Psychological safety of the university educational environment as the basis for the formation of a professional

Abstract

Background. Psychological safety of educational organizations ensures the quality of training of professionals of a new formation, resistant to social and organizational changes, able to work in situations of varying degrees of uncertainty. 

Objective. The research had its purpose to study the dynamics of students’ perception of psychological safety of educational environment in the process of training in higher educational institutions, to reveal the relationship between the students’ level of professional competence and their perception of psychological safety of educational environment, and to develop practical recommendations for the heads of educational organizations based on the obtained results. 

Sample. The study involved 200 students aged 17 to 22 years of 1–4 courses of the training direction “Pedagogical education”, educating in the profile “Primary education”. 

Methods. The study implemented the case method, which allows to determine the level of formation of pedagogical competencies (unformed, threshold, and advanced) and the modified questionnaire “Safety Attitudes”, which allows for assessing the psychological safety of educational environment of a university in terms of “atmosphere of teamwork”, “atmosphere of safety”, “satisfaction with studies”, “recognition (understanding) of stress”, “perception of management/leadership (at the faculty, university level)”, “learning conditions”. 

Correlation analysis was used to identify the relationship between the indicators of psychological safety of educational environment of a university and the level of formation of professional pedagogical competencies. 

Single-factor analysis of variance was used to determine the reliability of differences in the observed indicators between the students of different courses. 

Results. The analysis of the data obtained demonstrated that students’ perception of the psychological safety of educational organization changes from year 1 to year 4: significant differences are observed in the indicators “Atmosphere of teamwork”, “Atmosphere of safety”, “Recognition (understanding) of stress”, “Perception of management / leadership at the faculty level”. The study revealed the interrelation between the 4th year students’ level of professional competence and their perception of psychological safety of educational environment on the indicators of “atmosphere of teamwork”, “atmosphere of safety”, “management/leadership at the faculty level”. 

Conclusion. The results of the study give grounds to consider the psychological safety of educational environment of a university as an important factor in the successful formation of a professional. Increasing the level of psychological safety of an educational organization is based on three actions: measurement, intervention, and prevention. The developed practical recommendations allow an educational organization to carry out psychological diagnostics according to proposed algorithm, to determine the target points in perception of psychological safety of a university environment (according to the scales of the questionnaire), to assist the students in their educational and extracurricular activities, and to implement a set of preventive measures.

References

Andronnikova, O.O. (2019). Safety of the educational environment as a condition for the preservation of the physical and psychological health of participants in the educational process. Razvitie cheloveka v sovremennom mire (Human development in the modern world), 2, 79–87. (In Russ.). 

Baeva, I.A. (2012). Psychological safety of the educational environment as a resource of mental health of subjects of education. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie (Psychological Science and Education), 4, 11–17. (In Russ.). 

Bordbar, F.T., Nikkar, M., Yazdani, F., Alipoor, A. (2011). Comparing the psychological well-being level of the students of Shiraz Payame Noor University in view of demographic and academic performance variables. Procedia — Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 663–669. 

FOMnibus poll September 23–25, 2022. Results of weekly all-Russian FOM polls. Dominanty. Field of opinion. Issue 38. (Retrieved from: https://media.fom.ru/fom-bd/d38no2022.pdf ) (review date: 17.09.2022). (In Russ.). 

Grinkrug, L.S. (2010). Conceptual analysis of motivation of participants in educational activities of the university. Izvestiya Rossiiskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. A.I. Gertsena (Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences), 136, 174–188. (In Russ.). 

Guzanov, B.N., Krivonogova, A.S. (2016). Professional motivation of university students in the process of integrated industrial training: A monograph. Yekaterinburg: Izd-vo Ros. Gos. prof.-ped. un-ta. (In Russ.). 

Ilyin, E.P. (2008). Motivation and motives. SPb.: Piter. (In Russ.). 

Kabachenko, T.S. (2000). Management Psychology: A textbook. M.: Pedagogicheskoye obschestvo Rossii. (In Russ.). 

Kamyshanov, A.A., Klimova, E.M. (2016). Development of cadets’ career orientations as an indicator of becoming a professional. Nauchnye i obrazovatel’nye problemy grazhdanskoi zashchity (Scientific and educational problems of civil protection), 4 (31), 101–106. (In Russ.). 

Kishikov, R.V., Kononov, A.N. (2022). Self-organization of students’ learning activities in a digital educational environment. Vestnik Gosudarstvennogo gumanitarno-tekhnologicheskogo universiteta (Bulletin of the State Humanitarian and Technological University), 1, 105–113. (In Russ.). 

Klimova, E.M. at al. (2021). Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2021622176 Russian Federation. Assessment of the level of professionalism of pedagogical specialists: No 2021621896: Appl. 09.14.2021: publ. 10/19/2021. (Retrieved from: https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=47117043) (review date: 17.09.2022) (In Russ.). 

Kononov, A.N. (2016). The role of the image of the future in the development of employee professionalism. Science for the Benefit of Humanity — 2016. In E.M. Klimova (Eds.), Proceedings of the annual All-Russian scientific-practical conference of teachers, graduate students and students, dedicated 85th anniversary of MGOU: Faculty of Psychology (pp. 68–70). M.: IIU MGOU. (In Russ.). 

Kotik, М.А. (1989). Psychology and security (3rd ed.). Tallinn: Valgus. (In Russ.). 

Kottler, D., Braun, R. (2001). Psychotherapy counselling. SPb.: Piter. (In Russ.). 

Lavrent’eva, I.V., Ignatenko, K.M. (2015). Identification of educational and professional motivation in the process of studying at a university (based on the material of testing of students-defectologists of 1–3 courses). Molodoi uchenyi (Young scientist), 6 (86), 778–783. (In Russ.). 

Mitina, L.M. (2015). The influence of a teacher’s personality characteristics on the development of his or her psychotherapeutic function. In Psychological means of overcoming difficulties of personal and professional development and preservation of health of subjects of education. SPb.: Nestor-Istoriya. (In Russ.). 

Punko, N.Yu., Iontseva, M.V. (2021). Specifics of the formation of socio-psychological readiness for professional activity in the process of professional formation of students of Moscow universities. Interactive component. Obzor pedagogicheskikh issledovanii (Overview of pedagogical research), 3 (5), 191–194. (In Russ.). 

Schneider, L.B. (2001). Professional identity: A monograph. M.: MOSU. (In Russ.). 

Seiteshev, A.P. (1990) Professional orientation of personality: theory and practice of education. Alma-Ata: Nauka. (In Russ.). 

Sexton, J.B., Helmreich, R.L., Neilands, T.B. et al. (2006). The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire: psychometric properties, benchmarking data, and emerging research. BMC Health Serv Res., 6, 44. 

Suldo, Sh.M., Shaunessy, E., Thalji, A., Michalowski, J., Shaffer, E. (2009). Sources of Stress for Students in High School College Preparatory and General Education Programs Group Differences and Associations with Adjustment. Adolescence, 44 (176), 925–948. 

Tsaranov, K.N., Tarbagaev, A.G., Rakhmatullin, R.E. et al. (2022). Adaptation and initial testing of the Russian-language version of the questionnaire “Attitude to safety” for medical organizations. Menedzher zdravoohraneniya (Health Care Manager), 2, 57–64. (In Russ.). 

Urdan, T., Schoenfelder, E. (2006). Classroom effects on student motivation Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs. Journal of School Psychology, 44 (5), 331–349.