It is quite clear that an educator who does not have authority cannot be an educator
А. S. Makarenko
In the organization of the educational process, one cannot pass by such a powerful pedagogical factor as the character of the educator, the qualities and qualities of his personality. One teacher has too strong a character and strong will, great social activity. He seeks to do everything himself, suppresses the spontaneity of children, and leaves them uninvolved and indifferent spectators. The other — soft, he is not able to demand elementary order from the students. Poor knowledge of pedagogy and psychology, an unwillingness to overcome oneself, to form one's own character in accordance with pedagogical requirements, give scope to a spontaneous, sporadic manifestation of nature: quick temper, stiffness or lack of character, undemanding.
The way out of this situation is to correctly understand the nature of educational relations. Pedagogy determines the optimal form of manifestation and development of discipline and democracy in education, which are realized by a specially trained person with pedagogical authority. Children voluntarily follow the teacher-educator, whom they respect. In any other case, pedagogical relations are held on purely formal grounds, external requirements, lose their positive educational meaning and have a negative impact. The term «authority» literally means the universally recognized value of a person, his influence on people, the support of his ideas and activities by public opinion, the expression of respect, trust in him, even faith in him: his mind, will, morality, ability to create good, give all his strength Common cause. The essence, specific features and functions of one's own pedagogical authority are due to the fact that dozens and hundreds of childish eyes, like an x-ray, shine through and reveal the moral state of the teacher's personality. A real teacher-educator has no other moral choice except purity, sincerity, openness and straightforwardness. Otherwise, the teacher inevitably loses its influence on children and the right to be their educator. The essence of pedagogical authority in the constant development of a teacher in itself is a civil, creative, human personality, genuine spirituality and intelligence. The child advances to the educator his respect, trust, and disposition, proceeding from the natural assumption about the high qualities of his personality.
True authority cannot be decreed from above. It can only be earned by honest and hard work. There is an opinion that the position of a teacher in itself provides him with credibility among students. But this is not so. In our difficult times, the official authority is completely replaced by personal authority. In this regard, distinguish the authority of the role, that is, the authority of authority, and authority. If the first is given as a teacher, the second is the result of a long relationship. The authority of the post is not reliable, quickly passing, if not supported by the authority of the individual, by voluntary recognition of the teacher's professionalism. [1. p. 78–83]
Every teacher wants to gain prestige. But not wanting to work on themselves, individual teachers go to gain authority by a false way. Which leads to the conquest of false authority?
For the first time in the pedagogical science, the authority of the teacher-educator for true and false was divided by A. S. Makarenko. True — one, false — a lot of varieties. Under false authority is understood the attitude of pupils (pupils) to the educator (teacher), which encourages them to be consumers of the ready experience, passive or active. False authority is based on the desire of the teacher-educator to achieve obedience from the student. Seeking obedience as the nearest goal and affecting this a lot of effort and time, teacher-educators are no longer able to achieve other goals, ultimate, main. In many cases, teachers cannot achieve obedience, and every year the child becomes increasingly obedient. Children, showing obedience, very often develop personality traits that are opposed to the ultimate goals of education and upbringing.
Teachers most often encounter the following kinds of false authority.
The authority of repression: is won by systematic demonstration of superiority in rights and the ability to keep disciples in constant unaccountable fear of punishment or ridicule for an unsuccessful answer or performing an exercise, before a shout, punishment.
Authority of distance. Teacher, educator strives to always keep students in the distance. He enters with them only in official contacts. In an effort to be inaccessible and enigmatic, such a teacher magnifies his person, creates privileges for himself before classes at a lesson by extraneous matters, passing to the presidium of a school or student meeting, although no one there puts forward, getting food in the dining room without queue.
The authority of pedantry. The teacher-educator has a system of petty, unnecessary conventions and traditions. He constantly finds fault with the practitioners. At what its quibbles do not agree with common sense, they are simply unreasonable. The pedant is unfair and his actions are ineffective. In such a teacher, students lose confidence in their abilities; in the classroom, one part of the students grossly violates discipline, the other — is held in a tight, tense way.
Authority of the reasoning. A teacher who tries to gain authority in this way endlessly teaches pupils, believing that notation is the main means of education. To the words of such teachers, students quickly get used to, they stop reacting to them and irritatedly, and sometimes laughing, they listen to the stream of moralizing that flows from the mouth of the enthusiastic interlocutor with the eloquence of the teacher.
The authority of imaginary kindness. More often than other kinds of false authority, they meet in young teachers. Not having enough pedagogical experience, these youth leaders believe that students will appreciate their kindness, connivance and answer with obedience, attention, and love. It turns out just the opposite. Students ignore the instructions and even the requests of the elder and, in addition, laugh at him. [2. p. 192]
The true authority is the attitude of students towards the teacher, which encourages students to be junior companions to the teacher all the time, that is, to participate with him and under their guidance in the care of improving life.
Teacher — educator should know what lives, and his children are interested. It does not take a lot of time for all this, only attention to children and to their life is needed for this. There are many cases in a child's life when he does not know how to act when he needs help, advice. And if he turns to the teacher for help, then it says that he trusts him, so the teacher is his authority. The child will feel his care, but at the same time, he will know that the teacher from him is demanding something that the teacher is not going to take responsibility off him.
An obligatory requirement for an authoritative teacher is moral cleanliness. Moral relations permeate all aspects of communication between the teacher and the student. Any good or bad deed necessarily has a moral aspect. If students are enthusiastically working at the lesson and do not hear the call for change, if they do not argue, they fulfill any request of the teacher, the authority of the latter is high. An authoritative teacher does not deceive and does not lie even on trifles. Never shows impoliteness. Do not grieve when students with colleagues. Do not involve pupils in groups directed against other students, parents, etc. Does not undermine the authority of fellow teachers, does not respond negligently to their disciplines, or to their work.
Of course, there are no recipes for all cases. But there are psychological techniques that allow the teacher to find a way out of many situations, from the different situations in which they fall, and even higher their authority. Many teachers and psychologists spoke about the importance of the teacher's authority in the educational process. Pirogov said that the relationship between the teacher and the student should be built on trust and respect, and not on punishment and fear. If children cannot see the ideal of moral perfection, then, at least, we cannot disagree that they are not compared morally to adults. They do not lie (until they fear them), they get all bad, and they keep in themselves the holy feelings of love for people, free from all worldly prejudices. And these feelings the teacher should not suppress, but develop. If we want to pay attention to education, we must start by stopping to look at the nature of children and consider them incapable of perceiving the beliefs of the mind. [3. p. 216] In education and training it is impossible to do without authority, that is, the power of the teacher, as reflecting his responsibility for the fate of the child. However, this force is called to be not destructive, but creative. When it promotes the self-affirmation of the growing children's personality, the realization of its creative potencies, pedagogical authority acts as a powerful catalyst for the personal influence of the teacher. If it belittles, rapes, deforms, it degenerates into an instrument of authoritarianism, dictatorship and shameless manipulation of pupils. [4. p. 302]
Summing up what has been said, it should be noted that the authority of the teacher-educator is necessary in the educational process. It is necessary to distinguish real authority from the authority of false, based on artificial principles and striving to create obedience by any means. Some teachers adhere to the following provisions:
− «I know everything, you all are ignorant».
− Students in terms of academic achievement are divided into strong, medium and weak.
− «The main thing is to achieve high results in behavior and achievement», and others.
The actual authority is based on civil activity, civic feeling, and knowledge of the child's life, respect and responsibility for his upbringing. True authority depends primarily on the attitude towards students, knowledge of their subject, culture and general erudition of the teacher.
Thus, self-education is aimed at the formation of qualities, without which it is impossible to gain high authority — the primary task of the teacher. To do this, it is necessary to identify the qualities that prevent you from gaining authority, to form a firm attitude towards the process of self-education and to show strong-willed efforts aimed at achieving this goal. This task is feasible for any teacher. It is only necessary to focus oneself on serious, hard work, overcoming laziness. «Overcoming laziness can be a self-suggestion, self-education. For this there is the only, surest way is to force yourself to do the work that needs to be done. There is no other way, «wrote A. S. Makarenko. [5. p. 192]
References:
- Rydanova I. I. Basics of pedagogy of communication. — M.: 1998. – c. 78–83.
- Sakharov VF, Sazonov AD Professional orientation of schoolchildren. – M.: Education, 1982. p. 192.
- Mitina L. M. Teacher as a person and a professional. – M.: Case, 1994. p. 216.
- I. A. Zyazyon. Fundamentals of pedagogical skill / -M.: Education, 1989. p. 302.
- Makarenko A. S. About education. — Moscow: School Press, 2003. p. 192.
