Keyword: «professional identity»

This article studies the issue of professional identity of faculty, which is considered to be one of the most essential types of identity of those who are currently working in higher education sphere. The topicality of this study shows itself in growing importance of professional life of a modern individual, with this undoubtedly referring to the faculty bearing their own responsibility for professional development, acting in the conditions of longer career paths as well as adjusting the directions of their professional trajectories. Being the leading kind of a mature person performance and representing his or her universal function, professional activity demonstrates sense-making nature, giving an opportunity of finding existence reasons particularly in professional activity and in matters related thereto. It is the professional performance which allows a person to express oneself and also structures time and formulates personalized meanings. Rapid transformations of contemporary society, labor market and educational environment changes bring professional identity of a university teacher to the fore as this kind of identity is capable of fully reflecting an individual’s personal values as well as aims and intentions. With that said, professional identity is subject to development throughout the whole life, being the process of continuing interpretation of the accumulated experience and knowledge. This research is aimed at demonstrating greater importance of the faculty professional identity compared to the other types of identities. With the help of the survey conducted with 127 objects-sample as well as using the quantitative method, we concluded that in the process of induced and spontaneous identification, the majority of the surveyed teachers opted for professional identity as the main type thereof. Theoretical value of the given research could find its expression in focusing more on faculty professional identity issues as well as its impact on teachers’ performance efficacy and overall well-being. In terms of practical importance, the conclusions made can be applied in the course of educating would-be teachers and postgraduates and also when devising advanced training courses for the experts in the given sphere.

The relevance of the study is due to the contradiction between the complex, dynamic nature of students' professional identity (PI) in the unstable modern world and the fragmented, static tools for its diagnosis. Traditional methods, which only capture a snapshot of identity, fail to capture its processual nature, nonlinear dynamics and deep, unconscious layers, which limits the ability to predict and manage professional development. The aim of the article is to provide a theoretical basis and conceptual design of an integrative three-level model for diagnosing students' professional identity based on the principles of the synergetic approach. The leading approach to the study was the synergetic approach, which views PI as an open, self-organizing system. The methodological synthesis included the structural-functional (similar to ethnic identity), temporal (narrative), and processual-dynamic approaches, which allowed us to overcome the fragmentation in the study of the phenomenon. As a result of theoretical analysis and systematization of methodological approaches, the necessity of integrative diagnostics has been proved. The main results of the work are presented in the form of an analytical integrative three-level model of PI diagnostics that combines cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components at three interrelated levels: 1) pre-cognitive (unconscious values, affects, and narratives), which is diagnosed primarily using projective and narrative methods; 2) current (conscious structure of identity in the here-and-now), which is studied using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods; 3) projective (development potential, career narratives), which is assessed using scenario and reflective techniques. The model systematizes a wide range of diagnostic tools (questionnaires, repertoire grids, interviews, case analysis, etc.) into a single complex aimed at obtaining a holistic, volumetric picture of the PI genesis. The theoretical significance of the study lies in overcoming the methodological gap through the synergistic synthesis of various scientific traditions and substantiation of a multidimensional understanding of PI. The practical significance lies in providing universities with a structured diagnostic toolkit for managing students' individual career trajectories, timely identification of crisis states, and improving the efficiency of the educational process through the purposeful development of professional identity.