Conflictological competence: Attitude component

Abstract

It is substantiated the understanding of the conflict as a necessity of development, built into the educational process. It is proposed to interpret the conflict as an actualized collision of contradictions, in which the parties with different values, guidelines, motives cannot stay unchanged, and pose a threat and mutually determine, interact with each other. The «attitude» model of conflict competence of the teacher is presented as a tool for minimizing the destructive influence, with the possibility of constructive use of conflicts. There are presented the components of the «attitude» model of conflictological competence, which determine the readiness and ability of the teacher to implement knowledge and skills in conflictology (interact in a situation of threat to resolve contradictions, instead of avoiding, redirecting energy to less threatening objects): reflexivity, ability to establish interaction, time orientation, independence of values and behavior of the subject, adaptation, dominance, escapism, values of self-improvement and flexibility of behavior, selfsensitivity and spontaneity, self-esteem, self-acceptance (attitude towards yourself), attitude to other people, and interpersonal sensitivity. The term «subjective attitude» in the structure of teacher’s conflict competence is proposed to be understood as the latent mental potential of reactions, experiences, and human actions, which is actualized in the construction of the current communicative situation, in connection with the individual's evaluative perceptions of the environment and ownself. The development of conflictological competence of the working teacher is proposed to be studied in the context of socio-psychological conditions (processes) occurring among the teaching staff (small group): individual perception of the group, psychological microclimate, cohesion, and attitude to their role in a small group (teaching staff), subjective perception of management style, personality type of the head of an institution, the importance of work in the educational institution as the only source of satisfaction of material needs. There are given the results of empirical research of psychological processes in small groups and the attitude component of the conflict competence of the teacher, and there are established the connections of teachers’ attitudes with their subjective perception of the pedagogical staff. It is found that teachers mainly assess the socio-psychological climate as favorable, characterize the predominance of a high level of group cohesion in teams with a tendency to collectivist type of group perception and democratic management style. Respondents are characterized by an average level of reflexivity, increased selfperception (self-esteem and self-perception block), the desire for dominance with a slight decrease in adaptability, and lack of trust in the world around and other people. It is found a tendency in respondents to separate from the social environment, the expression of individualism as a factor of success in professional activities, which can contribute to the multiplication of contradictions, but blocking the willingness to recognize them. That is, the favorable socio-psychological working conditions for teachers and their orientation to collectivism set the framework of humanistic perception of a person as the basis of the subject and object in professional pedagogical activity. But teachers themselves show opposite tendencies: on the one hand, they give importance to collectivism, and find themselves as a part of the educational environment as such; on the other hand, their self-realization in professional activity is achieved under the condition of domination, individualism, and separation from the group, which testifies to the importance of self-authenticity for the teacher. There are identified approaches to the development of working teachers’ conflictological competence, taking into account the peculiarities of the small group processes