Self-determination of students as a condition for the development of professional competence

Abstract

Commonly, students fail to have any understanding of how to build their educational strategy or take responsibility for its dynamics. Hence, the relevance of the reported study that articulates the need to create conditions for the formation of professional competencies. This article discusses psychological and educational conditions for the formation of selfdetermination in students. It shows that activity-based university learning provides an impetus for the development of selfdetermination in students. In this respect, it is feasible to implement the still up-to-date 20 th century Russian scientific developments. In particular, it is proposed to initiate student’s selfdetermination on master programs and use organizational and activity games to facilitate the transition from role-playing behavior to positional action. The article discusses the relevance of organizational and activity games (ODG) in higher education settings. The relevance is argued through the discussion of psychotechnical functions and purpose of games, their conflict-based general structure and the structure of ODGs, in particular. The article explores these features of ODGs and provides evidence for their effectiveness. The research methodology includes a system-based approach and constructive psychology of conflict. The study of students’ self-determination was conducted in three stages: 1) survey of first-year master students before the introduction of the ODG, 2) interviews during the ODG, 3) content analysis of reflective reports after the ODG. The obtained data are analyzed for real and declarative selfdetermination of students according to special criteria. The study identified the dynamics of selfdetermination. It is established that the discrepancies between students’ self-determination before and after a single game are statistically significant and reliable. The article also argues for the possibility of using ODGs as a productive construct which encourages the development of master students’ self-determination. Additionally, the study found that only one in three students is ready to take responsibility for their future education.