the analysis of data on the influence of school specialization on admission to a university (comparison of the student population of secondary schools, special schools, lyceums and gymnasiums), materials concerning other forms of special training for admission to university. for example, among students of pedagogical universities, 23.9% indicated that when preparing for entrance exams to a university, they “did not have enough knowledge acquired at school, and they were forced to study with a tutor” (note that almost this The same percentage of those who chose this answer option was found among students of technical universities - 19.9%). At the same time, it is important to emphasize that among those who studied with a tutor, almost every second student studied with a tutor from this particular university - 39.7%. recalculation of these data relative to the total number of students studying at a pedagogical university shows that almost every tenth student studied with a tutor from this university upon admission to it. 14 Assessing these results, we emphasize that today the attitude towards tutoring in society is clearly ambiguous. Tutoring is considered both as a form of additional in-depth education, and as a form of special training that increases the chances of successfully passing entrance exams, and, finally, as a hidden form of bribery at a pedagogical university. It is precisely the last moment that is recorded as a clearly negative social phenomenon that deforms the higher education system. If in this regard we turn to the answers of students to a special question about bribes when entering a university (“Have you encountered the phenomenon of bribery when entering your university?”), then the results obtained show that the answer is positive (“this was personally related to me") were given by relatively few - 3.4%. However, among those who encountered the phenomenon of bribery when entering a university, the share of those who indicated the classes of V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko A student with a tutor from this particular university turns out to be extremely high and amounts to 70.8%. This allows us to draw a fairly unambiguous conclusion that tutoring with a teacher at the university to which the applicant is admitted is indeed considered a special form of bribe. Let us note that the data presented allow us to substantiate the conclusion that within the very institutional organization of the higher education system there are special “gray” funding mechanisms that act as significant factors in blocking attempts to introduce a unified state exam precisely as a social mechanism that democratizes admission opportunities to the university. Let us add that this trend is characteristic not only of pedagogical universities. for example, in technical universities the trend is the same, but not so pronounced (16.6% of those who encountered bribes studied with tutors from this university). The lower percentage in technical universities is quite understandable, since, as we showed above, these universities receive a stronger contingent of applicants than pedagogical universities. It is characteristic that of those students who encountered the phenomenon of bribery when entering a university, every fifth (19.1%) records that situations of bribery arise personally for them at subsequent stages of their studies at the university. This allows us to complement the previous conclusion: the existing “gray” schemes and mechanisms for selection into universities have long-term negative consequences, since admission through bribes is not only a factor in the low performance of these students, but also deforms the general moral and ethical atmosphere of the educational process at the university . Continuing the analysis, it should be noted that a comparison of the answers of two groups of students (those who studied and did not study with a tutor before entering the university) did not reveal any significant differences in the level of material security of their parental family. at the same time, differences in the educational status of parents were clearly significant. so, in particular, among those who studied with a tutor, the proportion of those whose parents have higher education is noticeably higher (among those who studied with a tutor, 69.4% of the mother had a higher education, and among those who did not engage - 55.2%, p=.0001; respectively, father - 75.3% and 57.5%, p=.0001). Thus, at a pedagogical university, a lesson with a tutor can be considered as a special strategy for parents with higher education to support their child. in other words, for parents with higher education this is a kind of “insurance” against the threats associated with downward educational mobility. In this regard, it is important to note that another form of special preparation for entering a university, which is associated with classes at preparatory courses, turns out to be more preferable for children from families with an average educational status of parents (among those, V.S. Sobkin, O. V. Tkachenko Student who took preparatory courses, the share of children with a secondary education of the mother is 43.5%, and among those who did not study - 38.0% p=.02, respectively, the father - 42.4% and 35; .4%, p=.003). Thus, we see that different forms of preparing a child for entering a university turn out to be oriented towards different social strata: classes with a tutor are more typical for families with higher education, and classes at preparatory courses for families with an average level of education. Perhaps the greater focus of families with a higher level of education on tutoring services is associated not only with the individual nature of the child’s preparation (as opposed to classes in preparatory courses), but also with the fact that parents with higher education more easily establish individual contact with university teachers (one might say about special information and social networks serving the process of enrolling a child in a university). in other words, here we document the role of social stratification factors in establishing special social contacts between parents and representatives of the field of higher education. 1 Chapter 2 motivation for obtaining higher pedagogical education at a pedagogical university In addition to analyzing objective social factors influencing recruitment into the teaching profession, it is important to consider subjective ones. Here, first of all, we should highlight issues related to the motivation for obtaining higher pedagogical education. At the same time, we note that the study of the features of V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko The student's motivation for entering a university is a traditional subject of sociological research on students. Among them, three directions can be roughly distinguished. One of them is related to the study of changes in motivation for obtaining higher education at different stages of constructing professional plans. for example, in the study by L.Ya. Rubina paid special attention to comparing the stages of young people choosing a particular specialty and choosing a specific university. The results obtained confirmed one of the author’s main hypotheses that the initial stage of the formation of professional plans is associated not so much with the choice of profession, but with the occupation of a certain social position - obtaining a higher education: “in other words, the professional plan is determined by the social plan and the choice of profession is carried out already in within the framework of work of the most preferred nature” (Rubina L.Ya., 1981, p. 87). Moreover, it is characteristic that the influence of the “social plan” is also manifested in differences in the motives for choosing a university of a particular profile. for example, according to data conducted by L.Ya. Rubina's survey, students of a pedagogical university, compared with students of polytechnic and medical universities, were significantly less likely to note that the reason for entering the university for them was “an interesting job in the future” (respectively: 36.4%, 52.0% and 50.0 %). Let us add that, in addition to this, students of the pedagogical university less often noted two more motives: “the demand for specialists in this profile” and “following family tradition.” Thus, in sociological studies conducted in the 1970s, significant aspects related to the choice of the teaching profession were recorded: the lower meaningful attractiveness of the teaching profession, its lower social status, and the lack of expression of socio-psychological attitudes among youth to reproduce family labor traditions when choosing this profession. This indicates that already in the 1970s a characteristic set of problems emerged, allowing us to speak about the ineffectiveness of the social policy pursued by the state in relation to the formation of teachers as a professional group. Another direction of sociological research is related to the study of problems characteristic of pedagogical universities, which are based on the conflict between the desire of students to receive a higher education at a pedagogical university and at the same time their reluctance to work directly at school after graduating from a pedagogical university. This problem manifested itself quite clearly in monitoring studies of Krasnoyarsk sociologists studying the motivation of applicants when entering a pedagogical university (Gendin A.M., Sergeev M.I., Drozdov N.I. et al., 1999). Indicative in this regard is the dynamics of changes in the share of those respondents who are focused on working at school after graduation: in 1992 - 31.0%, and in 1999 - only 14.0%. It should be noted that this trend is meaningfully correlated with V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko Student and with objective indicators. for example, if in the 1980s the wages of workers in the education sector were approximately the same as in industry, communications, construction and the financial sector, then in the early 1990s there was a significant stratification of wage levels in these sectors of the economy: wages in the fields of finance, credit, and insurance increase sharply, while wages for education workers decrease significantly. This trend continues today. if in the 1970s, wages in industry were 112% of the average wage in the economy; in the field of finance - 97%, in the field of education - 90%, then in 2003 the ratio is as follows: in the field of industry - 117%, in the field of finance - 127%, and in the field of education - 62% (Russian Statistical Yearbook , 2004). and, finally, the third direction of research is related to the analysis of the dynamics of changes in motivation for obtaining higher education at different stages of study at a university. in particular, in the study by Yu.R. Vishnevsky, L.N. Bannikova and Y.V. Didkovskaya (2000), based on a survey of students from various universities in the Sverdlovsk region, identified characteristic features of changes in the motivation of third-year students, both in relation to the specification of their professional plans, and in relation to their satisfaction with the quality of education and professional specialization. Taking into account the results of the studies listed above, in our work we place the main emphasis on studying the substantive features of changes in motivation at the stage of initial professionalization, that is, throughout the entire period of study at a pedagogical university. At the same time, it is important for us not only to trace the dynamics of changes in the significance of certain individual motives that encourage a student to study at a university, but also to identify those structural changes in motivation that allow us to consider them as a manifestation of a kind of crisis in educational activity. In this regard, by the way, the analysis of differences in motivation 1 for learning among students with different levels of academic performance is of particular interest. It is clear that in the course of the analysis it will also be important for us to identify the role of gender and social stratification factors in differentiating the importance of certain motives for studying at a teacher training university. These are classic plots of sociological analysis. pedagogical university 2.1 influence of gender and social stratification factors V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko Student, to study the characteristics of changes in motivation that determines the acquisition of a teaching profession, we asked respondents a special question, where various motives were proposed as answer options, which characterize: pragmatic orientations associated with professional prospects, the desire for personal development , orientations that determine social success, etc. The results of answers to this question are shown in Table 2. As can be seen from the data given in the table, external motives associated with the social environment (“approval of others,” “parental demands,” “traditions”) families”) are clearly not relevant and are noted by a small percentage of the students surveyed. in general, Table 2. Distribution of answers to the question about the motives for studying at a pedagogical university (%) General Boys Girls P= Desire to become a specialist in a certain field 61.5 46.0 61.7 .0001 For the purpose of self-development 44.1 42 .0 42.6 Desire to gain new knowledge 38.3 34.8 37.3 Desire to obtain a diploma of higher education 34.6 29.9 34.0 Desire to obtain a certain social status after graduation 31.1 21.4 31.5 . 001 The desire to simply get a well-paid job 20.5 24.6 19.0 .02 The profession I have chosen requires higher education 17.1 15.2 16.7 Family tradition 5.0 6.7 4.5 The desire to avoid service in the armed forces 4.4 28.6 0.1 .0001 Parents’ demands 3.5 4.0 3.2 The desire to gain the approval of others 1.4 2.7 1.2 substantive motives play a dominant role: “the desire to become a specialist”, “the desire to self-development”, “the desire to gain new knowledge” and motives associated with social achievements (“obtaining a diploma of higher education”, “obtaining a certain social status after graduation”). Pedagogical university, the data presented in Table 2 record very characteristic gender differences. for example, the external motive “the desire to avoid serving in the armed forces” turns out to be very significant among young men and occupies the fifth position among them in its rating, clearly ahead of such motives as “the desire to obtain a certain social status after graduation”, “the desire to get a well-paid job” and “the desire to obtain higher education in connection with the chosen profession.” in principle, studying at a university as a way for young men to obtain a deferment from military service is a fact by V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko A famous student. And yet, the extent of the prevalence of this motive among male students of a pedagogical university is striking, where every fourth person mentions it. In addition, the motivation associated with the desire to get a well-paid job is more typical for young men. in other words, traditionalist gender attitudes play an important role in determining the motives for obtaining higher professional education, when financial support for the family acts as a characteristic function of a man’s social role position. In this case, it is interesting that such motivations are updated by young men even in relation to a field of activity where the level of wages is significantly lower than in other industries. Compared to boys, girls are significantly more likely to mention such motives as “the desire to become a specialist in a given field” and “the desire to obtain a certain social status after graduating from university.” On the one hand, this indicates that the teaching profession itself is more often considered by girls as an acceptable field of professional activity specifically for women. in this regard, this type of motivation meaningfully correlates with the general trends in the feminization of the teaching profession, which, by the way, manifests itself already at the stage of primary professionalization, since the percentage of girls in teacher training universities is significantly higher than that of boys. On the other hand, the motive associated with the desire to obtain a certain social status allows us to conclude that obtaining a higher pedagogical education for girls also acts as a factor ensuring upward vertical social mobility. Moreover, it is characteristic that it is girls from families with lower educational status of parents who more often record “the desire to obtain a diploma of higher education” as the leading motive for studying. Among them, every second (44.5%) points to this motive, and in terms of its importance it takes the second rank position in the general hierarchy of their motives. 20 pedagogical university V.S. Sobkin, O.V. Tkachenko Student Figure 3 the importance of motives for obtaining higher pedagogical education among girls from families with high and low educational status of parents (%) but for girls with higher education parents, along with the motive “the desire to become a specialist,” directly substantive motives of educational activity dominate: “the desire for self-development” and “gaining new knowledge.” In addition, among girls with higher education parents, the proportion of those who indicate such a motive for learning as “family traditions” is quite high. in this regard, it can be assumed that this motive captures not so much the reproduction of the teaching profession, but acts as a motive determined by a peculiar form of “protection” of social status, when obtaining a pedagogical education acts as a way to “stay” in a certain social stratum (a stratum with a high level of education). The noted differences in the motivations for studying at a pedagogical university among girls from families with secondary and higher education parents are shown in Figure 3. 2.2 the influence of academic performance Let us now consider the connection between the motivation for obtaining a higher pedagogical education and the academic performance of students. The motives for which statistically significant differences were identified between “excellent” and “C” students are shown in Table 3.

School teachers have power that prime ministers can only dream of, said British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. It would seem that power is a sweet pill that the most ambitious strive for. What's really going on? How many people dream of becoming a school teacher? Do school teachers have the status of the powers that be, do they carry an aura of prestige?

We couldn’t resist and decided to talk to several students from various pedagogical universities in our country. We asked them about teaching, about their own school experience, about what their alma mater teaches them and what they think about Russian education.

They have the floor.

I'm now in my fifth year (thank all Gods that it's my last). I will look for another job where I can apply the knowledge I have acquired over these five years, or, as a last resort, I will engage in creativity. For example, I really love handicrafts.

In my opinion, teachers now have fewer rights than students. All that a teacher has the right to do is to at least motivate children to study.

But what if the child doesn’t want to study and the parents give up on him?

Nothing will help here: neither kick you out of class, nor give you a bad grade for bad behavior, nor scold you. Children understand this themselves, they become impudent and spit in their eyes. There is no such thing in private and elite schools, but in ordinary average schools there is real chaos.

The federal state educational standard is a little crazy; practicing teachers themselves say that this system is simply a utopia - good in theory, but extremely difficult to implement. What does the Federal State Educational Standard mean? The student is at the center of learning. The teacher pushes away from the student. The student wants to move on. Where have you seen a dozen students with a burning zeal for learning? Only a few. In such a case, the teacher must create a conducive learning atmosphere in which, ideally, children will suddenly develop a desire to learn.

But in practice, it turns out that the tools that were provided to the teacher for the implementation of the Federal State Educational Standards force them to prepare for only one lesson for at least a couple of hours (even for an experienced teacher). This system is not only not ideal, it works poorly. And many teachers and educators are simply waiting for new changes in the education system when a new broom comes.

I entered the pedagogical school simply because there were many budget places and there was no excitement. Back in the 9th grade, I decided that I would study philology: I always liked reading and that’s why I chose literature - you can create there, and, of course, I love the Russian language, its history, brevity and at the same time breadth. When I entered and studied for a year, I proudly realized that there is absolutely no corruption in our faculty. Our teachers do not take bribes and always ask not to bring flowers to the exam. I understand it this way: firstly, they are writers and Russian scholars, and such people cannot be spiritually uneducated. After all, bribery is low and disgusting. Secondly, many of us are middle-aged and older, that is, they were raised in the USSR, and then they raised real conscientious, honest members of society.

In the 4th year we went out for practice, at first it was passive, that is, we listened and then analyzed the teachers’ lessons, and then there was active practice, in which we tried ourselves as teachers. The first active practice was practice in Russian, all students take it in the middle level (grades 5-8), in the 5th year, at the beginning of the year, there was practice in literature in the senior level (grades 10-11). Everyone had a lot of impressions from the practices, well, that’s natural.

It’s a great feeling when people address you by your first and patronymic names.

In fact, I am a vocal teacher, vocal artist, performer of folklore works, Russian romances and original works of the 19th-20th centuries, and director of a folk choir.

I developed an interest in music as a child. I performed very well in the school choir, so the music teacher advised my parents to send me to a music school and I entered a piano class. To be honest, I still can’t imagine how it’s possible to teach piano correctly: you either learn the pieces or you don’t, and the teacher only corrects your playing.

I never spent more than two or three hours at school. A couple of times a week I went to a specialty that was still of some use, once to a choir, where there were either military songs or children’s songs, which, as for me, everyone was already tired of.

I have nothing against military or children's songs, moreover, I really love some, but how boring it is to sing them. Well, why perform “Darkie” for the hundredth time? The repertoire is very narrow, as a rule, something modern is missing. As a result, I subsequently abandoned the choir altogether and went to study pop-jazz vocals. Once a week I went to solfeggio and musical literature classes. Need I mention that they were taught no less boringly: a dry presentation of facts. I could barely sit through class. And I'm not the only one. I assure you, absolutely no one was interested in listening to all this.

In general, the educational process was incredibly boring, and soon it became unbearable. From that moment on, I constantly skipped classes and came up with some incredible stories about why I missed them: I got stuck in the elevator, was late at school, flew to the moon, so I missed class, Zhanna Vladimirovna.

I remember that from school we sometimes went to competitions, even abroad. True, we often had to pay for it ourselves, but this suited everyone. In general, competitions are a useful thing for developing yourself as a future concert artist, but I still don’t like competitions. It seems to me that creativity is not a sport and there is no need to be the first. I prefer festivals.

They weren’t allowed to play anything modern, we don’t develop this kind of direction at all, they constantly slip in Bach and Mozart. What I liked most was composing my own music, and not performing classical etudes for the hundredth time.

All I had to do was come to terms with it, but I never rebelled, I didn’t beg to let me play something modern or original in the exam, I just reluctantly did what I was told, and at home I composed a variation on the theme of the work.

In general, if we talk about music school in Russia, I can see several main problems.

Firstly, this is the lack of an adequate theory of teaching music to children and (or) people who can present the material to them in an interesting way. I think it would be right to give children more of modern music (even popular, mass music), and then consistently move on to the classics, to more complex things. At my music school, no one needs you to be interested. Teachers dryly present information and wait for a response that simply doesn’t come from anywhere; it’s difficult to perceive knowledge that is conveyed to you using the methods “I told you, even if it’s not interesting, even if without any hint of creative activity, your job is to learn.”
Secondly, the total lack of musical taste among teachers, as a result of which the students lack it. Don't be surprised if you see a person who can play the piano brilliantly, but at the same time listen to second-rate, mediocre music. I'm not kidding. This happens even in institutes, schools and colleges. It's everywhere. And this is the worst thing, that such people - musicians - simply have monstrous musical taste and are completely incapable of properly analyzing music. It seems to me that a music school should be a pioneer in educating children with good musical taste, but if even the teachers don’t have it, then it’s just nuff said (sic).
Thirdly, there is a huge lack of modern music in the programs of classical music schools. And this also comes from a lack of musical taste and knowledge about modern music. People have a very narrow circle of knowledge when talking about modern musical art. It is difficult for them to perceive something new; there are many conservatives among musicians. It is easier for them to borrow Bach from the library than to download the sheet music of some modern composer from the Internet (and they have no idea about these composers). What to do about it? Don't know. You can’t instill musical taste and the habit of analyzing music in everyone.

I chose this university because it is close to home, and I chose this major because I didn’t want to receive only a linguistic education. It seems to me that finding a job will be more difficult, but together with a teaching job, it’s what I need; I definitely won’t be left without a job. Those who know English and can teach will not be left without a crust of bread in the next thirty years.

Now I'm doing tutoring, but before that I had practice experience in elementary school. My impressions there were positive, everyone at the elementary school was so obedient and nice, except that there was too much paperwork: reports, lesson scripts, portfolios... I was tired of it. When I went to the internship, I thought I would take a break from studying, but it turned out the opposite - when it ended, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Yesterday I tried to explain to my younger brother, a fourth-grader, a topic in English that they are currently studying. Something dawned on him, but he is an excellent student. It turns out that since he did not master this material, then neither did the majority in the class. Nowadays, many parents resort to the services of tutors because their children do not understand and do not perform well in English lessons at school.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this is how I see education in our country today: English is taught incorrectly in our schools. A teacher cannot teach a child to speak a language fluently in 2 hours a week. Even if this is a very talented, intelligent and child-loving teacher and capable student. The result is logical: the average secondary school graduate cannot use the language after 9-10 years of study!

For the same reason, it is too early to make English a compulsory subject - most students will fail it, and poor teachers will simply go crazy.

As far as I know, there is no single methodology for teaching English, such as, for example, in the Soviet Union, now in Russia. As a teacher, I consider learning English not a purely personal matter, but a completely natural part of modern education. Undoubtedly, it is better to study a language in a language environment, where it happens faster. Plus, we must not forget that everything in a person’s life depends on himself. Many people make up for their lack of natural ability through hard work. They may not be super talented, but hard work sometimes helps them achieve even greater results. Therefore, I think that you should not shift responsibility to others if something doesn’t work out for you.

Our educational programs must change. Universities cannot yet prepare a professional, since they provide students only with educational competencies, not professional ones, and the diploma indicates the level of educational qualification without reference to professional activity. It is necessary to adjust programs to the requirements of a specific labor market.

Or, for example, in the process of mastering an educational program, a student needs to study compulsory disciplines and choose elective courses, at his own discretion, gaining the required number of credits (a term that is used in modern Western education systems and denotes assessment of knowledge). The question is, why can't I study more than the amount of credits?

It would also be great to involve people who have successfully proven themselves in the profession and achieved success in conducting seminars, so that they share their experience. Basic knowledge, of course, is necessary, but life changes and students need a modern vision of the areas of their future activities. It is difficult to do this within the framework of practice, since workers do not have obvious benefits and time to devote students to work.

I would introduce more focused electives, for example, how to pay taxes, how to register an inheritance, etc. Etiquette is required. I would also like to give students an additional specialty that would help them get settled in life, in case they are unable to find a job in their main specialty.

Also, students cannot work full time, so meals and office supplies could be free.

Soviet education was considered the best in the world, I don’t know whether it was worth lowering its level to European. Take, for example, the Bologna system, which our country joined in 2003. On the one hand, it helped create a unified educational space for us and European countries, and now graduates of our country can study abroad. On the other hand, huge amounts of money were spent to modernize our higher education system, which, in my opinion, did not live up to expectations. And we must not forget that the Bologna system sets very stringent requirements for the process and content of education, as a result of which students’ motivation to learn has decreased, and teachers have been placed within strict limits.

Because of the Bologna system, our employers still do not understand the correspondence of degrees; for them, a bachelor's degree is an incomplete higher education.

At one time, there was a lot of talk about equating a bachelor's degree with a secondary specialized one, although supporters of this system claim that the levels of education (bachelor's, master's, postgraduate) are completely market-oriented. But in reality, employers are not sufficiently informed about the levels of specialist training.

The main responsibility of any teacher is to create a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom, otherwise it will not be possible to convey information clearly. Whether the student uses this knowledge is his own business. If a student does not have high expectations for himself and his studies, he usually ends up with C marks in his diploma and, I think, in this case the teacher is not responsible for this. At school the situation is a little different. Teachers have more responsibility for children, since this is still compulsory education. Adults come to universities for additional knowledge, and they decide for themselves how and in what form they will receive it.

In my opinion, grades in a diploma are important if a person wants to continue studying abroad. For example, in Germany there are very high passing scores for a diploma obtained in Russia, and there is generally only one highest score. That is, a person who has a bachelor’s or master’s degree with C grades will not be able to study abroad. In Russia, everything is different, our employers do not pay much attention to grades; work experience, knowledge of the language, computer skills, and communication style are important to them.