Study of students' psychological features of personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity

Statement of the problem. The article presents a review of theoretical and experimental studies of psychological components of students' personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity. The purpose of the article is to identify the psychological features of personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity among the 1st and 2nd year students of the Biology, Geography and Chemistry (BGC) Department specializing in “Geography and Biology”, “Biology and Chemistry”. Research methodology. The research methodology is based on S.L. Rubinstein's concept, which is interpreted in this article as follows: external characteristics of life activity, refracted through the internal conditions of a person, determine the features of its psychological readiness for professional activity. The study involved 45 1st and 2nd year students of the BGC Department at the KSPU named after V. p. Astafiev (21 students specializing in “Geography and Biology”, 24 students specializing in “Biology and Chemistry”). An empirical study of the personal and professional readiness psychological characteristics included testing and questionnaires. Testing was used to study the cognitive and emotional self-awareness characteristics, volitional behavior regulation, students' motivation of professional choice. The following tests were used in testing: “Twenty statements self attitude test” (McPartland, Kuhn), “Method of selfrelation research” (S.R. Pantileyev), “Test-questionnaire” (A.V. Zverkov, E.V. Eidman) and “Motives for choosing a profession” (R.V. Ovcharova). The survey was conducted to identify the attitude of students to their professional choice and to themselves as personalities at the time of the study. Psychological features of the respondents' personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity were revealed by means of correlation analysis of the obtained data with the use of a coefficient. Research result. The article shows that the psychological features of professional readiness for pedagogical activity are characteristic of a certain training specialization, despite the fact that each of training specializations has a common educational subject - biology. To minimize the impact of personal characteristics on the result, a group of 1st and 2nd year students was taken in each specialization - so each sample represented students who had recently entered the University, and students who had studied for more than a year and, therefore, were more exposed to the leveling influence of the external environment than first-year students. However, the results revealed specific trends in the personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity among students of each specialization. Thus, for the training specialization “Geography and Biology” psychological features for pedagogical activity among the 1st and 2nd year students are formed mainly under the influence of cognitive and emotional components of self-consciousness, which determines the attitude of these students to themselves and to professional choice. Psychological features of personal and professional readiness for pedagogical activity among the 1st and 2nd year students of the “Biology and Chemistry” profile are characterized by internal conflict, which they overcome, relying on emotional and volitional self-regulation, as well as professional motivation. Conclusion. Knowledge of the psychological characteristics of students' personal and professional readiness for professional activity can help psychologists and teachers of the University better understand the problems of students and work with them more effectively.