Svetlana V. Pazukhina

The relevance of the work is related to the need to understand new challenges and threats and create a theoretical basis to substantiate the factors for achieving psychological comfort for students in modern conditions. The paper presents the results of an analysis of theoretical models, the purpose of which was to determine the basis for describing the components that ensure the psychological comfort of students in the information and educational space of the school in the face of new challenges and threats. The methodological approach, which made it possible to comprehensively consider the factors being studied, was the systemic approach. Based on its basic provisions and principles, approaches to considering the concepts of psychological comfort, socio-psychological climate, psychological safety of the educational environment, and psychological well-being of students were studied. Studies on modern challenges and threats that indirectly or directly affect a child’s sense of psychological comfort/discomfort are analyzed. Psychological markers of psychological comfort and discomfort are described, and some consequences of such discomfort in schoolchildren are given. The theoretical significance lies in the substantiation and description of components important for achieving psychological comfort of students in the context of modern challenges and threats. It is shown that the modern world of challenges and threats can be viewed not so much from the perspective of self-defense or ensuring complete peace of mind, external security, but from the position of other mechanisms and conditions that require new ways of understanding the changing reality, and bring with them new opportunities, which need to be predicted and used for good. Therefore, a special role is played today by the tasks of developing the personal resources of students to be prepared for various kinds of threats, to show resilience in difficult situations, to pursue their goal, while creating and doing something useful for their country, helping others. The practical significance lies in the fact that for each studied component, which provides psychological comfort to students, pedagogical methods are proposed (the method of emphasizing values, the method of value contrasts, the method of giving value, methods of fostering patriotic values, life orientations, methods of reconstructing communication styles, joint discussion of important innovations for the country with adults, trainings for the development of critical thinking, analysis of manipulative technologies used by telephone scammers, express exercises for relieving emotional stress, negative emotions conducted in lessons, dynamic pauses, at recess, self-organization methods, etc.), which can be used to conduct empirical research.

The relevance of the article lies in clarifying and concretizing the content of the concept of «psychological security of the educational environment» taking into account new challenges and threats with an emphasis on the personal factor. It is shown that the definition of psychological security of the educational environment through the category of protection from various risks and threats does not meet new challenges and threats. The authors believe that in the modern digital world, combining real and virtual influence on children and young people, it is not possible to fully foresee all imaginable dangers and protect students from them, because even identical conditions for one student may be safe, for another – constitute a potential threat. The authors emphasize that the educational environment is characterized by dynamism, and its psychological security as an integrated part is based primarily on the ability of the subjects themselves to maintain stability, vigilance, show critical thinking, resist negative influences and overcome them on their own or by seeking help. The aim of the study was to examine the personal characteristics of modern students which can influence the psychological safety of the educational environment in a situation of new challenges and threats. The following personal qualities of students were studied: conformism, social pessimism, intolerance, nihilism, cynicism, destructiveness, attitude to the permissibility of aggression, the presence of a cult of strength, protest activity, etc. To do this, the multidimensional diagnostic technique by D.G. Davydov and K.D. Khlomov was used. According to the results of the work done, the personal characteristics of students that form the potential risks of both illegal activity and loyalty to its implementation on the part of other persons are revealed: social conformity, unwillingness to make independent decisions and take personal responsibility, a tendency to simplify the picture of the world, reduce complex parameters of the VUCA world to generalized models, attraction to idealized guarantees of social justice. The novelty lies in identifying the targets of socio-psychological work with students aimed at reducing the risks to the psychological safety of the educational environment. The results of the research can be used by the administration, university teachers, tutors of student groups, psychologists to organize educational, correctional, preventive work with students, as well as for psychological and pedagogical support of students, taking into account their individual characteristics at the stage of their personal development at the university.

The urgency of the problem under study is connected with the study of the specific aspects of learning independence development among primary school students. Research activity forms a special style of learning activity, contributes to the transformation of learning into self-learning, and launches self-development mechanisms. The purpose of the study: to define the problems of developing learning independence among primary school students, to identify the conditions for overcoming them and to test the psychological and pedagogical program for the development of learning independence in primary school students in the process of organizing research activities. The works of scientists in the field of educational activity, learning independence of primary school students serve as the theoretical and methodological basis of the study. Research methods: theoretical (study and analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature; analysis, generalization and systematization of information from scientific sources); empirical (testing, questioning, pedagogical experiment); methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis. The study was conducted on the basis of the secondary school No. 2 in Serpukhov, Moscow region. The pilot study involved 22 students of the 4th grade. The diagnostic program included the following methods: a map of independence manifestations, observation through the diagnostic map "Identification of research skills", a survey "Do you know how?", a survey to identify the emotional attitude of children to research activities, a scale of educational and cognitive interest level. The study showed that a positive attitude towards research activities and educational and cognitive interest in children is clearly expressed, but work is needed to develop specific research skills, since many students have difficulties with identifying problems, formulating questions, advancing hypotheses, classification, the ability to experiment, draw conclusions and make deductions. The following conditions for the development of learning independence among primary school student in the process of organizing research activities were identified: taking into account the age and individual characteristics of a primary school student in the process of learning activity; involvement of students in a phased research activity with a gradual decrease in the role of adults in it; the use of active and interactive methods and different ways of organizing cognitive, problem-search, project activities; purposeful formation of specific research skills, in the development of which problems have been identified, as well as methods of self-control and self-assessment of primary school students at all stages of research activity. These conditions were tested during the implementation of a specially worked out psychological and pedagogical program, which resulted in a positive trend in the studied indicators, which proves the effectiveness of the work done. The results of the study can be useful in organizing research activities and developing the independence of primary school students in learning and extracurricular activities.

The article describes approaches to determining the professional burnout of teachers, the stages of its development, the connection with the psychological health of teachers, professional deformations, and the psychological safety of students. It is shown that the set of causes that result in burnout, in relation to the modern conditions of digitalization of education, has not been sufficiently studied, which determines the relevance of the study. The author gives a definition of professional and personal burnout. Its goal is to identify, theoretically substantiate and study empirically the sum of psychological and social causes that affect the development of the syndrome of professional and personal burnout among teachers of the modern school. A set of complementary methods is used for this, including «Diagnosis of professional burnout», «Methodology for diagnosing the level of professional burnout», «Index of life satisfaction»; “Scale of general self-efficacy”, “Self-assessment of professional and pedagogical motivation”, “Scale for assessing the psychological climate in the teaching staff”. At the formative stage, a specially designed program is used, which includes instructions on primary and secondary prevention of professional and personal burnout of teachers in three areas: socio-psychological, personal, and professional. Based on the results of the work done and the use of the Student's criterion, significant changes were recorded for the reasons under study. The integral indicator of professional burnout for the group as a whole decreased during the formative experiment. This indicates that the causes that resulted in burnout were correctly identified. Positive changes were also noted in terms of the studied symptoms: «emotional exhaustion», «depersonalization», «reduction of personal achievements». Positive dynamics was also recorded in the change in the phases of burnout: stress, resistance, exhaustion. Consequently, the work carried out with the identified causes of professional and personal burnout of teachers gave positive results. The novelty lies in identifying a complex of psychological and social causes that result in professional and personal burnout among modern teachers, in specifying the components of these causes. The results of the study can be used in the organization of preventive work with teachers of modern schools.

Currently, the predictable, calm world has been replaced by a dynamic and complex VUCA world, in which it is important for the digital generation of young people to use soft skills. Many of these skills are based on the appropriate level of development of certain types of thinking and its qualities. The purpose of our research was to study different types of thinking among high school students, which could contribute to their personal self-knowledge, timely correction of the characteristics, developed at an insufficient level, and more conscious further professional self-determination. The sample was made up of regular groups of high school students. The work used a set of complementary methods: organizational, theoretical, empirical, data processing methods, methods of research results presentation. To study the types of thinking at the ascertaining and control stages of the study, the following diagnostic tools were used that were consistent with the indicators of validity, reliability, standardization, and representativeness of test norms: the questionnaire «Determination of thinking types and the level of creativity» (Bruner), the test «Logical patterns» (Lippman), the method «comparison of concepts» (Vygotsky, et al.), the method «Exclusion of excess» (Rubinstein), the test for the assessment of logical thinking, the test «Meaning of words». In the course of the formative experiment, a specially worked out program was used, which included a set of lessons, divided into several blocks. Its implementation was accompanied by the introduction of a number of experimental conditions. The results obtained made it possible to identify a tendency for the prevailing development of thinking in images among modern high school students (which is characteristic of clip thinking) and a fall in the indicators of logical thinking, which is reflected in the uncritical perception of information, illogicality of the choices being made, the lack of desire to find the most rational method of solving the problem and the ability to generalize large databases, etc. With purposeful systematic work on the development of different types of thinking of high school students, the most mobile in terms of change are symbolic and creative types of thinking. Other types can be developed as well with appropriate work, but at a slower pace.