Personality development as a subject of psychology and pedagogy

Abstract

The article presents a historical retrospective of the idea of human self-development in pedagogy and psychology. The inclusion of self-development in the modern educational process is emphasized. Attention is drawn to the contradictory interpretation of the categories «personality development», «personality self-development», «personal growth» in modern psychology. Two directions are described that represent the process of self-development of an individual in different ways: self-development as a spontaneous process of striving for personal growth and development (formulated in the humanistic paradigm) and development as a conscious and purposeful self-regulation and self-change of oneself (subjective approach). It is claimed that self-development is not generated exclusively by the freedom of will and mind of a person and is not only the result of purposeful education. It is stated that pedagogical practice and psychological science should be focused on finding those pedagogical conditions and studying those factors under which both the one and the other approach will be productive. It is worth paying attention to how effective each of the approaches will be in certain age periods of personality development. In psychology, there is currently no single approach to the phenomenon of self-development, the definition of its essence, the formation of a synonymous field of similar concepts. Solving the problem of self-development of the individual lies in the plane of integration of modern psychological and pedagogical knowledge. Self-education and self-education is a necessary condition for improving pedagogical skills and professional development of a future specialist. One of the main tasks of education in general is the formation of the ability of a growing personality to self-education and self-development.