Modern Scientific Understanding of the Concept «Spiritual and Moral Education»: Theoretical Aspect

Abstract

Problem and goal. “Spiritual and moral education” is a key category of a number of Federal regulations that have come into force over the past decade. However, this category is not always interpreted unambiguously by the scientific and pedagogical community. The purpose of the article: to consider how “spiritual and moral education” is understood in the modern scientific and pedagogical discourse. Research base and literature. The article provides a review of scientific works published in 2019 on the pedagogical category “spiritual and moral education”, which is a key one in the leading legal acts. The review was based on publications published on the neb portal eLIBRARY.RU. in the public domain, in which the category under study is included in the title of the work, annotation, and / or keywords. Statistics are provided that reflect the geography of the publications under consideration, the value bases of spiritual and moral education, and groups of authors. Research base and literature. This review focuses on publications of a theoretical nature, which made up ⅓ of all the considered works. All publications of a theoretical nature are conditionally divided into works of “spiritual” (meaning-seeking) and” moral» (behavioral) orientation; their distinctive features and value bases are considered. The article analyzes publications that present a retrospective analysis of spiritual and moral education. Conclusion. The essential characteristics of spiritual and moral education are revealed. The analysis showed that they are updated in only one-third of the reviewed publications; the remaining two-thirds are devoted to the external side of its organization. Although most authors assign a strategic role to spiritual and moral education not only in solving educational problems, but also in stabilizing society, this category is considered in isolation from the experience of the past and without a proper understanding of the role of the teacher.