PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF INTERACTION BETWEEN STUDENT GROUPS WITH THE CLASS TEACHER

Abstract

The concept of psychological interaction of class teachers with student groups is disclosed in the article. Based on the principles of a systems approach, we define this interaction as the interaction of two subsystems, which simultaneously includes other structures (microgroups, dyads), and is part of larger systems - school, education system as a whole. We assume that the interaction in the educational environment, which is operationalized through the types and models of interaction, is set mainly by the class teacher, but also supported by students and parents.We consider models and types of interaction as those that, on the one hand, are related to the level of psychological climate in the student’s group, on the other hand – are determined by the psychological characteristics of the participants education process. Accordingly, we assume that the type and model of interaction has certain correlations with: 1) the level of socio-psychological climate of student group; 2) prevailing tendencies of interpersonal interaction; 3) the prevailing values of teachers, setting the most general and highly organized principles of communication processes in the educational environment; 4) strategies of behavior in conflict, as typical behavioral patterns implemented by teachers in situations of difficult communication.Thus, to verify the correlations of types and models of interaction in the educational environment with the psychological characteristics of the studied teachers and students, we performed a procedure of factor analysis of an array of empirical datas. As 47 variables used in factorization, we selected indicators on the scales of the methods that we used in the empirical study. Thus, 11 factors are choosen describe the mechanisms of interaction. As a result, a unique model of interaction is built, which describes its essence and has three components. The first component – the prevailing models and types of interaction in the educational environment; the second component – mechanisms for the implementation of interaction by teachers; the third component is a component of the mechanisms of students’ reaction to the interaction with the teacher. Therefore, the essence of the interaction process is investigated, its mechanisms on both sides - teachers and students are described, and the determinants that affect the effectiveness of this interaction are identified.