Development of Students’ Social Abilities at Pedagogical Universities

Abstract

Introduction. An important place in the process of professional pedagogical education is occupied by the development of social abilities of students – future teachers. The relevance of the article is determined by the significant influence of the subject’s social abilities on the effectiveness of pedagogical activity. The purpose of the article is to establish the dynamics and content specifics of the development of social abilities of students under the influence of the process of learning at universities a nd the motivation of educational activity. Materials and Methods. Testing students of the Pedagogical University, enrolled in the academic track “Primary Education”. The total sample size is 104 people, including 1st year students – 24 people, 2nd courses – 21 people, 3rd courses – 31 people, 4th courses – 28 people. The following methods were used as diagnostic methods: methods for studying the properties of attention – “Red-black table”, “Confused lines”; for the study of social abilities, the “Test of Social Intelligence” was used by J. Guildford, M. Sullivan; to study the motivation of educational activity – a methods for studying the motivation of learning at a university by T. I. Ilyina, a methods for diagnosing educational motivation of students by A. A. Rean, V. A. Yakunin. The results of the empirical study were processed using the methods of primary descriptive statistics, the non-parametric comparison criterion Mann-Whitney U test, the rank correlation coefficient r-Spearman’s, and regression analysis; in order to analyze the characteristics of the psychological structure of social abilities, structural analysis methods were used. Results. The results obtained in the study expanded the understanding of the psychological factors in the development of social abilities of students – future teachers in the process of professional teacher education. As a result of the study, the main trends in the development of the individual’s abilities in the process of learning were identified, their role in the development of social abilities of students, the specificity of the relationship between the motivation of educational activity and social intelligence was established, the role of pedagogical practice in the development of social abilities of students was shown. The process of development of social abilities during training at a university can be divided into two stages. During the first stage (1–3 year), there is a restructuring of the psychological system of social abilities formed at the stage of school education, accompanied by an increase in the contradiction between the student’s perceptions and expectations of the content of training at the university and the existing level of development of social abilities. Under the influence of the inclusion of a student in the 4th year of study in active pedagogical practice (the second stage), the motivational sphere of educational activity is harmonized, leading to a qualitative increase in social intelligence and the development of the psychological structure of social abilities. Discussion and Conclusion. The results presented in the article will be useful to teachers of secondary and higher pedagogical educational institutions, employees of psychological services in order to increase the effectiveness of the formation of pedagogical abilities of students, accompanying the processes of adaptation of students to study at the university, overcoming the destructive trends of educational and professional development.