Subject position as a predictor for the integration of future teachers into the digital learning environment

Abstract

Introduction. In the context of digitalisation, the vocational education system is forced to respond flexibly to the challenges and requirements of the developing digital society. The focus of the pedagogical community is shifting to addressing issues of a prognostic nature – preparing future teachers for high-quality professional activities in digital formats, achieving high professional results in the future, and quickly adapting to a dynamically changing education environment. The aim of the article is to comprehend the subjective position of students as a meaning-forming concept (predictor) for the successful entry of a young teacher into professional activities in the context of digitalisation of education. Materials and methods. The study was based on system-activity, subject-personal and environmental approaches, according to which the subject position of the future teacher is considered as an integrative developing quality in the context of personal and professional characteristics, as well as manifested and revealed in the conditions of digital education on the basis of interaction with elements of the digital learning environment. An online questionnaire was chosen as a diagnostic material. The respondents were first-year undergraduates from several Russian universities (N=100). To analyse the obtained data, the methods of quantitative analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, clustering (Ward's hierarchical agglomerative method) were used. Results. It was revealed that for future teachers the most significant are the personality-developing (average value 4.0), value-target (4.0) and activity-regulatory (3.9) components of the subject position in context of digital education. Clustering has shown that it is advisable to pay special attention to the development of information-behavioural, communication-emotional and research components: to expand the digital tools for mastering and transforming content and interaction; develop the skills of network cooperation and dissemination of scientific results (for example, correlations “network community-dissemination of results” r=0.61 were revealed). For each component, a prospective strategy for solving the problem of personal and professional self-development is shown, which should be taken into account when implementing the professional training of future teachers. Conclusion. The subject position of a future teacher will be the basis for successful integration into the digital education environment if there is an awareness of oneself as a subject of prospective professional activity based on constant self-development, focused on quality results, and promising trends.