Sysoeva E.Yu., Korsun M.V.
THE TEACHER AUTHORITY IN A TRANSFORMING RUSSIAN SOCIETY ^{[№ 5 ' 2018]}
The authority as a socio-psychological phenomenon is a mechanism of interpersonal influence in society. The role of authority is greatest in pedagogical activity, so far as the productivity of pedagogical communication and the effectiveness of the training and education process depend on its presence. At the present time, there is a decline in the authority of the teacher in Russian society, which affects the nature of the relationship between the subjects of the educational process.
Research tasks: to consider the peculiarities of the transformation of the authority of the teacher in modern Russian society and the genesis of ideas about the authority of the teacher in pedagogical and social-philosophical discourses, to determine the status of the teacher. The results of a theoretical analysis of philosophical, psychological and pedagogical approaches have shown that the current state of the authority of a teacher as a sociocultural construct is represented as crisis. The crisis of the teacher’s authority is analyzed both from the point of view of radical changes in the structure of the channels of transmission of cultural experience, disruption of continuity of intergenerational ties, and in the context of global trends in the modernization of the education system, turning it into a service sector. The results of our empirical research aimed at studying the assessment of the dynamics of one’s own status by teachers with work experience of more than thirty years fix two main trends in the idea of a teacher’s authority. At the micro level (at the small group level), the authority of the teacher has undergone minimal changes. Informants said that students and their attitude towards the teacher over the past decades practically haven't changed. The interviewed teachers noted that the authority of the teacher at the macro level is influenced by: the integration of parents into the educational space, their consumer attitudes regarding the quality of education and pedagogical activity; pragmatism of education, orientation to the usefulness of knowledge gained in school. We also note that modern art culture and public opinion aren't view the teacher as a source of necessary experience and knowledge for the younger generation.
As a result of the study, we find that the authority of the teacher depends on both the personal qualities of the teacher himself and the socio-cultural context in which the implementation of educational activities takes place. In modern Russian society, there is a desacralization of the role of the teacher, which is caused by the transformation of education into the services sector, the liberalization of values, insufficient financing of the education system, and the lack of a targeted state policy on the construction of a positive teacher’s image in the media.