Motivational and value-based component of future teachers’ readiness for moral education: Concept clarification

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to future teachers’ professional values as a regulatory basis for enhancing their readiness for moral education provision which includes integrated personal and professional values, beliefs and attitudes, commitment to moral education and self-motivation. The article reviews and analyzes international and Russian studies on teacher education in order to clarify the content of the motivational and value-based component of future teachers readiness for moral education. Materials and Methods. The study adopts systematic, axiological, contextual, nuclear and person-centered approaches as well as S.L. Rubinstein’s structural approach to studying personality. The research methods include analysis and generalization of scholarly literature. Results. The main results consist in the analysis of contemporary international and Russian scholarly literature on the problem of future teachers’ readiness for moral education. In international sources, pre-service teachers’ readiness for moral education provision is associated with mastering new instructional strategies, general and internal regulations of teacher’s behavior, a flexible combination of theoretical and practical preparation for implementing moral education. Russian researchers consider readiness for moral education as: (1) a set of relevant knowledge, skills and competencies; (2) a focus on humanistic and ethical values; (3) personality traits including benevolence, humanistic outlook, sociability, and empathy. The authors clarify the content of motivational and value-based component of readiness for moral education provision, which includes: values of moral education (they regulate teaching activities and help to realize the importance of teaching profession for society); integration of personal and professional values and attitudes (serves as the basis for the formation of sustainable motivation for moral education); commitment to moral education provision (determined by personal interest in teaching and wider social contexts of teaching profession); self-motivation (enables to implement moral education interventions in challenging or stressful environments). Conclusions. The study concludes that values and motivation play a significant role in developing future teachers’ readiness for moral education provision. The content of this component incorporates stable and flexible personality traits of future teachers.