Pedagogical team as a social organism (metaphorical representation of the concept)

the article is dedicated to pedagogical teams, one of the historically unique traditions of children social education in Russia. The author considers pedagogical teams as a collective subject of educational activity and as a flexible social and pedagogical entity. Pedagogical teams originated in the second half of the 1960s – the beginning of 1970s. It became a mass social movement in the mid-1980s. The theoretical propositions and conclusions are based on model descriptions of V.Lantsberg and M.Kordonsky's informal associations, Russian dissertations, the practices of pedagogical teams in Kostroma, and a retrospective analysis of the author’s experience as a counselor of the Russian Children's Center "Orlyonok" and the head of pedagogical teams in Kostroma region in a span of twenty years. The article explains the ambiguity of the “pedagogical team” concept and presents four different areas of its existence, shows the variety of its activity and continuity as a social and pedagogical entity. In a metaphorical way the author characterizes the main directions and influence channels of young teacher associations on children and adolescents, particularly at different recreation camps. Presenting the pedagogical team as a living social entity, the author puts forward the hypothesis that relatively complex pedagogical tasks can be solved with very limited resources through the following channels: communication, practices and corporate culture of pedagogical groups. The article may be useful as a historical and pedagogical study helping understand the distinctive features of the Russian pedagogical practice and socio-psychological, socio-cultural mechanisms of education of children and adolescents.