Педагогические науки/2. Проблемы подготовки специалистов.

dr. Šedžiuvienė N.

Šiaulių kolegija

EXPRESSION OF BARRIERS IN ACTIVITY AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF LITHUANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOOLS (COLLEGES) TEACHERS

Annotation

The first colleges have been established upon the desicion of Lithuanian Republic Government in 2000. When establishing them sophisticated institutional accreditation procedures have been carried out, in which foreign experts have participated. Currently there are 13 state and 11 independent non-university schools.

In the Law of Higher Education of the Republic of Lithuania the requirement of college teachers' theoretical-practical competency is especially emphasized.

In order to ensure high professional qualification of college teachers it is necessary to analyse current level of teachers’ competency and conditions for their professional development. It is very important to know what difficulties and stereotypes of pedagogical thinking disturb the improvement process of pedagogues and how to overcome them.

Key words: barriers, competency, professional development, stereotypes.

Relevance of the scientific problem. Difficulties that people face in activity and communication is one of the most complicated problems for contemporary social and humanitarian sciences. Difficulties or the problem of communication barriers, as an object of special investigation, have been analyzed since the second half of the 20^th century, though the phenomenon of perception of difficulties, speech and their interpretation in dialogues or public communication have been discussed in the rhetoric of antique world. In the science of pedagogics most often analyzed are the difficulties that that occur in the interaction of teachers, schoolchildren, lecturers and students, it is striven to find out the difficulties influencing the success or failure of pedagogical activity. Therefore arises a scientific problem: what is the essence of difficulties of college teachers’ pedagogic activity and professional development, can they be perceived as “barriers” negatively influencing activity effectiveness and professional development?

Aim – to reveal the character of pedagogic “barriers”, carry out a educational-diagnostic research and find out what barriers influence college teachers’ activity and professional development.

Methods: analysis of theoretical literature, questionnaire survey in written, contentanalysis.

1 Difficulties in activity and communication as barriers. Difficulties in communication (activity) most often are interpreted as state of “failure” experienced subjectively by the person, which occur: in realization of planned rejection of one’s actions by the communication partner, misperception of the text, misperception of the partner, change of communicative situation. Difficulties appear when terminating, stopping the activity or communication.

Appearance of difficulties in human activity in general and their perception is one of the causes of appearance of problematic situation. Therefore, difficulties in pedagogic activity can be analyzed as the factor of activation of human intellectual activity. According to Markova (1993), positive function of difficulties has two meanings: a) indicative (attraction of teacher’s attention); b) stimulating and mobilizing (activation of teacher’s activity by analyzing difficulties and gaining experience).

Communication “barriers” analyzed in the frame of general psychology interpretation (Povarnicyna, 1987; Zimniaja, 1997) are classified into notional, emotional, cognitive and tactical (Adomanienė, Daukilas, Krikščiūnas, Maknienė, Palujnskienė, 2001). In the sense of activity two communication difficulties’ groups are distinguished: motivational and operational that occur in cognitive, affective and behavior spheres (Povarnicyna, 1987).

Difficulties can be described as a result of deep and wide outside influences. Difficulties occurring in pedagogic communication embrace these spheres: ethnic-social-cultural, status-position-role, individual-psychological and age, activity and interpersonal relations. These spheres cover one another, interact in a solid system “human-environment”, but on purpose of theoretic analysis their effect may be autonomized.

2. Pedagogic activity as a sphere of difficulties. In pedagogic activity difficulties may be raised by the contents of subject, professional-pedagogical skills and didactic competency. The main trends of pedagogical difficulties are ascribed to: 1) the educational process; 2) qualities of a teacher as a subject of educational process; 3) communicational process.

According to Markova (1993) there are three trends of pedagogical difficulties.

The first trend of pedagogical difficulties is in the activity itself and joins:

· Difficulties in formulating and solving pedagogical tasks manifesting as insufficient and inaccurate planning of their activity, underestimation of mistakes that have occurred before and insufficient flexibility. That formalizes the work and reduces students’ interest in process and its results;

· Difficulties of pedagogical impact on the student manifesting through underestimation of a student as a personality. This raises a felling of dissatisfaction and discomfort of both sides.

· Difficulties of teachers’ pedagogical activity that manifest in applying active forms of work prompting cognitive activity of students.

The second trend of pedagogical difficulties is associated with skill to correct one’s actions depending on teacher’s features. These difficulties appear due to the lack of self-control and self-correction.

The third trend of difficulties is ascribed to communicative contact, communication between the teacher and auditorium. Difficulties of pedagogical communication are also called “psychological barriers”. They can be grouped as follows:

· Barriers of fear of auditorium and pedagogical mistake;

· Barriers of attitudes that have formed due to negative experience;

· Barriers of inadequacy of one’s activity and communicative situation formed in performing it.

3. Results of educational investigation of barrier expression in college teachers’ activity. In order to find the expression of barriers in 2008 a research was carried out in Lithuanian colleges (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Marijampolė). 341 teacher has participated in the research. There was no selection of research participants, all college teachers have participated. In the research a questionnaire consisting of 30 questions was applied.

During the research teachers indicated the difficulties experienced in the pedagogical activity (1 e.g.). The angled line distinguishes the answers of one (Šiauliai) college teachers providing a possibility to analyze the results generally in colleges and separately – in one.

1 e. g. Difficulties experienced in professional activity

The most difficult for teachers is to develop positive student’s attitude towards studying (33.43%), work with problematic pupils (21.11%), choose the means of pedagogical impact (14.08%) and to find out the reasons of student’s behavior (14.08). The least problems raises the research of features of various student groups. Comparing Šiauliai college teachers’ difficulties to general difficulties indicated, we can state that teachers of this college find it difficult to develop the positive attitude of students towards studying (37.14%), work with problematic pupils (25.71%) and to research the features of various student groups (14.29%). The other two difficulties – choosing the means of pedagogical impact (8.57%) and finding out the reasons of student’s behavior (8.57%) – for the teachers of this college are easier to overcome than for the teachers of other colleges.

We will describe the sources of negative experience of college teachers that determine appearance of barriers disturbing their personality self-expression and professional development.

Table 1

Type and content of barriers

Barriers, pressure, impact	General		Have experienced			Doubt		Have not experienced
	N	%		N	%	N	%	N	%
1. Social barriers arising from society, impact on professional activity	198	58,1	from administration	70	35,4	51	15	81	23,8
			from politicians	58	29,3
			from colleagues	41	20,7
			from students	12	6,1
			from press	10	5,1
2. Moral pressure for set work traditions and norms	82	24,0	requirement to follow the rules	27	32,9	76	22,3	183	53,7
			ignoring non-standard decisions	26	31,7
			moralizing	19	23,2
			constant reminding of traditions	10	12,2
3. Pressure of authority	74	21,7	existence of false authorities	44	59,5	78	22,9	189	55,4
			pedagogues group’s striving to lead, act according to an authority	30	40,5
4. Impact of known truths on activity	172	50,4	“pedagogue is responsible for the results”	77	44,8	56	16,4	113	33,1
			“pedagogue must train”	52	30,2
			“pedagogue must demand to fulfill the tasks”	26	15,1
			“good pedagogue keeps a distance between himself and students“	9	5,2
			“good pedagogue is strict”	5	2,9
			“pedagogue must discipline all the time”	3	1,7
5. Pressure of pedagogical trends	98	28,7	requirement to work according to modern trend	28	28,6	62	18,2	181	53,1
			requirement to reject an individual trend	22	22,4
			obtrusion of an example	16	16,3
			professional depreciation	13	13,3
			pressure of authorities	9	9,2
			absence of career possibilities	6	6,1
			threatening	4	4,1

The teachers have experienced barriers for pedagogical activity and professional development of five types: social, moral (pressure for set work traditions and results), pressure of authority, impact of known truths on activity, pressure of pedagogical trends. The most common are:

· Social barriers arising from society impact on professional activity of pedagogues (58.1%) and are connected to ineffective administration activity (35.4%), politicians (39.3%) and colleagues (20.7%)

· Impact of known truths (50.4%) and two of the most common - “pedagogue is responsible for the results” (44.8%) and “pedagogue must always train” (30.2%)

The following barriers are rarer:

· Pressure of pedagogical trends (28.7%) and some of its forms are “requirement to work according to modern trend” (28.6%), “requirement to reject an individual trend” (22.4%) and “obtrusion of an example of others” (22.4%).

· Moral pressure (24.1%), two forms of which are “requirement to follow the rules” (32.9%) and “ignoring non-standard decisions” (31.7%)

· Pressure of authorities (21.7%) that mostly manifests by “false authorities” (59.5%), pedagogues group’s striving to lead “creating an authority” (40.5%).

The largest part of teachers has not experienced moral pressure (53.7%) and pressure of authority (55.4%) and pedagogical trends (53.1%).

We will analyze the expression of some pedagogical barriers (stereotypes of personal thinking and activity) and pressure made by different subjects’ teachers.

Table 2

Expression of barriers and pressure

Barriers and pressure	Have experienced					Doubt		Have not experienced
	N	%		N	%	N	%	N	%
Stereotypes of teachers’ personal thinking and activity	33	9,7	Looking for the guilty ones	6	1,8	116	34	172	50,4
			Analyzing the result but not the cause	9	2,6
			Evaluation of present but not past or future results	11	3,2
			Distrust of the colleagues before starting collaboration	1	0,3
			Distrust in students	2	0,6
			Distrust in the leaders of the college	6	1,8
			Distrust in theory as it does not replace good practice	18	5,3
Pressure of specialists and subject teachers	34	10,0	Teachers of humanities	6	17,6	55	16,1	252	73,9
			Teachers of biomedical sciences	2	5,9
			Teachers of physical sciences	5	14,7
			Teachers of arts	5	14,7
			Teachers of social sciences	8	23,5
			Teachers of physical culture	1	2,9
			Teachers of technology sciences	6	17,6
			Practice guides	1	2,9

Stereotypes of teachers’ personal thinking and activity manifested less (9.7%) than pressure of subjects’ teachers (10.0%), most manifesting was “distrust in theory as it does not replace good practice” (15.3%) and evaluation of present but not past or future results (3.2%).

A small part of teachers have experienced the pressure from specialists and subjects’ teachers (10.0%) that was mostly from teachers of social (23.5%), humanities (17.6%) and technology (17.6%) sciences. We will describe stereotypes characteristic to college teachers and wish and ways to overcome them (table 3).

Stereotypes most characteristic to pedagogues and wish to overcome them

	Stereotypes	N	%
Stereotypes characteristic to contemporary teachers	Unconsciously use pedagogical truths	69	20,2
	Unconsciously use tried practice	70	20,5
	Do not change anything and watch others making changes	55	16,1
	Perceive the changing but change only prompted by others	97	28,4
	Perceive the necessity of change but base the activity on old truths	106	31,1
	Consciously avoid stereotypic actions	17	5,0
Stereotypes that they would like to overcome	Labeling	79	23,2
	Striving to discipline students by moralizing	60	17,6
	Punishing by marks	51	15
	Discussing students’ behavior with colleagues	100	29,3
	Too big confidence in one’s experience	67	19,6
Would wait for outside help to overcome the stereotypes	Colleagues	63	18,5
	House	7	2,1
	Friends	12	3,5
	Close friends	4	1,2
	Oneself	127	37,2
	Self-analysis	55	16,1

The teachers have indicated that the same stereotypes of thinking and activity are characteristic to them like to pedagogues in general, and most common of them are: perceiving the necessity of change base the activity on old truths (31.1%) and unconsciously use tried practice (20.5%) and pedagogical truths (20.2%). Teachers would like to overcome this behavior stereotype most: “discussing students’ behavior with colleagues” (29.3%) and “too big confidence in one’s experience” (19.6%).

In overcoming the stereotypes the teachers usually confide themselves (37.2%) and wait for help from the colleagues (18.5%).

College teachers described themselves as individuals and personalities (table 4), indicating the most acceptable proposition from the given ones.

Table 4

Description of oneself as an individual and personality

Description Accept- ability	Various features, states and living experience is expressed in me and that makes the entity of my being		I know, feel and understand other people but I make the decisions independently		I am known by other people, perceived, understood and evaluated by them and that is the most important to me		I like impressions, understand others and am understood by them but I have my point of view towards events, world and people
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Completely unacceptable	65	19,1	76	22,3	98	28,7	64	18,8
Slightly acceptable	33	9,7	51	15,0	95	27,9	33	9,7
Almost acceptable	122	35,8	139	40,8	102	29,9	116	34
Completely acceptable	121	35,5	75	22,0	46	13,5	128	37,5

To more than one third of teachers the following descriptions are characteristic: “I like impressions, understand others and am understood by them but I have my point of view towards events, world and people” (35.5%) and “Various features, states and living experience is expressed in me and that makes the entity of my being” (35.8%). Less acceptable are the following propositions: “I know, feel and understand other people but I make the decisions independently” (22.7%) and “I am known by other people, perceived, understood and evaluated by them and that is the most important to me” (13.5%). In this way, the bigger part of teachers ascribed themselves to the types that: like impressions, understand others are characteristic of variety of mental features and modes.

Table 5

Correlation rates between offered descriptions

Descriptions	Various features, states and living experience is expressed in me and that makes the entity of my being	I know, feel and understand other people but I make the decisions independently	I am known by other people, perceived, understood and evaluated by them and that is the most important to me	I like impressions, understand others and am understood by them but I have my point of view towards events, world and people
Various features, states and living experience is expressed in me and that makes the entity of my being	-	0,330**	0,212**	0,124*
I know, feel and understand other people but I make the decisions independently	0,330**	-	0,368**	0,331**
I am known by other people, perceived, understood and evaluated by them and that is the most important to me	0,212**	0,368**	-	0,292**
I like impressions, understand others and am understood by them but I have my point of view towards events, world and people	0,124*	0,331**	0,292**	-

** Correlation rates are meaningful on the level of 0.01.

* Correlation rates are meaningful on the level of 0.05.

The results given in Table 5 indicate that between features “I know, feel and understand other people but I make the decisions independently” and “I am known by other people, perceived, understood and evaluated by them and that is the most important to me” there exists only a weak correlation relation (less than 0.01) and between the other two descriptions “Various features, states and living experience is expressed in me and that makes the entity of my being” and “I like impressions, understand others and am understood by them but I have my point of view towards events, world and people” there is no correlation relation.

Conclusions:

· Lithuanian colleges teachers’ pedagogical communication and educational activity is influenced by many internal and external factors that determine the complication of their activity and create conditions for pedagogical barriers to form that in time become stereotypes of pedagogues’ thinking or activity.

· College teachers most often experience difficulties in the following pedagogical activity spheres: positive students’ attitude towards studying in education (37.14%) and in work with problematic pupils (21.11%).

· In colleges most often occurring barriers for pedagogical activity and professional development are as follows: social, arising from the influence of society on professional activity (58%) and connected to inadequate and not creative activity of administration (35.4%) and feeling of known truths impact on activity (50.4%).

· College teachers have experienced personal type barriers for activity – these are stereotypes of thinking and activity (9.7%), the most significant of which is “Distrust in theory as it does not replace good practice” (5.3%)

· Teachers would like to overcome the following stereotypes most: “Discussing students’ behavior with colleagues” (29.3%), labeling (17.6%). In overcoming the stereotypes teachers tend to trust themselves (37.2%), colleagues (18.5%) and least expect help from friends (3.5%) or house (2.1%).

· Teachers ascribe themselves to people that like impressions, understand others, have their own point of view towards events, world and people (37.5%) and tae type that is characteristic of a variety of mental features, states and living experience (35.5%). However the correlation between these two descriptions is weak (p>0.01).

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