Pedagogical conservatism of university teachers

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the need to implement the principle of cooperation and interaction of the subjects of the educational process, and to use the creative approach in the situation of modernizing higher education. The purpose of the research is to identify indicators, criteria, and development factors of university teachers’ pedagogical conservatism. The study hypothesizes that the state of pedagogical conservatism among teachers of higher educational institutions: 1) may be correlated with the level of integral satisfaction with professional activity; 2) indicates the presence of factors contributing to its development. The study participants: the teaching staff of 9 Russian universities (N = 1754, aged from 25 to 65, including 25% of men, 75% of women). The research methods (tools): methodology "Assessment of pedagogical conservatism of teachers of a higher educational institution" (I. B. Avakyan) was used in order to study indicators and criteria of pedagogical conservatism, as well as to identify its development factors, integral job satisfaction test (by A. V. Batarshev) was used to assess the integral indicators of satisfaction of university teachers with their pedagogical activity. Results. The study has revealed the development factors of university teachers’ pedagogical conservatism. These factors comprise psychological unpreparedness for innovative activity, including a set of variables that are presented in the study, and emotional burnout. A positive correlation has been found between a group of indicators of pedagogical conservatism and components of integral satisfaction with pedagogical work (habitual ways of performing the activity and general satisfaction with work). The study has also revealed the inverse (negative) correlation between the other group of pedagogical conservatism indicators and satisfaction with pedagogical activity (low motivation for success and overall job satisfaction). The main conclusions. On the one hand, indicators of pedagogical conservatism contribute to the increase in the level of satisfaction with pedagogical activity, which ensures the preservation of pedagogical experience in conditions of internal psychological balance. On the other hand, they contribute to dissatisfaction with their own activities and to the state of professional stagnation. The obtained results can be used as the basis for systematic psychological and pedagogical support of the university teachers’ professional activities in accordance with educational stan dards.

Keywords

• pedagogical conservatism
• satisfaction with pedagogical activity
• teacher
• higher educational institution
• professional stagnation