Narrative technologies in developing personal value and meaning orientations: psychological content and application in education

Introduction. The authors investigate the problem of building a system of personal value and meaning orientations in educational environment of higher education institutions taking into account specifics of professional values. The purpose of the research is to clarify psychological content and peculiarities of implementing narrative technologies aimed at developing personal value-semantic orientations in education. Materials and Methods. The research investigation is based on the main principles of post-non-classical education studies, psychological and educational approaches to analyzing biographies and life histories, and on basic concepts of modern narrative pedagogy and psychology. The authors relied on the method of educational design in developing narrative technologies. The effectiveness of narrative technology in education was evaluated by means of a questionnaire aimed at identifying the level of understanding, internal acceptance and fulfilment of professional values. Results. The article clarifies psychological contents of narrative methods in developing personal value and meaning orientations and reveals the characteristic features of using narrative technologies in higher education institutions. The authors prove a possibility of increasing the level of understanding, internal acceptance and fulfilment of professional values by means of narrative technologies and characterize such psychological aspects of narrative methods as clarifying personal and professional values and meanings, updating their subjective importance, synchronization of temporary loci of sense, and revealing the character and orientation of time prospects of the personality. Conclusions. The study reveals that using narrative technology in educational space of higher education institutions involves step-by-step application of teaching methods and techniques based on such psychological mechanisms of building the system of personal values and meanings as interiorization, identification and internalization.