The problems of teaching master’s students: the view of a professor of the pedagogical university

a modern Master’s Program is a significant part of lifelong learning system, but the phenomenology of this level of education is poorly revealed yet. The goal of the article is to highlight the problems of teaching Master’s students on the basis of specific description of Master’s Program available both for pedagogical and humanitarian (arts) profiles. The basis for the analysis is the author’s pedagogical activities within the frames of Master’s Program courses «Methodology of Pedagogical Research», «Pedagogy and Psychology of Tertiary Education»; special courses on the problems of artistic-imaginative comprehension of pedagogical reality, the authorial course devoted to moral upbringing of high school students through humanitarian disciplines, graduation student papers guidance at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia for the time period from 1993 up to 2017. The following distinctive features of modern students involved in Master’s Degree Program could be emphasized: mixed age with adult age predominant, which calls for variability, flexibility, delicacy, comprehension of various motives to continue education; the larger share of independent work, demanding different text manipulation. The author underlines the fact: constantly changing terms of teaching call for continuous self-education for university professors. The suggested facts and observations might be of interest for pedagogical staff involved in Master’s Program teaching and researchers of lifelong learning.