Professional deformation of a teacher in view of digitalization

Abstract

Any professional activity, regardless of its specific features, has an impact on an individual’s personality leading to the modification of individual typological qualities. This phenomenon is known as professional deformation — a specific response of the psyche to the systematic influence of the professional environment. Besides the positive effect associated with the implementation and enhancement of professional skills, professional deformations also have a destructive influence. It is primarily expressed in the suppression of an individuals’ adaptive abilities and resilience to systematic stress. Systemic stress, associated with any professional activity, is especially pronounced in jobs that help people. Therefore, it is quite natural that the most susceptible to professional deformations are people employed in social services, medicine, etc. As a rule, professional deformations found in teachers affect their attitude to oneself, the profession, and others. Ongoing changes in technology in all the fields of human activity, including work life and personal life, have given the teacher new functions. Teachers have become more in demand. This created the need for continuous improvement of their competence in subjects they teach, current teaching models and education management information systems. In addition, the specifics of a teacher's work are determined by socio-psychological factors. Professional deformations and personality traits that contribute to the acceleration of their development, especially in the era of rapid technological and social changes associated with faster pace of life and development of people, require a thorough and comprehensive study. As a personality gets deeply rooted in the profession, it faces a great risk of personal destructive changes, negatively affecting both professional efficiency and the duration of professional life not only of the teacher, but also of any other individual actively involved in his/her profession. This makes the studies focusing on professional deformations relevant. To bring to light the problem of professional deformations in the educational system, an ascertaining study was conducted. It aimed at analyzing and identifying the specific features of teachers’ professional deformations at different stages of their professional development both in the academic context and in practice.