Pedagogical monitoring of the moral culture of a preschool child

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Introduction

Today, for science and practice, the issues of the moral, spiritual, moral appearance of a modern person are becoming increasingly relevant, which is due to radical socio-cultural changes, transformations of public consciousness and is reflected in the search for new reasonable means of education and standards of education at all its stages. In particular, the Federal State Educational Standard highlights as the main task of preschool education the need to educate the moral culture of children and create conditions for children to assign a moral position [1]. The formation of a positive attitude towards the world, other people and oneself in a child acts as a target at the stage of completion of preschool education in the Federal State Educational Standard. Thus, psychological and pedagogical science faces an important problem of social significance: increasing the effectiveness of the upbringing of the moral culture of the younger generation, based on the unity of moral consciousness, behavior, feelings and experiences, the prospective formation of children as subjects of moral development.
The analysis of recent studies shows that the attention of scientists in the aspect of moral culture education is increasingly attracted by children's age. It is noted that preschool age is one of the most significant periods of the formation of moral consciousness, normative behavior. Various parameters of value-semantic, cognitive, emotional, behavioral spheres are distinguished as criteria for assessing the development of children's moral culture, but often disparate components are described that do not give a holistic view of the subject of evaluation. Thus, the analysis of various sources allows us to highlight the contradiction between the extensive attention of science to the issues of moral education, moral and moral formation of the individual and the uncertainty of the evaluation criteria and the corresponding means of pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers. This contradiction determines the relevance of the study.
The purpose of this article is to create, describe and empirically test a model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers. The objectives of this study were: 1) analysis of existing models and concepts of assessment of the development of moral culture of preschool children in modern psychological and pedagogical research; 2) identification of criteria for assessing the development of moral culture of preschool children; 3) description of the model of pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers; 4) approbation of the model and results.
The approbation of the model of pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers was carried out in the format of a pilot study.
Identification of evaluation criteria and corresponding means of pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers is an important task, which determines the scientific novelty and practical significance of this study.

Literature review

Turning to the study of scientific works on the problem of moral education of children, we found a large number of studies, both domestic and foreign. In recent years, in domestic and foreign studies, the issues of moral culture education have been revealed quite widely, in particular:
 the problems of rethinking morality, morality, in the aspect of personality identity, its character, and moral culture education have been raised (V. Yalcin [2], T.-T. Goh, X. Dai, I.Q. Liu, B. Wen [3], M. Stichter [4], D. Gao [5], L.J. Splitter [6], J. Cheng, W. Wang, X. Wang [7]);
The correlation of modern technologies and means of communication with various aspects of the moral development of the child is carried out (T.-T. Goh, X. Dai, I.Q. Liu, B. Wen [3], A. Kotsonis [8]);
features of the specifics of communication with peers and teachers in the aspect of moral education are revealed (R. Ilten-Gee, L.J. Hilliard [9], A. Bustamante, C. Maldonado-Carreno, O.L. Gonzalez, M.A. Navia, E.C. Restrepo, D.F. Torres [10]);
 the relevance of issues of moral education for society, its development, preservation and strengthening of culture is increasingly emphasized (M.H. Abdurakhmanov [11], L.I. Izteleuova, A.I. Iztleuova, N.V. Vlasova [12], M.V. Kolodeznikova [13], L.B. Chetyrova, A.P. Slashchinina [14], A.S. Kamola [15], L.A. Mukhamedzhanova [16], S.I. Iventyev, M. Rakhimshikova [17], E.V. Matyukhina [18], I.V. Tyurina [19]);
attention is focused on the need to create an appropriate educational field in the system of preschool education in Russia (V.M. Menshikov, N.N. Gatilov, O.S. Ilyina [20]);
issues of spiritual and moral development of children in their native ethnic environment, Orthodox environment, as well as through various cultural means (fairy tales, folk games, customs, traditions, basic national values) are being developed (M.H. Akramova [21], O.L. Kameneva [22], T.V. Komogortseva [23], G.A. Kurbonova [24], E.A. Kozentseva, A.G. Utnasulova, E.V. Muchkaeva, A.V. Shevchenko [25], N.V. Lomonosova [26], T.G. Khanova, N.V. Vyalova [27]). Also, the development of these issues is found in a number of foreign sources (D. Katsikis [28], C. Radulescu [29], Y.-H. Shih [30]);
family factors of moral culture education are investigated (O.L. Kameneva [22], A.A. Shalina [31]);
features and conditions of moral and aesthetic education (V.S. Golovachev [32], I.V. Tsvyk [33]);
 issues of environmental education as part of the moral culture of the individual (G.J. Bayyshova, J.D. Abdullayeva [34]).
It should be noted that the concepts of moral culture, moral upbringing, and moral development are used by the authors as synonymous.
The purpose of the review and analysis of various studies for us was to identify criteria (components) for assessing the moral culture of pupils. The conducted content analysis of a number of studies, including taking into account the operationalization of the criteria proposed by the authors, allowed us to get an idea of the main components of the moral culture of the individual (Table 1).

Table 1 – Results of content analysis of criteria for assessing the moral culture of the individual

Author(s)	Criteria for assessing moral culture						Operationalization
	Cognitive / value-semantic	Emotional / Relational	Behavioral / Activity	Estimated	Motivational	Moral and volitional qualities
T.V. Komogortseva (2019) [23]	+	-	+	-	+	-	+
E.A. Goloyus (2019) [35]	+	+	+	-	-	-	+
G.A. Kurbonova (2019) [24]	-	-	-	-	-	+	-
M.H. Akramova (2020) [21]	+	+	-	-	-	-	-
H.A. Alizhanova, M.M. Shafiev (2020) [36]	+	-	+	-	+	+	-
N.P. Sazonova, T.V. Podaneva (2020) [37]	+	+	+	-	-	-	-
T.G. Khanova, N.V. Vyalova (2020) [27]	+	+	-	-	-	-	-
S. Radulescu (2020) [29]	+	+	+	-	-	-	-
O.L. Kamenev (2021) [22]	+	+	+	-	+	-	+
N.V. Lomonosov (2021) [26]	+	+	+	+	-	-	+
E.O. Orlova (2021) [38]	+	+	+	-	+	-	-
F. Sedgwick (2021) [39]	+	+	+	+	+	-	-
D. Katsikis (2021) [28]	+	-	+	+	+	-	-
E.A. Trebukhina (2022) [40]	+	+	+	-	-	-	-

 

As can be seen from Table 1, the conducted content analysis showed that almost all researchers distinguish cognitive (including value-semantic content), emotional-relational and behavioral criteria. Less often, evaluative and motivational components or a list of moral qualities are distinguished. It can also be noted that the operationalization of theoretical foundations into a specific monitoring scheme is not often carried out by researchers: the evaluation of the results of moral culture education is based on a survey of teachers, parents, or by observation without clear data fixation schemes. The available options for operationalization are often "tied" to narrow theoretical and methodological positions of a specific research topic. So, for example, O.L. Kameneva [22] expands the understanding of the criteria for assessing moral culture, including in them also the ontological component (criterion) as a conscious acceptance by the child of the goals and objectives of Christian life, religious socialization and church formation, and the operationalization of criteria is carried out from the standpoint of the spiritual culture of Orthodoxy and includes the appropriate content. T.V. Komogortseva [23] also includes religious content associated with the traditions of Orthodoxy in the evaluation of the results of the upbringing of the spiritual and moral foundations of the individual. N.V. Lomonosova [26] evaluates the moral representations of children in terms of basic national values, etc.
The options proposed by the researchers for monitoring the moral culture of children, therefore, do not reflect the general understanding of moral culture, they focus on its individual aspects, which is undoubtedly significant for science and practice. However, the tasks of preschool education require a qualitatively new approach to a holistic and comprehensive assessment of the results of moral culture education, which emphasizes the need for this study and sets us the goal of creating, describing and empirically testing a model of integrated pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers.

Materials and methods

To achieve the goal of creating, describing and empirically testing a model of integrated pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers, the study was organized in several stages with appropriate methods:
Stage 1: development and description of a model of integrated pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers. At this stage, methods of analysis of scientific psychological and pedagogical literature, generalization, content analysis modeling were used.
Stage 2: development of a procedure for comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers. At this stage, methods of design, planning, modification of existing techniques were used.
Stage 3: empirical approbation of the procedure of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers. This stage was implemented in the format of a ascertaining experiment with the participation of 80 children aged 5.5-7 years, including 44 girls and 36 boys. At the stage of empirical approbation, the methods of conversation, play, testing, observation, and expert evaluation were used. This stage was implemented in order to evaluate the developed monitoring procedure and the results obtained were compared with expert assessments of teachers and educators (16 people) according to the criteria we have selected.

Research results

Summarizing a number of the above studies of recent years, we have derived the following theoretical foundations of the model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers:
the moral culture of a preschooler is an integrative characteristic of the child's assimilation of moral norms, value-semantic bases of behavior and activity;
the structure of a preschooler's moral culture includes cognitive-semantic (representations of moral norms, meanings, values, ideals reflected in consciousness), emotional-evaluative (moral feelings, empathy, the ability to evaluate one's own and someone else's behavior from the point of view of morality) and behavioral components (the manifestation of moral culture in real behavior, the presence of expressed motivation to moral behavior, compliance with moral norms);
comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers is a procedure carried out with a certain periodicity to assess the level of development of individual components and moral culture of preschoolers as a whole.
Based on these provisions, we have developed the following model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers (Table 2).

Table 2 – Model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers

Stages	Studied parameters	Methodological support	Stage results
Stage 1 – assessment of the cognitive and semantic component of the moral culture of a preschooler	Children's awareness and discrimination of basic moral categories, norms, values	Modification of the "Finish the Story" methodology (G.A. Uruntaeva, Yu.A. Afonkina). A conversation based on the materials of the methodology	Determination of the level of development of the cognitive-semantic component of the moral culture of a preschooler (high, medium, low)
Stage 2 – assessment of the emotional and evaluative component of the moral culture of a preschooler	Identification of an emotional attitude to moral norms, values, ideals, the ability to evaluate one's own and someone else's behavior from the point of view of morality	Modification of the methods "Plot pictures" (G.A. Uruntaeva, Yu.A. Afonkina), "Evaluate behavior" (A.L. Wenger, modification of T.D. Marcinkovskaya, M. Mitru). The conversation "What is good and what is bad?"	Determination of the level of development of the emotional and evaluative component of the moral culture of a preschooler (high, medium, low)
Stage 3 – assessment of the behavioral component of the moral culture of a preschooler	The manifestation of moral culture in real behavior, the presence of a pronounced motivation for moral behavior, compliance with moral norms	Standardized observation of manifestations of moral culture of preschoolers. The technique of "Podeli toys". Modification of the "Losing Lottery" technique (M.T. Burke-Beltran). A conversation about the motives of a particular moral choice	Determination of the level of development of the behavioral component of the moral culture of a preschooler (high, medium, low)
Stage 4 – assessment of the general level of moral culture of a preschooler	Integration of data across all components	Mathematical methods (identification of averages, primary statistics, derivation of an integral indicator)	The general level of moral culture of a preschooler (high, medium, low)

The model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers given in Table 2 can be used for regular diagnostics, as well as as a tool for assessing moral development after graduation from a preschool educational institution. The monitoring procedure developed in accordance with this model was tested by us as part of a pilot study.
The results of the approbation showed that the developed procedure for comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers is quite time-consuming, but has a number of advantages, allowing a comprehensive and holistic assessment of the moral development of children. As part of the pilot study, teachers and educators were asked to give an expert assessment on the indicators of the manifestation of moral culture of a preschooler proposed by us (by components and corresponding criteria). The results were correlated with those obtained by us during the implementation of the monitoring procedure (Table 3).

Table 3 – Results of the implementation of the procedure of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture and their correlation with expert assessments of teachers and educators

Components	Levels	Monitoring (in % of the total number of preschoolers)	Expert assessment of teachers and educators (in % of the total number of preschoolers)
Cognitive-semantic	Tall	27,5	25
	Average	52,5	55
	Low	20	20
Emotional and evaluative	Tall	17,5	18,8
	Average	55	53,8
	Low	27,5	27,5
Behavioral	Tall	60	60
	Average	27,5	27,5
	Low	12,5	12,5
The general level of moral culture	Tall	35	33,8
	Average	37,5	38,8
	Low	27,5	27,5

From the data in Table 3, it can be seen that the results obtained for all components and the general indicator of the moral culture of preschoolers correlate with the observations of teachers, which indicates that the proposed monitoring procedure corresponds to the studied characteristics. The data obtained are voluminous and allow us to track not only the general level of development of moral culture, but also to identify problem points in individual components. For example, the behavioral component in most children is developed at a high level, but other components are more often manifested at medium and low, which indicates insufficient development of ideas about moral norms, values, ideals, the ability to define their own and others' behavior as moral or immoral in preschoolers. In addition, an important advantage of the procedure can be considered the presence of clear evaluation criteria for all parameters, excluding subjectivity in assessing the moral culture of the child.

Discussion and conclusions

Based on the analysis of publications in recent years, we have come to the conclusion that the options proposed by researchers for monitoring the moral culture of children do not reflect the general understanding of moral culture, focus on its individual aspects, which is undoubtedly significant for science and practice, but at the same time does not provide an opportunity to get a holistic view of the moral culture of a preschooler. In this regard, we had the goal of creating, describing and empirically testing a model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers.
In the proposed model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers, an integrated assessment of the moral culture of children is proposed, which also includes differentiation and evaluation by cognitive-semantic (reflected in the consciousness of ideas about moral norms, meanings, values, ideals), emotional-evaluative (moral feelings, empathy, the ability to evaluate one's own and others' behavior from the point of view of the point of view of morality) and behavioral components (the manifestation of moral culture in real behavior, the presence of a pronounced motivation for moral behavior, compliance with moral standards). The monitoring procedure developed within the framework of the model with appropriate methodological support showed good results in empirical testing within the framework of a pilot study: the data obtained made it possible to comprehensively and holistically assess the moral culture of preschoolers, and also correlated with expert assessments of teachers and educators.
The advantages of the proposed model of comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers is a clear definition of the evaluation criteria, excluding subjectivity in determining the moral development of the child, as well as the possibility of obtaining voluminous data, allowing to identify problem points in the upbringing of moral culture of children. The disadvantage of the developed procedure is its complexity, a large number of applied techniques. This disadvantage determines the perspective of our work, which consists in the need for further development of a more compact procedure for comprehensive pedagogical monitoring of the development of moral culture in preschoolers while maintaining these advantages.

About the authors

Olga A. Beznosova

Orenburg State Pedagogical University

Email: olya.beznosova.97@mail.ru

Assistant of Developmental and Pedagogical Psychology Department

Russian Federation, Orenburg

Artur M. Allagulov

Orenburg State Pedagogical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: art_hist@bk.ru

Doc. Ped. Sci., Professor, Head of Pedagogy and Sociology Department

Russian Federation, Orenburg

References

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