Styles of professional activity that are observed in teachers who involved in individualized education

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study aimed to identify the styles of pedagogical activity that are common for au pairs. The author lists four advantages of this individualized form of education and upbringing and describes the factors of its spontaneous development. Professional standard for individualized education has been approved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation. This development substantiates the need for further research into the components and the value of the au pair activity, and the factors that may influence it. At present, studies in these areas are scarce, and practically no research has been devoted to au pair professional activity styles. An analysis of professional literature enabled the author to identify three groups of pedagogical activity styles: student guidance, self-organization, and methodological orientation. Further investigation of these styles should help to create the technology for the development and promotion of the most effective styles of au pair activity.

The research sample was comprised of 46 Moscow au pairs. The study established indicators of nine styles which primarily do not reach average values; yet, the manifestations of these styles are rather diverse (from 2.57 to 6.7 sthenes). The study revealed three leading professional styles, i. e. preparatory, democratic, and companionate, and three styles that manifest themselves less frequently: post-situational, authoritarian and permissive. A relatively high variability was noted for nearly all the styles of au pair activity. The styles of pedagogical activity with the reliability of 99.9 % form two correlating constellations. The first includes dominance, authoritarianism, and permissiveness; the second is comprised of democratic, variable, situational, and companionate styles, which are related to all of the three groups. The latter constellation may be considered as symptom-complex with an unexpressed core, since the connections are strong and numerous. The democratic style of au pair activity is dependent on the manifestations of the situational style; the variable and democratic, as well as situational and variable styles, determine each other.