Implementation of the model of positive civic identity and traditional values of students

Pavlova Kseniya Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0002-8895-249X Senior lecturer; Department of Theoretical and Applied Psychology; Zabaikalsky State University 129 Babushkina str., Chita, Zabaikalsky Krai, 672000, Russia, room 508 p.kseniya13@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

Due to the intensification of the processes of formation of Russian civilization in recent years, a significant shift in the value paradigm of society has been taking place in our country. After the domination of the values of communism and then postmodernism, the traditional values that united the peoples of Russia into a single whole for thousands of years began to be recognized as significant. However, the development of these processes, which have a positive impact on society, faces a number of problems, one of which is the spread among young people of the values of the West, imposed on Russia in the 90s of the twentieth century and retaining their influence to the present day. Students make up a significant part of the youth, the human capital of our country. The crisis of traditional values, an increase in criticality and pluralism in this area, as well as a decrease in the influence of family and authorities have changed the nature of the relationship between students and society, distorted the process of their socialization ^[16]. Relatively recently, the issue of human civil identity has become more relevant. This happened in connection with the substantiation and inclusion in the public and scientific context of the concept of the "Russian multinational people", which in the last decade has been one of the foundations of the state and scientific discourse on strategies for ensuring national unity ^[6]. In connection with the above, it seems relevant to study the issues of civic identity and values of university students.

Literature review

Let us outline the basic concepts of this article and important aspects of domestic research on civic identity and traditional values.

Identity is a person's awareness of their belonging to something (a group, a society) and at the same time preserving their uniqueness ^[14]. According to S. G. Chukhin and E. V. Chukhina, the concept of identity refers to a person's sense of himself as a person (within the family and clan), as part of society and culture, as well as as a unique being ^[20]. Erik Erikson writes that the main sub-components of identity are identity and integrity ^[21].

As noted by G. U. Soldatova ^[17], N. M. Lebedeva, A. N. Tatarko and others, an important factor performing an integration function in the process of socio-economic development of society is the civil identity of a person. L. M. Drobizheva and S. V. Ryzhova write that "civic identity is self–identification with the citizens of a country, the idea of the state, the country – the image of "we", a sense of community, solidarity, responsibility for the affairs of the country" ^[5].

We understand civic identity as a person's awareness of his belonging to a particular civil society and his feelings, experiences and behavior determined by it, manifested in a value attitude towards the history and culture of the country and people, readiness and ability to responsibly fulfill civil rights and duties.

Civic identity has two important characteristics – certainty (degree of clarity, clarity, formality) and valence (degree of positivity-negativity). The certainty of group (civil, ethnic) identity is extremely important for a person as a social being ^[10].

The main problem for modern scientific research on the topic of civic identity is the need to clarify the parameters and characteristics of this phenomenon, since in the context of the spread of various ideological concepts in society, it is necessary to reach a broad public agreement on concepts such as basic civic values.

The National Policy Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025 focuses on the need to shift issues aimed at assessing direct interaction between representatives of civil society and the state to a sphere that directs the efforts of all groups to build a civic identity. Self-awareness is formed here, based on the recognition of the importance of belonging to one's state, people, and society. The text of the Strategy emphasizes the need for citizens to take responsibility for the fate of the country, for observing civil rights and duties, and for adhering to the basic values of Russian society.

Thus, the text of the Strategy presents and substantiates the goals and objectives of programs aimed at the formation of civic identity. This formation is presented as a purposeful activity of the citizens of the state, which is based on ideas about the socio-cultural world of Russia ^[18]. In this context, the role of the educational institution used by the state to teach the younger generation the skills of self-determination and self-presentation in the context of interaction with the state and other social and civil institutions seems significant.

It is obvious that modern Russian youth form their values in the context of a value confrontation between modern value perspectives, including the alternative offered by Western or so-called "universal" values, and those values that have been developed over the centuries in Russian culture and are being actualized today as traditional Russian values ^[15]. The personality inevitably focuses on a complex set of values, some of which belong to the category of traditional and spiritual, and some are significantly dependent on the vital needs of the individual and are determined by them. In particular, in the concepts of V. P. Tugarinov and O. G. Drobnitsky, values are defined both as significance and as an ideal at the same time ^[23].

But at the same time, E. G. Karpova notes that, despite the changes taking place in socio-economic life, such terminal values as love, family and health are the most important for modern people ^[8]. Thus, despite the strong positions that individualization and rationalization occupy in modern society, the basic values of youth in Russia remain traditional: family, children, friendship, love, freedom, education. However, it is important to keep in mind that the ways of achieving goals have changed, which are now based on individual success strategies ^[3].

Scientists note that a person does not receive values in a ready-made form, but forms them through such forms as active cognition and life experience ^[2]. G. I. Chizhakova writes that social institutions of society become a tool for value formation, the most effective of which is education ^[19]. According to M. S. Yanitsky, the teacher plays an important role in the formation and transfer of values ^[22]. V. M. Voronina and M. M. Itskovich believe that the learning process forms students' own value system ^[1].

The process of value formation in education is complex and includes both personal factors and social influences, which indicates the need to develop new pedagogical principles and technologies based on the achievements of modern psychology, taking into account the requirements of the Russian value-semantic paradigm. M. S. Zhumatayeva, M. K. Bapayeva, K. U. Shayzhanova believe that the student age represents the peak of intellectual and physical development, At this time the qualities of determination, determination, perseverance, independence and self-control of students are strengthened ^[7]. But the processes of personality formation are complex, as students experience great physical, mental and moral stress. At the same time, modern young people face the instability of society.: There are no clear ideals from either the past or the present, which makes it difficult to orient oneself in life. On the one hand, they are expected to grow up and take responsibility, on the other, they are treated like children. There is an increase in youth infantilism. Nevertheless, the student age remains key for the formation of personality and the development of society as a whole ^[4].

According to T. V. Kostyak, students are very sensitive to changes taking place in society, therefore they can be considered as an "indicator" of the process of transformation of youth identity ^[9]. The transformation of identity among students begins already during the period of adaptation to new learning conditions: this process affects the entire personality structure, resulting in changes at the psychophysiological, individual, personal and social levels, which, in turn, leads to the emergence of new values, beliefs, roles and relationships, forming a new identity of students ^[11].

The above makes it necessary to study the civic identity and values of university students in depth. The theoretical and empirical basis allowed us to formulate the purpose of our research as a whole – to experimentally prove the possibility of increasing the positive civic identity and traditional values of students through the implementation of a specially developed model of formation. The purpose of the article is to present the results of a formative experiment confirming the effectiveness of the model.

Organization and research methods

Based on the analysis of modern psychological and pedagogical studies of students' civic identity and values and the results of a ascertaining study ^{[12; 13]}, we have developed a model for the formation of positive civic identity and traditional values of students (see Fig. 1). This model was based on three methodological approaches: personality–oriented, system-activity, competence-based. The implementation of the principles of these approaches was the most important psychological and pedagogical condition for the effectiveness of our model (see Figure 1). The core of the model was psychological and pedagogical interaction with students through classroom and extracurricular activities.

Figure 1 – Model of formation of positive civic identity and traditional values of students

The model was implemented through three interrelated stages: diagnostic (ascertaining), formative, and final (control). After the ascertaining stage, a block of elective academic disciplines was included in the content of the basic professional educational program of higher education (FGOS HE 3++) and in the curriculum in the field of training 03/37.01 - Psychology, the Psychology profile: "Psychology of values and meanings of personality", "Training for the development of value orientations", for which working papers were developed. evaluation funds and programs. The psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of a positive civic identity and traditional personality values included classroom work with extracurricular activities, which allowed to expand the knowledge gained in the classroom, increase cognitive interest and creative initiative of students. Extracurricular work was an important part of the formative program and implied the inclusion of students in socially significant activities: excursions, watching films and analyzing them, photo shoots, acts of kindness, volunteering, and so on.

The sample of participants in the experiment on testing the formative program consisted of two groups. The experimental group consisted of students studying psychology; the control group consisted of students studying in the field of "special (defectological) education" (see Table 1).

Table 1 – Characteristics of experimental and control samples

Organizationally, the experiment consisted in conducting special classroom classes on the psychology of personal values with full-time psychological students according to the academic schedule: 2 times in the upper week for 1 hour and 30 minutes and 3 times in the lower week for 1 hour and 30 minutes for 4 months. As a result, 80 classes were held in accordance with the stated requirements of the curriculum 03/37.01 - Psychology, profile "Psychology". Extracurricular activities involving students in socially significant activities were also conducted.

For psychodiagnostics at the initial, ascertaining, and control stages of the experiment, the following methods were used: the value questionnaire Sh. Schwartz's questionnaire on identity in 16 categories (M. S. Yanitsky et al.), R. Inglehart's method (modified by M. S. Yanitsky), a method for measuring the severity of civic identity (N. M. Lebedeva, A. N. Tatarko).

The results of the study and their discussion

As a result of the conducted experimental work on the formation of positive civic identity and traditional values of students, significant shifts in the indicators of components of the identity structure and values in the experimental group were obtained.

Figure 2 shows the average values of the values according to the "Value Questionnaire" method. Before and after the participation in the implementation of the claimed model of the respondents of the experimental group, as well as the respondents of the control group, with whom the experiment was not conducted, but the primary and repeated diagnosis was carried out.

Figure 2 – The average values of the respondents' values in the experimental and control groups at the individual level using the "Value Questionnaire" method. Schwartz's"

Figure 2 shows that in the experimental group, at the individual level, there were changes in indicators for the following values: "Conformity", "Tradition", "Benevolence", "Security". The smallest changes are seen in the significance of the "Stimulation" value. It should be noted that in the control group there were also shifts in the direction of increasing values such as "Stimulation", "Hedonism", "Achievements", "Safety".

Despite the fact that during the control diagnosis, the average values of the values indicators clearly demonstrated the resulting formative effects in the experimental group and the presence of shifts (due to the natural development of personality and the influence of social development trends) in the control group, it was necessary to assess the reliability of the shifts using mathematical and statistical data processing. The Wilcoxon T–test was applied for this purpose. The processing results are presented in Table 2.

Table 2 – The reliability of shifts (according to the Wilcoxon T–test) in indicators of values at the individual level among respondents using the "Value questionnaire Sh. Schwartz's"

Note: "*" significant differences at p < 0.05;

"**" significant differences at p<0.01.

The table shows that in the experimental group, at the individual level, students experienced a shift in the hierarchy of values after the implementation of the model ("Conformity" (r = 0.02 at p<0.05), "Tradition" (r = 0.001 at p<0.01), "Benevolence" (r = 0.003 at p<0.01), "Safety" (r = 0.013 at p<0.05). There were no significant changes in values at the individual level in the control group.

According to these results, the most important positive effect of the experiment, the program of which is designed in accordance with the model of formation of values and civic identity among students, can be considered an increase in values associated with other people, which reflects the achievement by participants of a higher level of not only value, but also personal, moral development.

There was no decrease in the values of universalism, independence, stimulation, hedonism and achievements, but this was not the task of the experiment, because these values themselves are not bad, it is only important that they do not "obscure" other values from a person, other people, society as a whole, the state.

Let us further present the shifts (and an assessment of their significance by the T-criterion) in the hierarchy of components according to 16 categories of identity of respondents in the experimental group before and after the implementation of the model and respondents in the control group during primary and repeated diagnosis using the identity questionnaire (M. S. Yanitsky et al., 2018). See Table 3.

Table 3 – The reliability of shifts (according to the Wilcoxon T–test) in the average ranks of components (in 16 categories) of respondents' identity according to the PO identity questionnaire (M. S. Yanitsky et al., 2018)

Note: "*" significant differences at p < 0.05;

"**" significant differences at p<0.01.

The model developed by us, implemented through psychological and pedagogical influence, had a definite impact on all the considered components of the identity of the students of the experimental group. The importance of the identities "I as a representative of my people", "I as a citizen of my country" and "I as a resident of this city" has significantly increased. At the same time, the significance rank of the Self-image decreased slightly: "I am like a student" (r = 0.005 with p<0.01). Such components of identity as "I am as a man/ woman", "I am as a son / daughter", "I am as a unique person", "I am as a friend/ girlfriend", "I am as a follower of the species Homo sapiens" also underwent a slight decrease, but here the changes do not reach the degree of statistical significance. At the statistical level, according to these parameters, it is legitimate to say that there are no changes.

There were no statistically significant changes in the hierarchy of identity components in the control group. This is essential for us. This means that in the absence of specially directed formative work with students' values and civic identity, there are no spontaneous effects in the development of civic identity. In the experimental group, the recorded changes occurred not due to or in spite of some natural tendencies in the development of personality or social life, but due to the work we carried out shaping the students' civic identity, built in accordance with the developed model.

Let us now turn to the data obtained by the method of R. Inglehart (modified by M. S. Yanitsky). Let's consider the changes at the control stage in the number of respondents assigned to a specific value type in the experimental group, and the results of repeated diagnosis in the control group (Figure 3).

Figure 3 – The number of respondents (in%) assigned to the selected value types in the experimental and control groups

After the psychological and pedagogical impact, there were changes in the value orientations of the respondents in the experimental group. The percentage of students who focus on the values of individualization has decreased, and the number of those who choose the values of adaptation and socialization has increased. At the same time, the proportion of those classified as intermediate has decreased, which indicates the value self-determination of this part of the students as a result of the implementation of our program. In the control group, upon repeated diagnosis, the number of respondents classified as individualizing type increased, and the number of respondents classified as adapting and socializing type decreased.

Let us turn to the changes in the indicators of students' civic identity according to the methodology of N. M. Lebedeva and A. N. Tatarko. This technique can be considered key for evaluating the results of the experiment, because it reflects changes in students' civic identity in the most direct form, unlike others, where we evaluated civic identity indirectly, "collecting" it from individual value manifestations and particular manifestations of personal identity.

The comparative data obtained using the methodology of N. M. Lebedeva and A. N. Tatarko, reflecting the "strength" and "valence" (degree of positivity) of the respondents' civic identity, are presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4 – Average values of the indicators of civic identity of the respondents of the experimental group before and after the implementation of the model and the respondents of the control group during primary and repeated diagnosis using the method of measuring the severity of civic identity (N. M. Lebedeva, A. N. Tatarko)

After the psychological and pedagogical impact, there were changes in the indicators of civic identity of the respondents in the experimental group: the indicators of "Strength" and "Valence" (degree of positivity) of civic identity increased significantly. In the control group, the indicators of civic identity according to the method of N. M. Lebedeva and A. N. Tatarko were initially slightly higher in both characteristics during the initial diagnosis, but upon repeated diagnosis, there were minor changes in the indicators of the respondents in the control group (we are talking about hundredths of a percent, which do not change the overall picture and the logic of the results). It is legitimate to talk about the presence of changes in the strength and valence of civic identity in the experimental group and the absence of significant changes in the control group, which confirms the effectiveness of the experiment.

Thus, we can conclude that the model we have developed for the formation of positive civic identity and traditional values of students is effective.

Conclusion

The results of the conducted research allow us to draw the following conclusions.

1. Civic identity is understood as awareness of one's belonging to a particular civil society and the feelings, experiences and behavior determined by it, manifested in a value attitude towards the history and culture of the country and people, readiness and ability to responsibly fulfill civil rights and duties. In modern Russia, the formation of the civic identity of young people helps to unite them, forming a sense of belonging to the country and its culture.

2. The role of traditional values in modern Russian society is increasing. The importance of education in their formation among young people is increasing. Learning carries out not only the process of knowledge transfer, but also is a tool for the formation of value orientations. The process of forming value orientations is complex and includes both personal factors and social influences, which indicates the need to develop new pedagogical principles and technologies based on the achievements of modern psychology, taking into account the requirements of the modern Russian value-semantic paradigm.

3. The implementation of a model for the formation of positive civic identity and traditional values of students, including specially organized interaction with students during classroom and extracurricular activities (socially significant activities), has shown the effectiveness of the model and contributed to the increase of positive civic identity and a number of traditional values. As a result of the formative experiment, significant shifts in the hierarchy of values such as conformity, tradition, benevolence, and security were obtained. Their importance to the respondents has increased.

This study examines only a part of the stated complex problem of the formation of civic identity and traditional values of youth, which implies its further development.