Psychological mechanisms of student teachers’ professional reliability training

Society demands higher education teachers with new professional skills. Satisfying this demand requires socio-cultural and scientific research to discover ways to develop such qualities in student teachers. This article was written as part of the author's doctoral dissertation research: Student teachers’ professional reliability formation. The purpose of this study was to identify the psychological mechanisms of student teachers’ professional reliability training. Methodology. The following research methods were used: psychological testing, expert evaluation and pedagogical experiment. Additional methods included: Method of Identity Diagnostics (Schneider, 2007), Method of Reflexivity Diagnostics (Karpov, 2003), Diagnostic Map of Professional Reliability of Student teachers (Osadchuk, 2007). The study carried out at Omsk State Pedagogical University (Russia) involved 75 students and 4 teachers. The educational experiment was carried out in the natural conditions that were familiar to students, and the natural course of the educational process was not interrupted. Novelty. The author developed and pilot-tested a range of new educational tools to actualize the psychological mechanisms to train professional reliability of student teachers. These tools included different types of unsupervised activities, motivation training, teaching methods, and pedagogical support strategies. Results. The article presents experimental data showing the correlation between indicators of professional reliability, identity, and reflexivity of student teachers. It contains a diagnostic map of professional reliability for student teachers developed by the author, which can serve as one of the tools for monitoring the education quality in teacher training courses. The findings can be used in educational program development, organizational and methodological documentation, as well as educational and extra-curricular activities related to higher teaching education goals and syllabi.