Student's motivational and value correlates specific for the engineering activity

Shumakova Ol'ga Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0001-9928-0548 Doctor of Psychology Professor; Department of Psychology; South Ural State Medical University 454092, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, Chelyabinsk, Vorovskiy str., 66, room 220 olgash37@yandex.ru Other publications by this author     Uvarina Natalia Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0002-1490-3302 Doctor of Pedagogy Professor; Vocational Pedagogical Institute; South Ural State Humanitarian Pedagogical University Deputy Director for Scientific Work; Professional Pedagogical Institute of the SUSGPU 46A Bazhova str., Chelyabinsk region, 454074, Russia nuvarina@yandex.ru Tyurina Natalia Anatolevna Lecturer; Department of Psychology; South Ural State Medical University Deputy Director of the College; Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation 64 Vorovskiy str., Chelyabinsk region, 454141, Russia natalya.tyurina.7676@mail.ru Prigarina Tatiana Viktorovna Senior Lecturer; Department of Foreign Languages; South Ural State University 454080, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, ave. 76 Lenin Street prigarinatv@susu.ru

Shumakov Vadim Anatolevich ORCID: 0000-0002-7963-2320 PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor; Department of Psychology; South Ural State Medical University 64 Vorovskiy str., Chelyabinsk region, 454141, Russia v.shumakov@inbox.ru

Introduction

The training of a modern technical specialist is a significant and urgent task of professional education. One of her problem areas is occupied by the issues of psychological factors of readiness to perform various types of professional engineering tasks ^[1]. The development of human capital, the role of personal qualities in the processes of industrialization has recently increasingly become the focus of attention of researchers ^[2].

The modern educational process at a technical college needs to update the organizational forms of training, approaches and methods of working with the younger generation of future technical specialists, which would take into account not only the need to achieve educational goals, but also the formation of a specialist's personality, increasing his interest in the profession he is learning. In this regard, the individual and personal characteristics of a future specialist at the stage of studying at a technical college become the subject of psychological and pedagogical research. It should be noted that the relevance of studying the personality of a future specialist is determined, on the one hand, by the need to find new reserves in the educational process of training mid-level specialists with a high level of professional motivation and sustained interest in professional activity, and, on the other hand, by identifying students' internal, personal resources that allow them to be used in the educational process as factors of readiness formation. solve various types of production tasks.

One of the indicators of the future technical specialist's readiness for production activities is the focus on the engineering type of activity. It should be noted that preparation for engineering and preparation for production activities are not identical. For middle-level specialists studying at a technical college, production activities are closely related to engineering activities, namely, material production, participation in the production of technical equipment together with an engineer, as well as in a pronounced technical orientation of labor actions. The performance of this activity actually forms the professional core of a specialist and determines the content of his training. When mastering work functions, the student shows his own attitude towards them: high-quality, responsible and creative performance of his duties is based on the motivation and personal preferences of the future specialist.

The purpose of our research is to identify the stable interrelationships of motivational and value indicators and orientation towards types of engineering activities among technical students.

Object of research: personal characteristics of future technical specialists

Subject of the study: motivational and value correlates of orientation to the type of engineering activity among technical students.

In our study, we believe that each focus on an engineering activity will be interrelated with certain motivational and value characteristics of a future technical specialist: motivation ensures success in mastering the type of engineering activity, interest promotes stable involvement in technical and engineering problems, value attitude generates awareness of the significance and importance of certain aspects of engineering in the structure of professional self-determination of the future specialist.

Theoretical overview

Preparation for professional activity related to the production of material goods involves future specialists mastering the basics of modern production technologies, and independent work in production is embodied in the skillful use of tools, technical devices, reading diagrams and drawings, which is reflected in the content of technical education. Given that modern production activities are associated with technological processes, high labor intensity, and often with psychoemotional stress, the development of physical and mental strength of the employee, the attention of researchers and practitioners focuses on the problem of maintaining working capacity and preserving the health of employees. Technical specialists are no exception: their work is associated with self-realization in the profession, with interaction with engineering workers, with frequent periods of monotony of labor actions along with the need to show creativity, technical ingenuity, perseverance and responsibility in solving production tasks. This leads to the actualization of individual and personal resources of a specialist, the need for their preservation and development.

The researchers focus on cognitive, activity, and cognitive features ^[3], as well as psychological readiness for professional activity and the problem of professional choice of technical specialties. Thus, the work of T. A. Mayboroda notes the fact that the main requirements for engineers should be considered the ability to self-learn, a well-developed mechanism for making technical decisions, and the ability to select information ^[4]. In general, as noted by foreign researcher R. N. Hafni, preparing a person for life in modern industry requires improving the quality of education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics ^[5]. In the training of a specialist, according to A.M. Ryan, it is necessary to take into account the factor of professional reliability, which is provided not only by professional knowledge, skills, but also by certain personal qualities. When selecting specialists, the specifics of the working conditions in which they should work in the realities of industry progress, such as virtuality, globalization, transparency, are taken into account ^[6].

E. V. Balakshina's research notes that critical thinking, a high level of logical and imaginative thinking, as well as self-regulation, neuropsychiatric stability, organization, the ability to communicate effectively, emotional stability, and high efficiency are professionally important qualities of readiness to perform engineering activities ^[7]. According to T. Lesener, what is important for a specialist is not only the working conditions, but also the characteristics of the work ^[8]. The main psychological factor of the professional identity of an engineer in the study of O.R. Tuchina, L.S. Burlachenko noted an attentive, responsible, scrupulous attitude to work, which manifests itself regardless of the gender of the specialist; at the same time, men pay attention to their emotional, volitional and leadership qualities, and women to financial viability ^[9].

The formation of the personality of a future teaching engineer, according to V. V. Bondarenko, is represented by the features of motivational support for cognitive activity ^[10], and along with cognitive processes in the general activity of an engineer for professional and personal development, as noted in Lee Joosung's study, his imagination is essential; it is noted that the development of creativity is ensured by the exchange of knowledge in in the process of professional training ^[11].

In Russian research, special attention is paid to the personal qualities of engineers that allow them to successfully perform professional tasks and related work functions. T. P. Kovalenok notes that performing technical tasks is associated with the formation of social qualities and strong-willed traits of a specialist, such as monitoring and evaluating their own activity, modeling and planning processes ^[12]. In the study of D. V. Lastovenko and A. A. Muzalevskaya, for example, the most important professional qualities of engineers in the rocket and space industry were attention, the ability to predict, neuropsychiatric stability, memory, imagination and stress tolerance ^[13]. Also, some studies, in particular S. I. Balyaev, N. N. Morozova, and S. N. Nikishov, focus on the coping behavior of an engineer, his stress tolerance, and the locus of control. It has been revealed that increased personal responsibility in the coping process is associated with a lower probability of emotional involvement in a difficult situation ^[14].

Thus, psychological readiness for engineering is one of the important aspects of training technical specialists in vocational education.

In general, summarizing the psychological characteristics of a person's orientation towards engineering, L. A. Larionova comes to the conclusion that a person's readiness for professional activity among students of technical specialties is a purposeful expression of personality, manifested in a combination of professional knowledge, skills, motives and professionally significant personality traits that ensure successful inclusion in professional activities. activity ^[15]. It has been revealed that future engineers prioritize the values of material well-being, respect for others, help and mercy for other people. Students with a personal focus on business are characterized by a positive attitude towards their chosen profession, interest in it and motivation to achieve success.

The theoretical analysis allowed us to determine the allocation of motivational and value-based personal characteristics, such as internal and external motivation, humanistic and pragmatic values, as well as interest in the field of technical activity, which are more or less important for certain types of personal orientation towards engineering in a future technical specialist.

Materials and research methods

The study sample consisted of 125 students from a technical college specializing in Mechanical Engineering Technology; the average age of the students was 19.2 years. The study was conducted during the academic period at the end of the adaptation period for the academic year in the middle of the academic semester. Diagnostic techniques were used: 1) "Orientation to the type of engineering activity" (author O.P. Godlinik) to determine the leading type of orientation to engineering activities – research, design, production or organizational; 2) "Motivation of professional activity" (author K. Zamfir) - to determine the motivational complex of a personality, which reveals the internal and external external (positive and negative) motivation; 3) axiological orientation of personality (authors A.V. Kaptsov, L.V. Karpushina) – to determine the formation of personal values of self-development and creativity (humanistic orientation), achievements, material well-being and preservation of individuality (pragmatic orientation); 4) "Golomstock's map of interests" (author A.E. Golomstock, modified by O. P. Meshkovskaya, etc.) – to determine the formation of interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering.

Spearman's mathematical and statistical method of rank correlation (rs) was used to measure the strength and direction of the correlation between the focus on engineering activities and the motivational and value indicators of the subjects.

Research results and discussion

The diagnostic results using the method "Orientation to the type of engineering activity" (O.P. Godlinik) were distributed throughout the sample as follows: the research type of orientation to engineering activity is expressed to a greater extent in 1.6% of students, design and engineering - in 12%, production - 76%, organizational – 10.4%. In terms of the average score, the degree of severity of each type of orientation in the sample was shown as follows: research - 4.2 points, design – 6.2 points, production – 8.4 points, organizational – 3.6 points.

The results of the study of motivation indicators using the "Motivation of professional activity" methodology (author K. Zamfir) were distributed as follows: 80% of students have internal motivation for professional activity, the same number – 80% – have external positive motivation, 20% have a predominance of external negative motivation. The average score of internal motivation was 2.5 points, external positive motivation – 2.5 points, internal negative motivation – 2.0 points.

The results of the study of indicators using the "Axiological orientation of personality" methodology (A.V. Kaptsov, L.V. Karpushina) were distributed as follows (taking into account the reliability of the results): the humanistic personal value of self-development manifests itself in a positive way at high values (>8 points) in 65.6% of students, while negative values were not registered; personal value creativity in 81.6% manifested itself in negative values (<-1 points); the pragmatic value of achievement in 96.8% is expressed in low positive values (13 points), the value of preserving individuality is manifested in average values in the majority of the sample (6-7 points in 96.8%).

The results of the diagnostic of indicators using the "Golomstock Interest Map" method (A.E. Golomstock, modified by O. P. Meshkovskaya, etc.) were distributed as follows: interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering was shown in the majority of the sample - 75.2% at high values (>10 points).

A qualitative analysis of the results obtained allows us to state the following actual state of orientation towards the type of engineering activity among students of the technical college. The predominant focus in the sample is the production type of activity. This means that students are more attracted to tasks and situations related to production.: performing specific operations for the manufacture of technical products, the operation of production facilities, and their repair. This type of orientation generally corresponds to the profile of the technical college's educational programs. Some college students show a predominance of design orientation as a type of engineering activity. In fact, this is the part of students who plan to continue their education at the next level of education (higher). There is also a part of the students who combine the focus on production and organizational types of engineering activities. These are students who may later be involved in setting production tasks, for which it is advisable to conduct internships with craftsmen and production foremen. The research type of engineering activity in the entire sample is dominated by only two people, we attribute this to the fact that students are not interested in it either because of the insufficient popularization of the scientific approach to labor organization, or because of the predominance of the practical type of attitude to professional activity.

A qualitative analysis of the results of professional motivation leads to the conclusion that in the studied sample of technical college students, both internal motivation (IM) of professional activity and external positive motivation (VPM) are equally present. A smaller part of the sample shows a predominance of external negative motivation (EOM), which indicates that students have motives for avoiding failure, fear of being punished for mistakes, lack of courage in achieving success, and self-doubt. The motivational complex as a whole in the sample is characterized by a combination of VM=VPM>PTO, which refers to the optimal motivation model.

A qualitative analysis of the results of the axiological orientation of personality showed that both humanistic and pragmatic personal values are expressed at an above-average level, except for the value of creativity. We attribute this to the fact that in the process of training future technical specialists, insufficient attention is paid to scientific and technical creativity, which is confirmed by the results of focusing on development and research types of engineering activities.

A qualitative analysis of the results of the interests showed that the students of the technical college have a predominant interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering.

All the obtained results of the indicators were subjected to correlation analysis in order to detect stable significant links between the focus on the type of engineering activity and motivational and value indicators (see Table 1).

Table 1

Correlations between the focus on the type of engineering activity and the motivational and value indicators of technical college students*

*Symbols:

NID – focus on the type of engineering activity; NI – research type of engineering activity; PK - design type of engineering activity; Pr – production type of engineering activity; Org - organizational type of engineering activity; M – motivation; CSr – the value of self–realization; CCR – the value of creativity; CD – the value of achievements; CMB - the value of material well–being; CSI – the value of preserving individuality; Int - interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering.

The focus on the scientific research type of engineering activity is positively interrelated with motivation, interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering, personal value, and the pragmatic value of preserving individuality. Thus, it should be assumed that future specialists in the technical field will be more focused on the scientific and research orientation of engineering activities, the more their creativity, motivation for success, understanding of their individual characteristics, manifestations of their uniqueness and uniqueness, as well as expressions of interest in electrical engineering will develop.

The focus on the design type of engineering activity is positively interrelated with motivation and pragmatic values of material well-being and the preservation of one's own individuality. Thus, the more intense the design orientation of future specialists will be, the more it will be supported by material benefits and an understanding of their individual characteristics, the manifestation of their uniqueness and uniqueness, independence from authorities.

The focus on the production type of engineering activity has significant relationships only with pragmatic values: a positive relationship with the value of preserving individuality and negative relationships with the values of achievement and material well-being. The intensity of the increase in the severity of this type of orientation among future specialists will directly depend on the understanding of themselves and their individual characteristics, the manifestation of their uniqueness and uniqueness, independence from authorities, as well as with a decrease in the values of achievements and material well-being. This is obviously due to the installation of a regulated amount of performance of their work functions, which has a fixed material equivalent (salary).

The focus on the organizational type of engineering activity has significant positive correlations with all motivational and value indicators, which feed the pragmatic value of achievements. This means that future specialists focus on performing organizational functions in their work the more intensely they express motivation, interest in electrical engineering work, humanistic values of self-development, creativity, pragmatic values of material well-being and the preservation of individuality.

Analyzing the motivational and value indicators of orientation to various types of engineering activities, it can be argued that the most important for future specialists is the pragmatic value of preserving individuality. She points to the desire to be independent from other people, respect for their uniqueness and originality, their lifestyle, recognition of their deviations, in some cases, the manifestation of conflict against the background of high self-esteem. Next in terms of the severity of correlations and their number, motivation is important for the focus on the pitchfork of engineering activity, in addition to the design type, and this is the motivation for success and internal positive motivation. The value of material well-being is significant for everyone, except for the scientific and research type of orientation, and for the production type it has a negative significance (the greater the intensity of the expression of the production orientation, the less the value of material well-being manifests itself). The value of creativity and interest in the field of electrical and radio engineering are significant only for two types of orientation - research and organizational. The value of self-realization is significant only for the organizational type of engineering activity.

Conclusions

Thus, each type of engineering orientation we have studied is associated with the motivational and value indicators of the personality of a future specialist studying at a technical college. The following results were obtained in the conducted study:

- motivational indicators prevail in the directions of scientific research and organizational types of engineering activities;

- for the focus on research and organizational types, the expression of motivation for success and internal positive motivation is of the greatest importance.;

- for the focus on the design type, the value of material well-being is of the greatest importance;

- for the focus on the production type, the reduction in the pragmatic value of achievements is of the greatest importance.;

- the humanistic value of self-development is typical only for focusing on the organizational type of engineering activity;

- the pragmatic value of achievements in an inverse relationship is typical only for focusing on the production type of engineering activity;

- pragmatic personal values are more important than humanistic ones;

- a common value for all types of orientation is the pragmatic value of preserving individuality.

The obtained results and conclusions allow us to make psychological and pedagogical recommendations for the organization of the educational process for the training of technical specialists.: 1) when training future specialists in production skills, it is necessary to focus on careful attention, first of all, to the process itself, to delve into each stage of it, to carefully master each technique and operation; it is necessary to orient future specialists to the fact that the result should be in demand in production and in the sales market, as well as to that the quality of the work performed characterizes the work image of the specialist himself and makes it possible for him to be competitive; 2) when orienting a future specialist to a research type of engineering activity, it is important to apply motivating methods and techniques that will set students up for a creative research approach to technical tasks; 3) when teaching students organizational skills, attention should be paid attention is paid to external motivational reinforcements from the teacher, the master of industrial training, as well as to the clear identification of positive aspects and achieved results in the professional self-development of the future specialist.

Conclusion

The conducted research allowed us to pay attention to the problem of modern technical education in studying the psychological characteristics of the personality of a future specialist, interrelated with the choice of orientation for a certain type of engineering activity. Technical students turn their interest to solving certain tasks and at the same time show a value attitude towards them, as well as attach personal importance to their choice. In this regard, the study of motivational and value characteristics becomes relevant and practically necessary to improve the quality of specialist training in the context of secondary vocational and higher technical education.

A theoretical review has shown that attention to this problem remains stable in both foreign and domestic research. Various psychological characteristics of technical specialists are at the center of scientific and psychological research and are considered an essential factor in successful work. At the same time, the psychological and pedagogical literature does not fully reflect the issues of psychological characteristics related to the focus on engineering among future specialists studying at the stage of secondary vocational education. The present study highlights the motivational and value-based personal characteristics of future specialists, which are to varying degrees related to the types of focus on engineering: internal and external motivation, interest in the technical field, humanistic and pragmatic values.

An empirical study has shown that the motivational and value characteristics of technical students have a strong correlation with their focus on engineering, and depending on its type, they manifest themselves in varying degrees of severity. Motivation, values, and interest, in fact, accompany the process of entry of future technical specialists into the profession and create psychological grounds for choosing a focus on the type of engineering activity.

The obtained conclusions made it possible to determine the psychological features of the training of technical specialists to solve various types of production tasks and, based on them, to propose psychological and pedagogical recommendations related to the organization of the educational process at the level of secondary vocational and higher technical education.