PERSONAL MATURITY OF FUTURE TEACHERS AS A MECHANISM OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FORMATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to the psychological analysis of personal maturity as a necessary condition for the successful development of professional identity and becoming a teacher. The personal maturity of a future teacher is a complex characteristic of the future specialist’s personality, which ensures that someone who gets higher education consciously accepts the professionally significant values and his desire to realize himself in the process of professional training. Personal maturity of the future teacher is the result of mastering the socio-cultural norms in the creative interaction of teachers and students in the educational process of higher education and is a future factor in the professional development of the individual. The formation of personal maturity is an important mechanism for the development of professional identity of future teachers, namely its structural components such as I-concept, achievement motivation and the ability to be psychological close to other people. Professional identity is a psychological category that refers to the awareness of the profession of a person who belongs to a particular professional community. The professional identity of the teacher in the psychological and pedagogical literature is defined as an integral characteristic of an individual. On one hand, it can be related to social identity because it is not depleted by the adoption of appropriate professional roles and functions. On the other hand, it does not belong to the identity itself, since the attitude towards oneself as a professional is only one of the indicators of the formation of professional identity. The integrality of such a personal characteristic is that both forms of identity are represented in the structure of professional identity. Professional identity is a necessary part of personal professional development, becoming a professional and career development. By forming a professional identity, future teachers adjust their own style of work, become aware of their professional opportunities, learn to manage their own career development, and increase their professional competence.