Traditionally, the Annual International Symposium “Education and the City” is attended by MCU partners. One of them this year is the “Contribution to the Future” Charity Fund. The Laboratory of Human Potential Development in Education of the Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education of Moscow City University has been successfully implementing the Personality Potential Development Programme for 5 years already. At the 6th Symposium, which took place from 18 to 20 May 2023, the Fund’s experts and the Laboratory’s staff organised two large-scale events.
On the outcome of the online section “Developing Personal Potential in Education: Design, Diagnosis, Analysis”
The online section, which took place on the first day of the symposium, was opened by Ekaterina Haustova, Head of the Personality Potential Development Programme of the “Contribution to the Future” Charitable Fund. Ekaterina spoke about the values and targets of the Programme, emphasising: “It helps to create in schools and kindergartens an educational environment, in which the culture of relations, pedagogical practices and organisation of space contribute to the development of personal potential of children and adults”. This thesis has been supported by the results of research carried out in the Programme since 2018. For example, it has been shown that teachers’ use of the educational and methodological complex “Social and emotional development of children” influences the dynamics of social and emotional development of primary school students.
Valeria Markova, Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Human Potential Development in Education of the Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education of MCU, shared the results of a recent survey of 745 management teams. Thus, more than 75% of the respondents said that they see positive changes in the social and emotional development of children and an increase in the competence of teachers.
Elena Diryugina, Head of “Methodology and Perspective Research”, spoke about the increasing demand from school and kindergarten leaders participating in the Programme to conduct research on personal potential. In the near future, the Fund will have a platform that will enable all Programme participants to collect, process, store data, analyse and visualise research results in their educational organisations independently.
Andrey Ioffe, Head of the Laboratory of Human Potential Development in Education at the Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education, and the leading researchers of the laboratory Lyudmila Bychkova and Anna Danilina spoke about the block-modular constructor as a tool not only for designing, but also for researching the lesson. In addition, the speakers offered some practical ideas for teachers who have difficulties in implementing the assessment and reflection blocks.
At the end of the section the principal of Lyceum No. 20 in Mezhdurechensk Irina Bozina spoke about the work of professional learning communities. Irina Bozina spoke about how the work of professional learning communities helps to improve the quality of lessons. The lyceum formed 13 communities of interest and taking into account what professional resources and deficits their participants discovered (“Theorists and Practitioners”, “Pedagogical Debut”, “Englishwomen”, etc.). Teachers started jointly mastering the block-modular constructor, using it to design, conduct and analyse lessons, exchange opinions and propose ideas for improving lessons.
On the outcome of the discussion platform “Secondary Vocational Teacher Education: Perspectives on Teacher Training and Development in Teacher Training Colleges”
On 19 May, the second event was held with the participation of experts from the “Contribution to the Future” Charity Fund. The moderators of the discussion platform, Irina Vinogradova, Albina Korableva and Irena Ivleva, discussed the professional development of future teachers in teacher training colleges and the focus of training on the development of students’ personal potential. In addition, they invited the audience to present their experience in supporting students and teachers at teacher training colleges.
Olga Bondareva, Director of the Kursk Teacher Training College, shared her vision of how the demands of the developing education system are changing the teacher training system in the college. She described how the new demands are reflected in the approaches and directions of professional development, new forms of practice and organisation of learning activities.
The specifics of teacher training in a metropolis were discussed by Natalia Vorobyova, Head of the Track of Scientific Research Organisation of the Institute of Secondary Vocational Education named after K.D. Ushinsky of MCU. The panelists showed keen interest in discussing the metropolitan college model presented by Natalia.
Evgeniy Matvienko, Head of Analytics and Interaction with Higher Education Institutions at the “Contribution to the Future” Charitable Fund, emphasised the continuity and succession of professional development of teaching staff. He also presented the continuous cycle of teacher training in the Personality Potential Development Programme.
An important part of the event was the speakers’ ideas about changes in teacher education programmes. The shift in emphasis on the development of personal and professional potential, the development of systemic thinking, and the formation of teamwork skills in the context of future teacher training was emphasised by the speakers:
- Elena Zvyagina, teacher at the Ulyanovsk Teacher Training College;
- Olga Shovskaya, Director of the Lebedyansk Teacher Training College;
- Elena Malysheva, Head of Methodology Department at the Lebedyansky Pedagogical College;
- Irina Reshetneva, Deputy Director for Educational Work at the Lebedyansk Pedagogical College.
The outcome of the discussion was a conversation about the practices of mentoring students and faculty of teacher training colleges.
- Anna Danilina, Leading Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Human Potential Development in Education at the Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education of MCU, and Svetlana Trishkina, training and development manager of the “Support and Community” Track at the “Contribution to the Future” Charity Fund, spoke about their experience in using supervision to resolve professional issues.
- Galina Myakova and Viktoria Zatelepa, employees of the Teacher Training College, presented a case study on the mentoring system in their educational organisation.
