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PECULIARITIES OF SPIRITUALITY FORMATION IN JUNIOR SCHOOLCHILDREN

The structure of the individual’s spirituality determines the content and structure of modern education, allowing us to assert that “the content of modern education is determined by the nature and organization of society” and consists in the transfer and assimilation of the experience of upbringing of previous generations, the development of the individual’s spirituality, education and development of humanistic qualities.
Keywords: features, formation, spirituality, junior schoolchildren.

Pidan A. S.
PhD student of the first (bachelor’s) level of higher education,
Mykolaiv National University named after V. O. Sukhomlynskyi, Mykolaiv, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.116

Elementary school students lay the foundations of spirituality, actively form their worldview, spiritual qualities, the entire system of ideals and values, and establish the basic coordinates of life and directions of creativity.

The main feature of this age is a change in the serious position of the individual: yesterday’s preschooler becomes a student, a member of the classroom and school teams, where one can observe new norms of behavior and coordinate one’s desires with the new routine, etc. All of this is perceived by the child as a completely new moment in life, which is also accompanied by a restructuring of the system of relationships with adults, the most authoritative figure among whom is the teacher.

So far, it is advisable to talk only about the most characteristic and relatively well-established features of this age, since the social rethinking of the goals and role of primary education will also lead to a change in its place and importance in the child’s spiritual world.

The development of the psyche occurs, first of all, on the basis of the leading activity for a certain age period. One of the main activities of primary school children is learning, which significantly changes the motives of their behavior and opens up new sources of personal and cognitive potential.

By engaging in new learning activities, children gradually get used to its requirements, and in turn, compliance with the latter leads to the development of new personality qualities that were absent in preschool age.

The main new developments in the psyche of a primary school child are arbitrariness as a special quality of mental processes, an internal plan of action and development. It is thanks to them that the psyche of a junior schoolchild reaches the level of development necessary for further education in the middle school, the transition to adolescence with special opportunities and requirements.

Children of this age are very emotional, but gradually they begin to control their emotions, become more restrained and balanced.

The main source of emotions is educational and playful activities (successes and failures in school, watching TV programs, team relationships, participating in games, watching movies, reading literature, etc.) The emotional sphere of younger students consists of new experiences: joy of learning, doubt, surprise, which, in turn, serve as the basis for the development of curiosity and the formation of cognitive interests.

Awareness of one’s own emotions and understanding of their manifestation by other people develops gradually. Younger students are mostly characterized by a cheerful mood, a desire for a higher appreciation of their own personal qualities and real relationships with people, etc. As a result, a child may be rude, belligerent, short-tempered, and exhibit other forms of emotional imbalance. Younger students are emotionally vulnerable. They develop a sense of self-esteem, the outward manifestation of which is an angry reaction to any humiliation of a person and a positive experience of praise.

They develop feelings of sympathy, which play an important role in the formation of small groups in the classroom and spontaneous associations. Classroom relationships are a factor in the formation of children’s moral feelings, including feelings of friendship, duty, sociability, and humanity. At the same time, first-graders tend to overestimate their moral qualities and underestimate those of their peers. As children grow up, they become more self-critical.

School education contributes to the development of the volitional qualities of younger students, requiring them to consciously perform mandatory tasks, arbitrarily regulate their behavior, actively direct attention, listen, memorize, think, coordinate their needs with the teacher’s requirements, etc. The will at this age is characterized by temporary instability. Younger pupils are easily persuaded.

Gradually, they become more demanding of themselves and others, and the range of their sense of duty and understanding of the need to fulfill it expands.

They develop strong-willed character traits such as self-confidence, perseverance, independence, etc. The character at this age is only being formed, so impulsiveness and stubbornness are often observed. This is mainly due to insufficient training of voluntary processes. The behavior of children clearly shows the peculiarities of their temperament caused by the properties of the nervous system. At the same time, most junior schoolchildren are sensitive, inquisitive, and open in their feelings.

The self-esteem of younger students is specific, situational, and largely determined by the teacher’s assessment. The scope of aspirations is mainly the result of successes and failures in previous activities. If there are more failures than successes in a child’s academic activities, and the teacher constantly reinforces this situation with poor grades, this leads to the development of feelings of self-doubt and inferiority, which tend to spread to other activities.

List of references

1. Educating the spirituality of primary schoolchildren in the family. School World. 2003. № 37 (213). С. 9-16.
2. Spiritual education of students. Primary education. 2004. № 22. С. 4-29.
3. Zabrozky M. Fundamentals of age psychology: a textbook. Ternopil: Bogdan, 2002. С. 58-70.