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PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL UPBRINGING AND TEACHING AND THE TEACHER’S PERSONALITY

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.13

The article raises the issue of the role of the teacher’s personality in the process of mastering the material of spiritual and moral subjects by pupils and students. The sources and literature related to both the Christian spiritual heritage and the work of modern scholars are used in the study.
Keywords: authority, teacher, upbringing, spiritual education, personality.

Datsiuk O. A.
Candidate of Theology, Archpriest,
Khmelnytsky Institute of IAPM, Khmelnytsky, Ukraine

It is known that success in the perception of a subject is a subjective phenomenon: much depends on the personality of the teacher. Christianity preaches the need to fulfill certain rules of life – the commandments of God, thanks to which a person becomes spiritually better. When teaching such subjects as Biblical History and Christian Ethics, we should aim to interest the student in the subject so that the Christian commandments become the dominant ones in life, and then there is hope that a person’s life will become more orderly and meaningful.

The methodology of spiritual and intellectual upbringing and teaching should awaken the soul, encourage a reassessment of values and change of life. It should be a kind of unity of faith, science, and practical action. It is well known that the inner state of a person is projected onto external behavior.

The Holy Scriptures clearly state this: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), but hell is also within a person, and it depends on him what he feels more often, and no external rules and moral maxims will have any effect if we do not work on cultivating the inner, spiritual.

The purpose of the article is to attempt to study the teacher’s personality, as well as the factors that positively influence the moral education of young people.

So, to answer the question: “Who should teach such a subject as ‘Biblical History and Christian Ethics’?” – teachers of history, foreign literature, or perhaps priests? Practice shows that it doesn’t matter who they are by profession, as long as they are people who are distinguished by the intensity of their spiritual life and speak about their personal experience of God, while staying within the framework of the program. Only then will teaching and the process of education show positive results. Furthermore, it should be noted that the main integral quality of a teacher, which expresses the “educational power” and his influence on a young soul, is a special giftedness, vocation to teaching, elevation and talent that students feel and which inspires them to trust and follow.

Such abilities are a kind of “charisma”, in other words, “God’s grace”, or a gift to a person (which does not exclude the need to work on oneself). A true teacher who wants his subject to be learned must have authority among young people, embodying the words of J. A. Comenius that love should precede learning.

As for the attitude to the educational material, the teacher should focus primarily on the inner meaning, the depth of the subject, which today, unfortunately, has been replaced by a focus on the volume of material. Looking at modern curricula, this is not surprising, because due to the satiety of the breadth and quantity of information, students often begin to lose interest in the subject.

To avoid this, teachers should take care of their inner world, and look at science not as a sum of certain knowledge, but as a gradual expansion of the way they perceive the world and themselves in it, that is, their own worldview. Thus, spiritual and moral subjects cannot be taught by force; students need to be motivated, otherwise it will be a waste of time.

We believe that we should try to find the inner meaning in everything that happens, to see everyone as a living thought. Then the world of knowledge will appear before the teacher and the student not as an inherently alien personality, but as the world in its unity with the subject – the teacher.

Much attention is paid to the problem of the teacher’s personality in teaching and upbringing in the works of Vasyl Aleksandrovych Sukhomlynsky. In particular, he wrote: “We, teachers, must develop and deepen pedagogical ethics in our teams… This area of our pedagogical work is almost unexplored and forgotten in many schools, although there is a lot of talk about it. I know the work of many schools, many teachers, and this gives me the right to assert that words about sensitivity are often only spoken, but not realized in practice, turning into demagoguery…” [6, с. 19-20].

According to Sukhomlynsky: “…for a child, the main help is compassion…” [8, p. 19-20] and nothing strikes him or her as much as indifference. Sukhomlinsky always argued that the moral qualities of a teacher are a decisive factor in the education of a student’s personality. The art of education, in his opinion, is the ability of a teacher to open up to every student, even the most intellectually backward, those areas of development of his or her spirit where he or she can reach the top. One of these spheres is moral development, where the road to perfection is not closed to anyone: everyone can become great and unique.

In addition to the above, researchers believe that in order to succeed in educating young people, a modern teacher must have the following characteristics: creative thinking, positive ethical qualities, or, in other words, Christian virtues – high values: faith, patriotism, social activity, and love for children. The formation of these traits is primarily associated with a change in motivational and value orientations, a move away from authoritarianism, due to factors such as a low level of culture, an attitude of achieving results by any means, ignorance of psychology, etc. To paraphrase the Orthodox theologian who said that Christians must become human before they can be deified, in today’s situation it is appropriate to repeat with the famous philosopher, educator, and psychologist Pavel Petrovich Blonsky: before you start teaching humanity to your student, “teacher, become human!”

And what, in fact, is “human in man” in the pedagogical aspect?
Researchers believe that it is creative thinking and dialogic communication. It is emphasized that the most important things in a person’s life happen in moments of inner dialogue, the so-called state of “not being in tune with oneself.” Here we are reminded of the Beatitudes, where “blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matt. 5:3), that is, those who recognize their spiritual poverty and imperfection

Further, the teacher’s ability to translate life or social situations into pedagogical and educational ones is important. The so-called “pedagogical reflection” is also important, which includes the teacher’s awareness of the true motives of his or her activity and attention to whether the student perceives the educational material, as well as the ability to distinguish his or her own problems from those of the students.

High ethical qualities of the teacher are also needed – virtues, which, according to Archimandrite Platon (Igumnov), are “stable characteristics of the personality that testify to its compliance with the ideal norm of human existence” [4, p. 27]. Ideally, Christian virtues are the main value orientations of a teacher, among which the “purely pedagogical” virtues of patience and love dominate.

In general, love for young people should be the main trait of a teacher that turns a school into a family. If a teacher has love, his or her influence will be strong and fruitful. The fruits of such love will be mutual respect and trust on the part of students.

Modern scientists have even developed a kind of “technology” for developing this feeling in oneself. 1. It should be understood that pupils and students are young people, so they behave like young people. 2. Perceive each child as he or she is – with pros and cons, with all the peculiarities. 3. To find out as much as possible why a pupil or student has become “like this” and try to develop compassion for the child. 4. Establish personal contact, support with words. 5. Not to miss the moment of emotional response from the student, to take an effective part in his/her problems. 6. Do not hesitate to show your love, to establish a friendly, cordial, sincere tone in the practice of everyday communication, but without familiarity.

In addition to the above advice, when considering the problem from a Christian perspective, we should add another important detail: a Christian teacher needs to remember that love for students is not only achieved through wisdom, education, tact, etc., but is also prayed for, as the Lord clearly teaches us in the Holy Scriptures: “And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22), so it is necessary to pray sincerely to the Lord for your students and ask for the gift of love for them.

In discussing this topic, we should especially focus on such an important characteristic of a teacher as spirituality. Protopresbyter Vasyl Zenkovsky speaks of spirituality as a creative force in a person. “The beginning of spirituality in a person is not a separate sphere, not a special separate life, but a creative force that permeates the whole of human life (the life of both soul and body) and determines a new quality of life. The beginning of spirituality is therefore the beginning of integrity and organic hierarchy in man…” [2, с. 46]. Thus, in order to turn pupils and students to spirituality, to interest them in moral and ethical subjects, such as “Biblical History and Christian Ethics,” the teacher himself must be a carrier of the highest spiritual values. As he develops spiritually, he spiritualizes his entire sphere of relations with reality.

The high spiritual level of a teacher, his love for God, pupil and student, as well as for his subject and the whole world, is a decisive factor in the effectiveness of spiritual and moral education.

In conclusion, we note that authoritarian pedagogy is being replaced by a pedagogy of cooperation. The personality of a pupil and a student can only be nurtured by the personality of the teacher. That is, the teacher is not only a “lesson teacher,” but he or she is a mentor, a friend, and to some extent a confessor. This is what the best teachers are. This is the ideal of a teacher who educates a young soul and strengthens it on the thorny path to knowledge and a high moral life, which is possible only in God and with God.

List of references

1. The Holy Bible, the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Toronto, 1989. 1528 p.
2. Zenkovsky V. Pedagogy, “Christian Life”. Kyiv, 2002.
3. Zenkovsky V. Protopresbyter. On the threshold of growing up. Kamianets-Podilskyi. 2000.
4. Igumnov Platon, Archimandrite. Moral theology. Mykolaiv, 2006.
5. Sukhomlynsky V. O. Parental pedagogy. Kyiv: Soviet School, 1978. 263 p.
6. Sukhomlynsky VO I give my heart to children. Kyiv: Soviet school, 1978. 264 p.
7. Ushynskyi K.D. Native word. A book for students. Kyiv : Lestvitsa, 2003. 448 p.