Primary school failure can be due to a variety of factors. The reasons may be frequent illness, a change of teacher, congenital shyness, or a difficult situation in relations with classmates.
For comfort there are three groups of factorsdetermining the appearance of learning problems in children in primary school: psychological, pedagogical and pathological.
Psychological factors of academic failure
At the desk, not everyone can easily concentrate on learning.
A first grader at school is faced with a very difficult task - the student needs to sit in place for a whole lesson, engaging in active cognitive activity. He is forced to assimilate information not in a game format, but with the help of independent and focused analysis. Often, this is not easy for everyone: learning problems arise, which psychologists explain by a number of psychological reasons.
Three types of psychological causes
The learning process seems outwardly passive, as the student sits still, reads, listens, writes, says something. Meanwhile, the child is trying to use all possible resources of attention, understanding, memory and thinking. Notall children have a set of the listed cognitive abilities... And this the first psychological reason, for which the child does not keep up with the rest.
Second psychological factor – inabilitychild control, regulate and properly use the available cognitive resourcesin educational activities. The learning process requires concentration of attention, the ability to remember specific moments, systematize the acquired knowledge, reproduce it and, if necessary, apply it in practice. With the violations noted in the child, his attention and memory remain arbitrary, they cannot be controlled.
Third reasonacademic failure - lack, lack or inadequacy of motivation. Studylike any other type of activity, should be supported motivating factors, internal or external.
Types of motivation
- Intrinsic motivation refers to personal drive. child satisfy your interest, find a solution to the problem and explore the world around. The need to learn something new is initially inherent in everyone, but how much the thirst for knowledge will be developed in him depends on the environment in which a person grows up.
- External motives imply participation of others in the cognitive process, or rather, their reaction to the work done by the child. Parents and teachers practice censure and praise, various awards and all kinds of sanctions. An important factor is the opinion of classmates, which can both understate children's self-esteem and add fire to the nascent bonfire of vanity.
Lack of external and internal motives leads to a complete lack of student interest in solving problems.
Pedagogical neglect
In addition to the listed psychological factors of academic failure allocate moreone - the so-called "Pedagogical neglect"... It is the result of insufficient socialization of the child. The surrounding adults did not take due attention to the upbringing of the baby, which became the reason for neglect. As a result, there is a whole spectrum of such specific qualities as lack of motives for learning, inability to be intellectually active, and elementary inaccuracy.
Pedagogical factors of academic failure
The pedagogical factors include the entire educational system that concerns the child throughout his entire educational activity at school. This system includes
- training program,
- class composition,
- the characters of classmates,
- relationships with teachers,
- number and duration of lessons,
- first or second shift, etc.
Pathological factors of academic failure
In case of mental developmental disorders, academic performance can be improved within the framework of the program of psychological and pedagogical correction
Objective reasons for academic failure children at school include one or the other mental disorders child. They include the most common abnormalities and delays in the development of the psyche and local lesions of the central nervous system, which lead to persistent abnormalities in writing (dysgraphia), reading (dyslexia) and counting (dyscalculia).
Disorders in the development of the child's psyche can be divided into three main groups:
- violations of cognitive function;
- disorders in personal development;
- violations in the field of relations with society.
In one child, a whole complex of deviations from all three groups can develop, only they will manifest themselves to varying degrees.
Competent and in-depth diagnostics leads to the identification of the main cause of deviations in the child's psyche, which, in turn, helps to determine the most effective program of psychological and pedagogical correction.
Cognitive defects represent a wide range of abnormalities, starting with the minimum functioning sense organs that perceive information from the outside, and ending with oligophrenia, mental retardation. This also includes disorders associated with mental retardation (PDD)... A distinctive feature of CRA is the discrepancy between the intellectual and emotional skills of the child's age. These deviations can manifest themselves in the following:
- lack of basic knowledge about the environment;
- lack of ideas about spatio-temporal concepts (direction of movement, variety of colors, quantity, time of day, shape, etc.);
- inability to control their mental activity: concentrate on the subject, remember, reproduce, etc.);
- the desire to spend time in the format of a game, and not in the learning process.
It is worth understanding what is the main difference between oligophrenia and mental retardation. Oligophrenia - diagnosis of children with an affected area of \u200b\u200bthe brain, a ZPR can be corrected and with the right approach of a specialist, complete "rehabilitation" of the child is likely.
Conclusion
Primary school is always a challenging stage. For children in these years, a lot is changing - from the usual circle of friends to kindergarten and a playground in the courtyard to completely differently arranged everyday life, in which the child has to persist in comprehending various school disciplines and observe the norms of behavior that are not yet completely organic for him when communicating with peers and teachers. In addition, the situation can be "aggravated" by the factors that we identified in our review. Therefore, one should be more tolerant of the manifestations of a child's academic failure. Before you scold him or punish him, you need to carefully understand the situation and help calmly overcome difficulties.
School failure concept
Failure is understood as a situation in which the behavior and learning outcomes do not meet the educational and didactic requirements of the school. Failure is expressed in the fact that the student has poor reading and numeracy skills, poor intellectual skills of analysis, generalization, etc.
Systematic academic failure leads to pedagogical neglect, which is understood as a complex of negative personality traits that contradict the requirements of the school and society.
This phenomenon is extremely undesirable and dangerous from a moral, social, economic standpoint. Pedagogically neglected children often drop out of school and join the risk groups. Failure is interpreted as a discrepancy between the preparation of students and the mandatory requirements of the school in the assimilation of knowledge, the development of skills, the formation of the experience of creative activity and the upbringing of cognitive relations. Failure prevention involves the timely detection and elimination of all of its elements.
The failure of schoolchildren is naturally associated with their individual characteristics and with the conditions in which their development proceeds. Social conditions(in the broadest sense of the word) - as a factor in academic performance, also interact with the capabilities of children. These are the conditions in which children live, study, are brought up, living conditions, the cultural level of parents and the environment, class size, school equipment, teachers' qualifications, availability and quality of educational literature and much more. And this factor is somehow taken into account when determining the content of training. The same conditions of education and upbringing have a different effect on children brought up in different conditions, having differences in the body, in general development. Not only education, but the whole life of a child influences the formation of his personality, and the development of personality does not occur under the influence of external conditions alone.
Reasons for academic failure.
imperfection of teaching methods,
lack of positive contact with the teacher,
fear of being better than other students,
high giftedness in any particular field,
lack of formation of thought processes, etc.
Internal reasons include
defects in children's health, their development,
insufficient amount of knowledge, abilities and skills.
The external reasons are primarily pedagogical:
disadvantages of didactic and educational influences;
organizational and pedagogical nature (organization of the pedagogical process at school, material base);
shortcomings of curricula, programs, teaching aids, as well as shortcomings of extracurricular influences, including the family.
Physiological causes failure of schoolchildren:
true mental retardation;
partial defects of the analyzers (hearing, speech, motor skills, dysgraphia, acalculic phenomena);
pedagogical neglect;
disorders of mental performance (due to cerebrasthenic conditions).
Persistent school failure is usually caused by a combination of factors. All these disorders are a consequence of mild organic inferiority of the brain, minimal cerebral dysfunction, varying degrees of severity of biological insufficiency of the central nervous system. They occur in children with cerebral circulation insufficiency, increased intracranial pressure (hypertensive-hydrocephalic syndrome) as a result of craniocerebral trauma, severe and long-term somatic diseases, infections with cerebral consequences (meningitis, encephalitis, rheumatism).
The main manifestations of this kind of disorders are: headaches, motor disinhibition ("hyperactivity"), fatigue, insufficient concentration of attention, lack of endurance to sensory stimuli (loud noise, bright light), inability to prolonged mental stress, slowing down the rate of assimilation of the material, weak switching from one task to another, difficulty in memorization.
Signs of Potential Student Lagging.
1. The student cannot say what is the difficulty of the problem, outline a plan for its solution, solve the problem on his own, indicate that something new has been obtained as a result of its solution. A student cannot answer questions about the text, say what he has learned from it. These signs can be found when solving problems, reading texts and listening to the teacher's explanations.
2. The student does not ask questions on the merits of the studied, does not attempt to find and does not read additional sources to the textbook. These signs appear when solving problems, perceiving texts, at those moments when the teacher recommends literature for reading.
3. The student is not active and is distracted in those moments of the lesson when there is a search, it takes a tension of thought, overcoming difficulties. These signs can be noticed when solving problems, when perceiving the teacher's explanation, in a situation of choosing an assignment for independent work at will.
4. The student does not react emotionally (with facial expressions and gestures) to successes and failures, cannot evaluate his work, does not control himself.
5. The student cannot explain the purpose of the exercise he is doing, say which rule it is given for, does not follow the instructions of the rule, skips actions, confuses their order, cannot check the result and the course of work. These signs appear when performing exercises, as well as when performing actions as part of a more complex activity.
6. The student cannot reproduce the definitions of concepts, formulas, proofs, cannot, setting out the system of concepts, move away from the finished text; does not understand the text built on the studied system of concepts. These signs appear when students are asked appropriate questions. Psychological characteristics of unsuccessful schoolchildren:
All unsuccessful schoolchildren are characterized, first of all, by weak self-organization in the learning process: the absence of formed methods and techniques of educational work, the presence of a stable incorrect approach to learning.
Unsuccessful students don't learn. They do not want or can not carry out logical processing of the learned topic. These schoolchildren in the classroom and at home do not work systematically, and if they are faced with the need to prepare a lesson, they either do it hastily, without analyzing the educational material, or resort to reading it repeatedly in order to memorize it, without delving into the essence of the learner. These students do not work on the systematization of the acquired knowledge, do not establish links between the new material and the old. As a result, the knowledge of the unsuccessful is haphazard, fragmented.
This approach to teaching leads to systematic intellectual underload,which in turn leads to a significant decrease in the rate of mental development of these schoolchildren and further increases their lag behind their classmates.
The low self-organization of unsuccessful schoolchildren is also manifested in a low level of mastery of such mental functions as memory, perception, imagination, as well as in the inability to organize their attention, as a rule, unsuccessful schoolchildren are inattentive in the classroom. Perceiving educational material, they do not seek to recreate it in the form of images, pictures.
Rejection of an unsuccessful child by teachers, parents, peers leads to persistent social maladjustment... Already by adolescence, asocial forms of behavior are formed - theft, hooliganism, vagrancy, alcoholism. By the age of 12-14, because of minor offenses, teenagers attract the attention of the police, they are registered in the children's rooms of the police.
Features of the personality of schoolchildrensuch as indiscipline, irresponsibility, weak will, lack of diligence, noted as the reasons for poor progress, are the conditions for the occurrence of lag. All these features are connected to a certain extent with age characteristics. Failure to do independent work, refusal to answer teacher's questions, distractions in the lesson can be caused by indiscipline, irresponsible attitude to business. Weak will, lack of diligence cause such elements of lagging as the desire to avoid difficulties, passivity when faced with them. The same personality traits of schoolchildren can cause careless performance of work, and in particular, the fact that the student does not use the methods of self-control known to him. This may be facilitated by a certain overestimation of one's capabilities, characteristic of a given age, and an inability to sensibly assess the difficulties of the work undertaken. Having tuned in for a quick and easy completion of the work, without anticipating difficulties, the student relatively easily abandons efforts as soon as he encounters difficulties. Patience and endurance are not enough yet. A certain superficiality, frivolity, and restlessness are characteristic of adolescence, and this is reflected to one degree or another on the success of education, especially in such academic subjects as mathematics and languages.
One of the prerequisites for lagging, is the instability of aspirations characteristic of adolescence, a tendency to extracurricular activities and hobbies. The presence of diverse and strong extracurricular interests of adolescents is associated with the most important features of adolescence: an excess of unspent energy, a desire for mobile activities, a disposition for joint actions and games, an ever-increasing desire for independence, liberation from adult custody.
It was found that the presence of strong extracurricular interests in combination with a negative attitude towards school characterizes long-term underperforming schoolchildren. Indifference to school is characteristic in case of occasional academic failure and in cases of lagging behind. The student perceives training sessions as an inevitable obligation, fulfills the requirements of teachers, participates to some extent in the work and sometimes even shows activity, but all this is only in order not to have troubles, not to attract the attention of adults. Such a student has formed a rather stable position in relation to school and lessons: he is sure that all this is boring, that the elders need it, but he personally does not need it.
Negative attitudes towards school and forced learning are not the only reason why middle-level students lag behind. Great evil is and teaching just for the sake of gradewhen getting a good or satisfactory grade becomes the only goal and the leading motive of the work, it paralyzes the student's assessment activity, generates indifference to the content of educational activity. Successes and failures in learning do not evoke emotions by themselves, but only in connection with the possibility or inability to get the desired mark. The joy of learning new things, pleasure from collective work, satisfaction from overcoming difficulties - everything is obscured by a mark. Damage is inflicted not only on academic performance, but also on the entire moral education of the student. For some students, the goal of getting a mark acts as a means of self-affirmation, satisfaction of self-esteem, a means of receiving the promised reward at home. In all these cases, extracurricular motivation, and this prevents the development of cognitive interests, the emergence of the desire to improve their skills and abilities, to deepen and expand knowledge, interferes with the formation of a value attitude towards education.
Disadvantages of family education:
There are noted such frequent reasons for academic failure and dropout as family discord or breakdown, rudeness of attitude, alcoholism, antisocial behavior of parents, indifference of parents to children and their education, mistakes in upbringing, inept help to children.
For lagging children in relation to their parents, support, attention, affection is important, for capable children, the main thing is the positive attitude of parents to education.
Parents, in most cases, are interested in the teaching of their children and their success, but they mainly follow the grades. The essence of education and the value of school knowledge and skills for the development of a child as a person, as an active member of society, somehow recedes into the background.
Because parents do not delve into the content of children's activities, they cannot, of course, judge its quality (they only see the number - a lot or a little the child sits at lessons, gets good or bad grades), so they not only do not contribute to the education of children with adequate self-esteem, but often interfere with this.
Some parents interfere with the fact that, voluntarily or involuntarily, they create an underestimated or overestimated self-esteem in children, they themselves come into conflicts with the school on this basis. An underestimate is created by those parents who, in their hearts, want their children to be the best, most capable, and, seeing individual failures of their children, reproach them.
Ways to eliminate academic failure
Pedagogical prevention - the search for optimal pedagogical systems, including the use of active methods and forms of teaching, new pedagogical technologies, problem and programmed learning, informatization of pedagogical activity
Pedagogical diagnostics - systematic monitoring and assessment of learning outcomes, timely identification of gaps. For this, the teacher's conversations with students, parents, observation of a difficult student with the fixation of data in the teacher's diary, tests, analysis of results, summarizing them in the form of tables according to the types of mistakes are used.
Educational therapy - measures to eliminate learning gaps. In a domestic school, these are additional classes. In the West, alignment groups. The advantages of the latter are that classes in them are conducted based on the results of serious diagnostics, with the selection of group and individual teaching aids. They are led by special teachers, attendance is mandatory.
Educational impact. Since academic failure is most often associated with bad parenting, then individual planned educational work should be conducted with unsuccessful students, which includes work with the student's family.
The goal of working with underperformers is recognizednot only filling gaps in their training, but at the same time developing their cognitive independence. This is important because, having caught up with his comrades, the student should not lag behind them in the future.
A temporary reduction in the requirements for unsuccessful students is allowed, which will allow them to gradually catch up.
Neutralization of the reasons for academic failure is carried out (elimination of negatively acting circumstances and strengthening of positive aspects).
When developing ways to improve the educational process, as a rule, it is meant to create especially favorable conditions for unsuccessful schoolchildren.
Separate measures are also being developed to apply to all students; they serve to improve the overall learning and education of students at school. These include suggestions for improving accounting and control, recommendations on how to enhance the cognitive activity of students and their independence, enhance the creative elements in it, and stimulate the development of interests.
The ways of re-education of relationships, proposed in some pedagogical and psychological works, seem to be fruitful: to set before the student such tasks that are available to him so that he can achieve success. From success, even the smallest, a bridge can be built to a positive attitude towards learning. For this purpose, they use play and practical activities, introduce unsuccessful high school students to classes with lagging lower school students.
Attention is also drawn to the special conditions of the survey for unsuccessful students. It is recommended to give them more time to think about the answer at the blackboard, to help present the content of the lesson using a plan, diagrams, posters. It is recommended to combine the survey of poorly performing students with the independent work of other students so that it is possible to conduct an individual conversation with the responding student, find out his difficulties, and help with leading questions. It is noted that in the course of independent work in the lesson, tasks for low-performing students are useful to break down into stages, doses, and instruct them in more detail than other students.
It is proposed to distinguish three groups of students: weak, medium and strong. The teacher's task is not only to bring up the weak to the required level, but also to give a reasonable load for medium and strong students. At certain stages of the lesson, independent work is organized in groups, and students complete tasks of varying degrees of difficulty. The teacher helps first of all weak students. At the last stage, students give a report on the completed independent work. The specified principle of building a lesson is used in the practice of many schools. It is important to note that the groups are temporary in nature, the transition from one to the other is allowed by students at their request and is made by the teacher, taking into account the success of the teaching of each student.
Differentiation and homework of students is necessary. In practice, schools widely use various kinds of additional classes with lagging behind. The prevalence of this measure, although it is rightly criticized for being irrational, is explained by the fact that it increases the amount of time for studying the material. This method turns out to be the only one for those teachers who do not know how to differentiate the work of students in the lesson, to individualize homework.
Another important issue relates to the organization of teaching for repeaters. The literature rightly notes that the refresher course causes great damage to the school, injures students and is ineffective. In this regard, an idea arose and there is a fairly wide practice of creating special classes (and schools) for both underperforming students with a slow pace of development, and for overgrown students, repeaters and those who remain in the third year in the same class. A feature of teaching in special classes is their lower occupancy, special teaching methods and programs that provide for the elimination of gaps for previous classes. After-school mode is in use; teachers receive higher wages. In the pedagogical literature, the question of the conditions for the transfer of unsuccessful schoolchildren to the next class is considered. Attempts to modify the terms of transfer, to make them more flexible, seem to be quite timely. The essence of the matter is to enable students who can and want to catch up with their class, being conditionally transferred to the next class, to fill in their gaps during the first quarter, to pass the probationary period.
Psychologist L.A. Ilatovskaya
The relevance of the problem of school failure has been widely proven by many studies in the field of pedagogy, medicine and psychology.
Of course, the problem of school failure worries all of us. Moreover, it worries not only adults, but also children. After all, it is quite obvious that there is not a single mentally healthy child in the world who would like to study poorly. When a child first crosses the threshold of school, he is often filled with dreams of a bright and exciting school world.
In other words, the child wants to learn, learn new things and become a “good student”. This is the leading motivation for children 7-8 years old. When dreams of successful learning break on the first two, he first loses the desire to study, and then he simply either refuses to attend school, skips lessons, or becomes a "difficult" student: rude, rude to the teacher, does not complete assignments, interferes with classmates working in the classroom ...
The problem of school failure has always been given special attention by both psychologists and teachers (M.N. Danilov, V.I. Zynova, N.A.Menchinskaya, T.A. Vlasova, M.S. Pevzner, A.N. . Leontiev), A.R. Luria, A.A. Smirnov, L.S. Slavin, Yu.K. Babansky).
Learning problems and cognitive development can be conditionally divided into the following groups:
- decline in academic performance in certain subjects;
- difficulties in mastering the program as a whole - unsuccessful children;
- lack of cognitive motivation;
- problems in the development of memory, attention, logical thinking, etc.
From the point of view of psychology, the reason for academic failure is divided into 2 groups:
1. Disadvantages of cognitive activity
a) lack of formation of methods of educational activity;
b) shortcomings in the development of mental processes, mainly the mental sphere of the child;
c) the child's inadequate use of his individual and typological characteristics.
2. Deficiencies in the development of the child's motivational sphere
a) lack of sustainable cognitive motivation;
b) insecurity, school anxiety, low self-esteem.
What contributes to the development of these problems? Many factors and reasons.
There are 3 main factors of academic failure:
1. Physiological
2. Psychological
3. Social
Physiological - frequent illnesses, general weakness of health, infectious diseases, diseases of the nervous system, impaired motor function.
Psychological - features of the development of attention, memory, thinking, slowness of understanding, insufficient level of speech development, lack of formation of cognitive interests, narrow outlook.
Social - unfavorable living conditions, unworthy behavior of parents, lack of home regime, child neglect, family financial situation.
P.P. Borisov offers a detailed classification of the reasons for academic failure, combining all possible reasons into 4 large blocks.
1. Pedagogical reasons: shortcomings in teaching certain subjects, gaps in knowledge in previous years, incorrect transfer to the next class.
2. Social and domestic reasons: unfavorable conditions. Unworthy behavior of parents. Material security of the family, lack of home treatment, child neglect.
3. Physiological reasons: diseases, general weakness of health, diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Infectious diseases, impaired motor functions of the central nervous system (CNS), diseases of the nervous system.
4. Psychological reasons: peculiarities of development of attention, memory, slowness of understanding, insufficient level of speech development, lack of formation of cognitive interests, narrow outlook.
Physiological (hereditary biological) causes are the key causes of intellectual disabilities
The main reason for these problems is a hereditary biological cause (the state of intelligence of the parents, pregnancy and childbirth of the mother, the trauma and illness of a child under 1 year old, etc.).
In general, the child's neuropsychic development affects educational activity and academic performance. If a child had or has CRA, CRR, diseases of the central nervous system, diseases of other systems and organs (disability), then this will undoubtedly affect his educational activity. But this is an extreme variant of development. For such children, there are correctional and compensatory education programs. How can you help a child from a general education school and a "regular" class if he cannot cope with the academic load? Unfortunately, all types of pedagogical assistance are practically reduced to two types. It:
- organization of additional classes with a student, which uses traditional teaching methods;
- the provision of various measures of pressure on the student.
These types are ineffective, and sometimes even turn out to be harmful, since they do not affect the cause and allow you to start the problem of academic failure. Therefore, we offer the following recommendations.
Recommendations
1. Consultation of a specialist (psychologist, neurologist, defectologist, speech therapist).
2. Cognitive games and exercises for the development and correction of perception, attention, memory, imagination, figurative and logical thinking at home (various graphic tasks, series of plot pictures, board games, puzzles, puzzles, constructors, reading and analysis of works) ...
3. Organization of leisure activities for children (music lessons, artistic creation, sports, etc.). Organize joint activities, including cognitive elements. For example: observing germinating plants, observing changes in nature, examining various little things under a magnifying glass or microscope, etc. This will form educational motivation and emotional involvement in cognitive activity.
4. In a relationship with a child, parents should have patience, control their emotions, reinforce and praise their child, and instill success in him. Here it is necessary to ensure the real success of the child in any activity, in no case to compare his results with the standard, or some other child. Due to this, school anxiety will decrease and some achievements will accumulate.
5. Revise the daily routine, provide rest and release of the child's emotional stress. Here are suitable walks in the fresh air, tempering, vitamin therapy, sedatives, baths, listening to relaxing music, sleep, etc. Consider, regulate the amount of homework. In any activity, and especially in mental work associated with a fixed posture, frequent breaks are required, filled with either active movements or relaxation.
Conclusion and general recommendations of a psychologist
Whatever problems are noted in the development of a child, they are always associated with the family. Family is a key factor in a child's ill-being. Therefore, when solving the child's problems, do not forget that these are family problems that cannot be ignored, which require an immediate solution. Remember, you are not alone. Competent and qualified specialists are always ready to help you. If something bothers you, consult a psychologist, social educator, psychiatrist, etc. You will definitely be helped!
And in conclusion, we consider it appropriate to give general recommendations on the upbringing, development and education of children:
1. Undoubtedly accept the child - love him not because he is beautiful, smart, capable, but just like that, for what he is! Consider your child's personality and age.
2. Instill in the child a spirit of confidence - tell him, you will succeed, we will cope together.
3. Help your child if it is difficult for him!
4. Listen actively to your child - ie. clarify what he said, indicating at the same time him and your feelings, do not rush in speaking and keep pause.
5. Don't demand the impossible from your child!
6. Learn to correctly resolve conflicts.
7. Come up with several activities with your child or several family affairs, traditions that will create the "Golden Fund of your life with a child."
List of used literature
1. Akimova M.K., Kozlova V.T. Psychological correction of the mental development of schoolchildren. - Moscow: Academy, 2000.
2. Lokalova N.P. How to help a poorly performing student. Moscow: 1997.
3. Miklyaeva AV, Rumyantseva PV Difficult class: diagnostic and correctional work. - SPb .: Rech, 2007.
4. Schoolchildren Lagging in Learning: Problems of Mental Development / Ed. 3.I. Kalmykova, I. Yu. Kulagina. - Moscow: 1986.
5. Samoukina N.V. Games at school and at home: Psychotechnical exercises and correction programs. - Moscow: New School, 1993.
6. Slavina L.S. Individual approach to unsuccessful and undisciplined students. - Moscow: 1958.
Introduction
1.2 Psychological characteristics of underperforming schoolchildren
1.3 Ways to eliminate school failure
Chapter 2. Experimental work on elimination of academic failure in primary school children
2.1 Diagnostics of the performance of primary school children
2.2 Implementation of ways to eliminate academic failure in primary school children
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Until now, one of the most “sore” places in all schools is the poor performance of schoolchildren. The reason lies not only in the imperfect methods of work of schools, but also in the peculiarities of age, in the psychological readiness of the child for school.
Analysis of literary sources shows that many authors are studying the problem of schoolchildren's academic failure. Failure is the result of our inattention, indifference, our "maybe it will pass by itself." Experience shows that difficulties that were overcome in time and correctly not only allow the child to study normally, but also preserve his physical and mental health.
The problem of school failure is one of the central problems in pedagogy and educational psychology. It was revealed that school failure can be a consequence of reasons both of a non-psychological nature: family living conditions, pedagogical neglect, the level of education of parents, and psychological: deficiencies in cognitive, need-motivational spheres, individually psychological characteristics students, lack of formation of analysis and synthesis. The variety of reasons for academic failure makes it difficult for the teacher to identify them, and in most cases the teacher chooses the traditional way of working with low-performing students - additional classes with them, consisting mainly of repetition of the passed educational material. Moreover, most often, such additional classes are conducted with several lagging students at once. However, this work, which requires a lot of time and effort, turns out to be useless and does not give the desired result.
In order for work with poorly performing children to become effective, it is necessary, first of all, to identify specific psychological reasons that hinder the complete assimilation of knowledge by each student.
The problem of school failure has always been given special attention by both psychologists and teachers (M.N. Danilov, V.I. Zynova, N.A.Menchinskaya, T.A. Vlasova, M.S. Pevzner, A.N. . Leontiev), A.R. Luria, A.A. Smirnov, L.S. Slavin, Yu.K. Babansky). The reasons for school failure were noted: unpreparedness for school education, in its extreme form serving as social and pedagogical neglect; somatic weakness of the child as a result of long-term illnesses in the preschool period; speech defects, uncorrected at preschool age, visual and hearing impairments; mental retardation; negative relationships with classmates and teachers.
At present, scientific thought is characterized by the theory of two factors, i.e., the acceptance of both biological and social theories. Experts note that the problem of academic failure is pedagogical, medical, psychological, and social. That is why, in the last decade, calls have been made more and more often to unite the efforts of specialists of different profiles in order to improve the performance of schoolchildren. There is an opinion that a comprehensive examination is necessary to identify the reasons for academic failure. To the psychological examination, it is necessary to add anthropometric (body type) and psychophysiological (properties of the nervous system) examination.
Despite the close attention of teachers and psychologists, scientists and practitioners to the problem of school failure, the number of students experiencing learning difficulties is constantly growing.
All this determined the relevance of the research topic.
When studying psychological and pedagogical literature, we revealed a contradiction between a large amount of psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of underachievement of primary schoolchildren, on the one hand, and a small number of methodological developments of ways to eliminate these causes.
The revealed contradiction made it possible to identify the research problem: the study of the reasons for the failure of primary schoolchildren and the ways to eliminate these reasons.
This problem made it possible to formulate the research topic: "The reasons for schoolchildren's academic failure and ways to eliminate these reasons."
Object of research: academic failure of primary schoolchildren.
Subject of research: the reasons for school failure of primary school age children and ways to eliminate them.
The purpose of the study: to theoretically identify and, through experimental work, to check the effectiveness of ways to eliminate the causes of poor progress in younger students.
The study of the psychological and pedagogical literature on the research topic allowed us to put forward the following hypothesis: it is assumed that the elimination of the reasons for the failure of younger schoolchildren will be carried out more successfully if timely pedagogical and psychological prevention, psychodiagnostics of the reasons for the failure of schoolchildren, in the presence of educational influence, should be conducted with the unsuccessful students, an individual planned educational work, which includes work with the student's family.
In accordance with the goal and hypothesis of the study, the following tasks were identified:
1. Analyze the scientific and methodological literature on the research problem.
2. Consider the concept of "academic failure" and determine the reasons for the failure of younger students.
3. To identify ways of eliminating academic failure among children of primary school age.
4. Experimentally check the effectiveness of measures to eliminate academic failure in children of primary school age.
Theoretical and methodological basis of the research: methodological and scientific research of school failure in the works of P.P. Blonsky, A.M. Gelmont, N.I. Murachkovsky and others.
To solve the tasks and test the hypothesis, the following research methods were used:
Theoretical analysis of psychological, pedagogical and methodological literature on the research problem.
Observation, interviewing students and teachers, analyzing the products of students' activities;
Comparison, study of documentation;
Organization and conduct of an experiment to test the hypothesis.
Experimental research base: secondary school №31 of the city of Ishim. The experiment involved students of 3 "B" class.
The research was carried out in three stages.
The first stage - staging (11.02.10 - 28.03.10) - the choice and comprehension of the topic. The study of psychological and pedagogical literature, problem statement, formulation of the goal, subject, object, research objectives, hypothesis.
The second stage - research itself (03.29.10 - 04.22.10) - the development of a set of measures and their systematic implementation, processing of the results, testing the hypothesis.
The third stage - interpretation and design (04.23.10 - 05.29.10) - processing and systematization of the material.
Scientific novelty of the research: the research consists in the fact that the academic failure of primary schoolchildren is for the first time considered as an independent research problem; experimentally tested the effectiveness of measures to eliminate academic failure in children of primary school age.
The practical significance lies in the fact that the conclusions and results of the course work can be used in the teaching and educational process of educational institutions.
Structure and scope of work: the work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a bibliographic list, including 33 titles, annexes. The total volume of work is 44 pages of computer text.
Chapter 1. Theoretical aspects of student failure and ways to eliminate these reasons
1.1 The concept of "academic failure" in the psychological and pedagogical literature
Failure is understood as a situation in which the behavior and learning outcomes do not meet the educational and didactic requirements of the school. Failure is expressed in the fact that a student has poor reading and numeracy skills, poorly owns the intellectual skills of analysis, generalization, etc. systematic failure leads to pedagogical neglect, which is understood as a complex of negative personality traits that contradict the requirements of the school and society. This phenomenon is extremely undesirable and dangerous from a moral, social, economic standpoint. Pedagogically neglected children often drop out of school and join the risk groups. Failure to progress is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon of school life, requiring versatile approaches in its study.
Failure is interpreted as a discrepancy between the preparation of students and the mandatory requirements of the school in the assimilation of knowledge, the development of skills, the formation of the experience of creative activity and the upbringing of cognitive relations. Failure prevention involves the timely detection and elimination of all of its elements.
a) Classification of reasons for school failure
To talk about the reasons for school failure, it is necessary to separate definitions found in the literature, which are sometimes used as synonyms: school difficulties, academic failure, school maladjustment.
School difficulties mean the whole range of school problems that a child may have in connection with the beginning of systematic education at school Dubrovinskaya N.V., Farber D.A., Bezrukikh M.M. Psychophysiology of the child. M., 2000 .. They, as a rule, lead to pronounced functional stress, deterioration of health, impaired socio-psychological adaptation, as well as to a decrease in academic performance.
According to experts, school difficulties that were not identified and compensated for in time lead to academic failure.
Failure usually means poor grades in any subject (or in all subjects at once) in a quarter or a year.
In turn, school failure can provoke the emergence of school maladjustment, that is, such a state of students in which they do not master the curriculum, experience difficulties in interacting with peers and teachers.
According to N.N. Zavadenko Zavadenko N.N. How to understand a child. M., 2000. school maladjustment differs in 31.6%; children. Of these, 42% are boys and 18.6% are girls.
The concept of "academic failure" is interpreted differently in the pedagogical and psychological literature. According to L.A. Regush Regush G.A. Teach a teacher // Psychological newspaper. 1999. No.9., “In psychology, speaking about academic failure, they mean its psychological reasons, which are, as a rule, the properties of the student himself, his abilities, motives, interests, etc. pedagogy considers the forms, methods of organizing education and even the education system as a whole as a source of academic failure. "
Failure to progress is associated with the individual characteristics of children, with the conditions for the course of their development, with the conditions for the course of their development, with hereditary factors. That is why systematization is necessary different approaches to the problem of academic failure, to identify the causes of it.
There are various concepts and theories of academic failure. Thus, representatives of the biologic theory believe that the main cause of academic failure is innate factors that cannot be changed by training. According to the sociogenetic approach, academic failure is a consequence of the influence of an unfavorable environment.
Much attention has been and is being paid to the problem of school failure in the history of pedagogy and psychology (Ananiev B.G., 1982, Bozhovich L.I., 1962, 1968, 1978; Vygotsky L.S., 1997; Menchinskaya N.A., 1971; Slavina L.S., 1958, etc.). In different historical periods, this problem has been interpreted in different ways. B.S. Bodenko Bodenko B.N. Analysis of the psychological prerequisites for academic failure and methods of its correction at the initial stage of education. M., 1998. offers the following periodization.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the works of the Soviet scientist traced the connection between academic failure and such social factors as the social origin of parents. I.A. Armenov, P.P. Blonsky, L.S. Vygodsky made attempts to view the unsuccessful student in the context of his holistic, biosocial development.
In the 1940s - 1950s M.A. Helmont, M.A. Danilov, E.I. Monoszon, S.M. Rives et al., Paying attention to this problem, considered the main reason for the lack of progress in the shortcomings of the learning process, emphasized the importance of the level of pedagogical skill of the teacher. Research by L.S. Slavina were devoted to identifying purely psychological reasons and became the basis for identifying certain types of unsuccessful students.
The 1960s - 1970s can be characterized as a time of increasing attention to the personality of the student, to his formation as a subject of training and education (Babansky Yu.K., Bozhovich L.I., Kalmykova Z.I., etc.). In order to prevent and overcome academic failure, it is proposed to optimize the educational program at school.
In the works of the 1980s (Borisov P.P., Kalmykova Z.I., Matyukhin M.V.), the main reasons for academic failure are considered to be the violation of the main components of the psychological structure of educational activity. In addition, the influence of individual-typical and age-specific characteristics of the personality of children on the success of their education is noted.
At present, scientific thought is characterized by the theory of two factors, i.e. acceptance of both biological and sociological theories by Dembele Baba. Intellectual reasons for the failure of primary schoolchildren: Abstract. SPb., 1994 .. M.M. Bezrukikh Bezrukikh M.M. Why learning is difficult. M., 1995. notes that the problem of academic failure is pedagogical, medical, psychological, and social. That is why, in the last decade, calls have been made more and more often to unite the efforts of specialists of different profiles in order to improve the performance of schoolchildren.
There is an opinion that to identify the reasons for academic failure, a comprehensive examination of E.K. Comprehensive research to optimize learning. SP.b, 1998 .. To the psychological examination, it is necessary to add anthropometric (type of addition) and psychophysiological (properties of the nervous system) examination.
Harold B. Levy Harold B. Levy. Square pegs to round holes. Petersburg, 1995, notes that recently the volume of research devoted to the problem of academic failure has grown so much that no scientist can keep track of them. "Psychologists almost never read medical journals, doctors are not interested in psychological literature, and school teachers do not read either one or the other."
The criterion for determining academic failure is the teacher's recording of unsatisfactory grades at the end of the quarter.
A huge variety of reasons for academic failure, reflected in the literature, leads, according to A.F. Anufrieva Anufriev A.F., Kostromina S.N. How to overcome learning difficulties for children. M., 1997. to the fact that the teacher, finding out the cause of the difficulties in learning, is experiencing difficulty in choosing diagnostic techniques and correction programs.
Depending on the reasons that cause academic failure, there are several approaches to classifying the types of academic failure. Let's consider some of them.
So, A.A. Budarny distinguishes two types of academic failure - absolute and relative.
· Relative academic failure is characterized by insufficient cognitive load of those students who could exceed the mandatory requirements of the school curriculum and the capabilities of individual students.
A.M. Helmont and N.I. Murachkovsky Murachkovsky N.I. How to prevent schoolchildren's academic failure. Minsk, 1977. represent another classification, built depending on the stability of the lag. They identify three degrees of school failure and the reasons for its occurrence in each case.
Table 1
Polish researcher V.S. Tsetlin V.S. Tsetlin Failure of schoolchildren and its prevention. M., 1977. analyzing the literature on the problem of academic failure, focuses our attention on the fact that along with fixed academic failure there is latent failure, that school failure can be expressed not only in knowledge gaps, but also in the attitude of students to learning.
A - general academic failure, to which stupidity leads;
B - general academic failure (corrected and uncorrected) or special (corrected and uncorrected).
C - academic failure caused by the unrealized capabilities of the child. The highest degree of this academic failure leads to "B", i.e. to general academic failure.
N.P. Lokalova Lokalova N.P. How to help a poorly performing student. M., 1997 distinguishes two types of school failure: general lag in studies and lag in certain subjects.
In order to achieve effective work to overcome school failure, it is necessary, first of all, to determine the causes that cause it. Among the specialists paying attention to this problem, there is no single point of view on the reasons for academic failure, but an analysis of the relevant literature made it possible to single out several groups of factors leading to school failure:
· Physiological factor;
· Social factor;
· Psychological factor.
P.P. Blonsky (1930, 1965) believed that pathological heredity (nervous and heart diseases), unfavorable uterine childhood, poor academic performance for a parent, etc.can become the causes of academic failure.
L.S. Slavina names the following among the reasons for academic failure:
• wrong attitude towards learning;
· Difficulties in mastering educational material;
• inability to work;
· Lack of cognitive educational interests;
· Lack of skills and ways of learning activities or incorrectly formulated skills and ways of learning activities.
Yu.K. Babansky, N.I. Murachkovsky singles out such reasons for academic failure as gaps in knowledge, in the skills of work organization, underdevelopment of certain thought processes, etc.
P.P. Borisov offers a detailed classification of the reasons for academic failure, combining all possible reasons into 4 large blocks.
1. Pedagogical reasons: shortcomings in teaching certain subjects, gaps in knowledge in previous years, incorrect transfer to the next class;
2. Social and domestic reasons: unfavorable conditions. Unworthy behavior of parents. Material security of the family, lack of home treatment, child neglect;
3. Physiological reasons: diseases, general weakness of health, diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Infectious diseases, impaired motor functions of the central nervous system (CNS), diseases of the nervous system;
4. Psychological reasons: peculiarities of development of attention, memory, slowness of understanding, insufficient level of speech development, lack of formation of cognitive interests, narrow outlook.
A.L. Wenger and G.A. Tsukerman Venger A.L., Tsukerman G.A. Psychological examination of younger students. M., 2001. among the reasons causing academic failure, the following are distinguished:
Problems related to mental development;
Behavioral problems
Emotional and personal problems;
Learning problems:
Neurotic manifestations (tics, enuresis), etc.
G.I. Vergeles, L.A. Matveeva, P.I. Raev Vergeles G.I., Matveeva L.A., Raev I.A. Younger schoolboy. Help him learn. SPb., 2000. believe that school failure can be caused by:
The mental characteristics of the student;
Lack of volume and quality of knowledge;
Insufficiently formed educational activity;
Relationship with others;
Deformation of the motives of learning.
Experts believe that at different stages of ontogenesis and at different stages of education, the leading causes of school failure may be different. In critical periods (the beginning of school, the period of puberty) physiological, psychophysiological reasons will prevail, in other periods social reasons may be more significant.
O.P. Matveeva gives interesting facts that make it possible to highlight the contradiction in views on the problem of academic failure of various subjects of the pedagogical process:
1.80% of parents who asked for advice about school difficulties believe that the main reasons for a child's failures are related to the teacher (injustice of teachers - 29%; inability to find an approach to a child - 48%; low qualifications - 23%);
2. Teachers (88%) associate their difficulties in working with children with incorrect attitudes of their parents (passivity and inattention to children - 31%, unwillingness or inability to help a child - 18%).
According to the research, experts have identified the points of view of teachers, parents, representatives of the administration and children on the problem of academic failure Monina G.B. Panasyuk E.V. Training of interaction with unsuccessful students. SPb., 2003..
A survey of 104 teachers determined that teachers consider the following to be the main reasons for academic failure:
Health 60%;
Family problems 32%;
Low student self-esteem 16%;
Anxiety 18%;
Pedagogical neglect of children 24%;
The complexity of the program is 16.5%.
Parents (100 people interviewed) are inclined to believe that the main reasons for the failure of their children are:
Uninteresting subject teaching - 36%;
Child's laziness - 32%;
Lack of attention of children - 28%;
Lack of an individual approach - 24%;
Large teaching loads - 24%.
A survey of 94 psychologists showed that they consider academic failure as a consequence of:
Parents' ambitions 30%;
Immaturity of mental functions of children 28%;
Insufficient consideration of the individual characteristics of students 28%;
Children's health problems 20%.
The above figures showed that in order to optimize the learning process at school, it is necessary to use an integrated approach, take into account the points of view of parents, teachers, doctors, etc., and we must not forget that the search for the reasons for academic failure, ways to solve the problem should proceed primarily from the interests of the children themselves. ...
Analysis of the literature on the problem of school failure made it possible to single out several factors from the reasons named by many authors that can lead to academic failure. Conventionally, they can be displayed in the following diagram:
Diagram 1. Factors leading to academic failure
b) Psychological reasons for academic failure
Some experts note that in different cases, school failure can be caused by various psychological reasons. N.P. Lokalova acknowledges that there is an urgent need to help teachers who work with low-performing students. However, she believes that help will be effective only if the psychological reasons for the failure are known. There may be no direct and unambiguous correspondence between the external manifestations of difficulties and their psychological causes.
At the heart of any one difficulty in educational activity, N.P. Lokalova, there may be different psychological reasons, but the same psychological reason can cause different external manifestations. For example, a student may be inattentive due to the lack of formation of the actual processes of attention and due to insufficient load on mental activity, as well as due to a lack of interest in learning, the presence of personal problems. Difficulty breathing, mental activity (for example, memory processes, attention, etc.).
The psychological reasons for academic failure include, as a rule, the properties of the student himself, his abilities, motives, interests, etc.
Among psychological factors, there are several areas that affect learning:
· Cognitive;
· Motivational;
· Emotional and strong-willed;
Cognitive sphere
L. B. Ermolaeva-Tomina, I.A. Akopyants, V.K. Voevodkina Ermolaeva-Tomina LB, Akopyants IA, Voevodkina VK .. Learning through the development of cognitive processes. M., 1998. Believe that for the successful mastering of each subject by schoolchildren, it is necessary to form in them certain qualities of cognitive processes.
Many experts, in particular Dembele Baboy, proved in the process of research that there is a certain relationship between the level of manifestation of certain features of attention, memory, thinking, and academic performance in school. D.B. Elkonin Elkonin D.B. The psychology of teaching younger students. M., 1977. Asserts that at the present time it has been experimentally proved the possibility of forming (in the case of creating certain conditions for learning) a significantly higher level of mental development in primary school age.
However, the deficiencies in the development of mental processes in some cases can be caused by age-related features of mental activity.
The concreteness of thinking of junior schoolchildren makes it difficult to understand the figurative meaning of words and phrases, syncretic thinking (the lack of a necessary and sufficient analysis of all data) leads to incorrect conclusions, inertia leads to the formation of patterns, unambiguity (adherence to only one side of the object in question, phenomenon) - to the inability to operate all the data necessary to solve the problem at the same time, etc.
Education should take place in parallel with the mental and physical development of the child, and not contradict him. During the period of education in elementary school, the leading function of a child is sensory perception, on its basis it is necessary to build learning (from sensory cognition to abstract understanding).
Recognizing the need for the development of cognitive processes in order to improve academic performance, a number of scientists adhere to the following point of view: for the successful mastering of many school subjects, students must have a high level of memory development, because memory is the most important cognitive process that underlies learning.
D. LappLapp D. Improving memory at any age. M., 1993. gives the following scheme:
D. Lapp argues that when this chain is broken, forgetting occurs every time.
At primary school age, there is an intensive formation of memorization techniques, therefore, it is during this period that it is advisable to acquaint children with the techniques of mnemonics that help to structure and memorize material. For children primary school verbal and logical thinking is characteristic.
Many authors believe that some of the features of the development of thinking can cause academic failure. Insufficient organization of independent active work of thinking in the learning process is revealed when the acquired knowledge needs to be applied in practice. L.S. Vygotsky Vygotsky L.S. Psychology. M., 2000. believes that primary school age is a sensitive period for the development of conceptual thinking. The formation of scientific concepts at this age is just beginning. Depending on the perception and type of thinking, all children can be conditionally divided into “thinkers” and “practitioners” and “artists”. When constructing a lesson, the teacher should focus on this feature of the child.
According to many authors, an insufficient level of attention development can also cause difficulties in mastering the curriculum. In first-graders, voluntary attention is poorly developed, unstable, the volume of attention is small, they can do the same thing for 10-20 minutes.
O. M. Razumnikova and E.I. Nikolaeva, O.M. Razumnikova Nikolaeva, E.I., the ratio of assessments of attention and learning success Psychology Issues, 2000, no. A study was carried out that showed that one of the factors of learning success is the behavior of children in the lesson, which teachers often consider in terms of the effectiveness of the attention function. Disorder of attention can be a consequence of physiological changes or the result of a situational psychological state of the child (lack of motivation to learn, conflicts with the teacher, with parents, peers). The study authors believe that the more attention deficit symptoms, the lower the scores in all subjects.
This point of view is shared by G.M. Ponomareva G.M. Ponomareva On the dynamics of the organization of attention of unsuccessful schoolchildren in grades 1-4 // On the dynamics of motivation for learning in first graders. M., 1978., which asserts that all schoolchildren who do not succeed as a result of MAD are children without developmental disabilities, but do not succeed in the Russian language and mathematics, as well as the majority of students who consistently succeed in "3" have defects in organization attention, which can certainly be one of the reasons for learning difficulties.
Research by T.M. Matyukhina, T.P. Meshkova, N.V. Gavrisha Matyukhina T.M., Meshkov T.A., Gavrish N.V. On the connection between the properties of attention and academic failure in 2nd grade students. Psychology Issues, 1998, no. 3. showed that the relationship between academic performance in certain subjects and the properties of attention is different in the groups of attentive and inattentive second graders. The performance of attentive students in the Russian language correlates with the accuracy indicators in the tests on the distribution of attention. Attentive students are greatly influenced by the distribution of attention (determined by indicators of accuracy), to a lesser extent, the dependence of learning success on the amount of attention is found. For inattentive students, the connections between the properties of attention and the success of teaching literate writing are chaotic.
Of all the studied properties of attention (concentration, stability, switchability, distribution, volume), the largest connection was found between academic performance and attention switchability.
Research N.I. Murachkovsky proved that unsuccessful students generally do not have pathological memory and attention disorders.
E.S. Gobova Gobova E.S. Understanding children is interesting. M., 1997. recommends to take into account what channel of information perception is used by each child (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), in what form the received information is stored in consciousness (in the form of visual, auditory, kinesthetic images) and how the child checks the correctness of his decision (for example, when writing a dictation).
M.I. Krupennikova Krupennikova M.I. Effective methods and techniques for organizing a lesson // RYASH, 1997, №4. cites data confirming that visual memory dominates in about 75% of writers.
If a child has well-developed visual, auditory and kinesthetic systems in another, learning is easy for him. If the child relies on only one of the systems, the teacher must give material in accordance with this system. Michael Grinder M. Grinder M. Correction of the school conveyor. M., 1995. and Betty Lou Leaver Betty Lou Leaver. Teaching the whole class. M., 1995. recommend that teachers explain new material based on the leading learning style, then reinforce it based on a weak system and test knowledge again based on the child's preferred style.
E.S. Gobova, M. Grinder associate academic performance with the knowledgeable representative system of the student. The style of schooling changes from class to class (primary school - kinesthetic, secondary - auditory, senior - visual), in this regard, the child who has developed all three systems will be successful. Children - visuals, as a rule, are the most prepared for teaching literate writing (Monina G.B.) Monina G.B. An integrated approach to solving the problem of academic failure in the Russian language // Practical psychology at school. SPb .: Imaton, 1998 ..
In connection with the above, the teacher is faced with the need to develop all channels of perception in students. Gobova, Grinder, Sirotyuk, Leaver and others recommend multisensory teaching of children, in the process of which information is given through several channels. For more successful learning, it is necessary to use all three channels of perception: visual, auditory, kinesthetic.
Emotional-volitional sphere
A.O. Drobinskaya Drobinskaya A.O. School difficulties of non-standard children. M., 2001. paying special attention to the emotional sphere of the child in the book "School difficulties of non-standard children" writes: "When analyzing each individual case of persistent learning difficulties and impaired adaptation to school, it is necessary to take into account not only the developmental characteristics, health status and gaps in knowledge, but also the emotional state of the student, the focus of his personal efforts and interests. "
L.M. Strakhova L.M. Strakhova The impact of the emotional behavior of the teacher on the development of the cognitive sphere of students // Educational activities and the development of the cognitive sphere of students. Volgograd: 1991. notes the connection between emotional processes and thinking and believes that the teacher plays the main role in the development of emotional connections in the educational process.
The author considers the emotional connection of the teacher and students to be the main factor in the productivity of the cognitive sphere. The teacher stimulates the mental activity of children, emotionally coloring mental operations. In the complex activation of cognitive functions (perception, attention, memory, thinking), a prerequisite is the teacher's ability to use the speech properties of expressiveness, which activate the attention of students and contribute to a conscious understanding of the educational material.
Many experts note the impact of self-esteem on a child's success in school. Of course, the confidence with which a student answers the teacher's questions at the blackboard depends not only on the level of knowledge and preparation for the lesson, but also on the level of his self-esteem. A low level of self-esteem creates problems both in mastering the educational material ("I still won't understand this"; "I will never remember this"), and in relations with classmates and teachers ("I will not answer at the blackboard, everyone laughs at me "," I won't go to a biology lesson, the teacher still considers me a dumbass and won't give me a higher than a two ")
As a rule, children come to school with a desire to learn, but gradually increasing difficulties, problems that arise in school for some children, lead to the formation of a negative attitude towards the teacher and a decrease in self-esteem. According to R.M. Granovskaya R.M. Granovskaya Elements of practical psychology. SPb., 1997., self-esteem of younger schoolchildren is based on the opinion of surrounding adults and in key aspects is preserved until adolescence.
Another variant of the influence of the success of learning on the formation of a student's self-esteem: there are cases when a child, successfully and without problems, practically spending no effort, moves from class to class. Against the background of easy successes, the habit of constant approval is fixed, a high level of aspirations and high self-esteem develops. But when a student in high school where the material requires deep and serious study, suddenly realizes that he no longer has a clear superiority in relation to his classmates, and even faces difficulties in his studies, his self-esteem drops sharply.
Inadequately high self-esteem can also lead to problems both for the student himself and for those who surround him and interact with him. Conflict situations between a teacher and a student are not so rare, when the latter refuses to attend lessons in a subject, unreasonably considering himself to be better knowledgeable of the material of the course, he is the teacher himself, and as a result, has significant problems in mastering the material in the subject. Sometimes the child does not agree with a fairly set assessment, considering himself to be right and not agreeing with the arguments of teachers who are trying to explain the essence of the problem and suggest ways to solve it.
The formation of adequate self-esteem depends on the teacher's attitude towards the child, and on his position in the school team.
Poor academic performance, as a rule, leads to a deterioration in the child's relationship with classmates, complication of relations with parents and teachers and, as a result, to a decrease in the level of self-esteem. The child becomes conflicted, withdrawn, or seeks communication outside of school and family.
A volitional action is characterized by the fact that it is its own, proactive, and at the same time a conscious and meaningful action of the subject. N.P. Mayorova N.P. Mayorova Failure to progress. SPb., 1998. asserts that a child is only ready for school, when he has formed volitional qualities, when he can set a goal for himself and achieve it. An important component of learning activity is self-control of students.
The absence of such volitional qualities as initiative, independence, etc., can affect the success of a child's education. However, it can be assumed that the formation of volitional qualities can be carried out only in the presence of a positive emotional attitude of the child to learning.
Motivational sphere
A.N. Leontiev A. N. Leontiev Psychological issues of the consciousness of teaching. M., 1975. indicates the possibility of a direct dependence of intellectual processes on the motivation of activity: only with a certain kind of motives is it possible to real, and not formal mastery of the operations of theoretical thinking.
Learning tasks can be considered solved completely, notes D.B. Elkonin, only under the condition of fostering full-fledged motives of educational activity. The child's attitude to learning, i.e. educational motivation plays a decisive role in the formation of the student's personality. Distinguishing external and internal motives for learning, L.I. Aidarova Aidarova L.I. Psychological problems of teaching Russian to primary schoolchildren. M., 1978. refers to external motivation everything that lies outside the activity itself: "reinforcement after completing the task, external control", etc. Intrinsic motivation is something that follows from the task of the activity itself, "providing its continuous learning from within." L.I. Aydarova believes that such motivation develops in the very process of activity, mainly due to the preservation of orientation-research moments in it. Reproductive education, which is carried out in traditional programs, has one goal - gaining knowledge, approving the approval of others. In developing programs (with productive learning), the main motive, in addition to knowledge, will be the learning process itself.
The level of motivation of schoolchildren to study decreases towards the end of primary school age, which may be deficiencies in the organization of education, in particular, with the system for assessing children's knowledge.
Lou Leaver believes that “students without motivation to learn simply do not exist. Some, and perhaps even many, students are hindered by the motivation of reluctant teachers, parents, peers who learn faster, and the teaching materials themselves that are geared towards other types of students. ” Thus, the reason for academic failure is not a psychological, but a social and domestic nature.
According to A.A. Sirotyuk A.L. Sirotyuk teaching children SS taking into account psychophysiology. M., 2000. The teacher should set himself the task of forming a motive for achievement in children, creating a situation of success, which is associated with the motivational sphere and is determined by the psychological aspects of the child's personality.
So, D.B. Bogoyavlensky Bogoyavlensky D.B. Psychology of mastering spelling. M., 1966. Considers “the creation of a problem situation a necessary condition for the emergence of active mental activity. The need for knowledge arises in cases when obstacles and difficulties appear on the path of the student, which he cannot overcome without the necessary information ”.
A problem situation can be the first step in the method of independent work, which will force the student to turn to analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization.
However, Z.I. Kalmykova Z.I. Kalmykova Psychological problems of the learning process. In the book. Psychological problems of teaching younger students. M., 1978. calls for a very clear limitation of the application of the principle of problematicity, believing that in some conditions it is better to focus on reproductive thinking.
The variety of approaches to the problem of teaching efficiency, the many unrelated classifications of reasons for academic failure, and recommendations make it difficult for the teacher to analyze specific cases of children's academic failure in the classroom. The introduction of the position of a practical psychologist at school can be useful in increasing the effectiveness of teaching, since it is this specialist who is called upon to help the teacher understand the flow of psychological information, to understand the reasons for the failure of each individual student in each specific case.
c) Physiological reasons for academic failure
It's no secret that children's health has been steadily deteriorating over the past decades. An increasing number of children come to school with certain chronic diseases. Since the 1990s, there has been a decrease in the number of preschool children with normal physical development. According to the Research Institute of Hygiene and Prevention of Diseases of Children and Adolescents, Astapov V.M. Introduction to defectology with the basics of neuro- and pathology. M., 1994. The number of absolutely healthy children decreased to 15.1%, while the number of children with certain deviations in health increased to 67.6%.
In preschool children (4-7 years old), the most common diseases are diseases of the musculoskeletal system, respiratory organs, skin diseases, and boys also have a less favorable picture than girls.
School is a very serious and difficult plan in the life of every child. The task of maintaining the health of the child should be considered no less important than the pursuit of excellent convention at any cost. The conditionality of study should be noted not only by grades in the diary, but also by accompanying good health.
Today, medical statistics show that only 10% of school graduates can be considered absolutely healthy. There is a clear trend towards a deterioration in the mental health of children and adolescents. The main forms of children's mental pathology are neuroses, psychopathies, deviant behavior.
That is why specialists working with children and parents need to take into account the child's health status and the option of his individual development when organizing the educational process, both at school and at home. Children with poor health are more in need of a sparing regimen, control over the study load, attentive attitude from teachers and parents.
Let us consider some special cases of the special development of children with whom worried parents most often turn to a psychologist.
Left-handedness
Left-handed children deserve special attention of teachers. The main difficulties of such a child begin, as a rule, upon entering school. Many experts believe that teaching left-handers should take place in a different way from the generally accepted teaching method. It should be remembered that left-handedness is not a deviation in the state of health, but only another normal variant of development, a manifestation of individuality within the normal range.
A left-handed child is not very comfortable in a right-handed world: to hold a spoon in his right hand, and a pencil. But the main difficulties usually start at school.
Almost 90% of people have a dominant right hand, and only 10% have a left or equally good command of both the right and left hand. Lefties were Leonardo da Vinci, Charlie Chaplin, I. Pavlov, V. Dahl. Left-handed and right-handed people have different brain organization, and therefore the choice of the leading hand for any type of activity is very difficult.
Left-handed children are distinguished by increased emotionality with a weakening of inhibitory processes, it is advisable to involve such children in outdoor games, to give various assignments that require frequent switching of attention. It should be remembered that by retraining a child, by changing the leading hand, we inevitably cause a restructuring in the activity of the brain.
There is still no clear and unambiguous answer to the question of what is the cause of left-handedness and how such a person differs from a right-handed person, but it is known that left-handedness - the result of a special organization of the brain - determines not only the leading hand, but also some features of the organization of higher mental functions (speech, reading, writing). Of course, left-handedness cannot be considered a pathology, and even more so a prerequisite for a decrease in mental abilities.
In June 1985, the first all-Union seminar "Health care for left-handed children" took place, at which the following decisions were made:
· Refuse to retrain left-handed children;
· Oblige medical workers of pedagogical institutions to identify left-handedness during the prophylactic medical examination of children with the introduction of data about this in outpatient cards.
If a left-handed child was retrained in preschool age, then “double” retraining after the first quarter of grade 1 is categorically contraindicated.
Fortunately, now there are less and less parents and teachers retraining left-handed children, but the problem of teaching a left-handed child (determining the method of teaching writing, landing, the position of the notebook; the child's work in labor lessons and in school workshops, the selection of special tools) still remains unresolved.
There are generally accepted rules of communication for left-handed children. When writing with the left hand, it is not recommended to require children to write with the same tilt as right-handed children. It is categorically contraindicated to demand continuous writing from a left-handed child, the trajectory of movement when writing ovals should be lighter, from top to bottom, left to right, and lighter connections in the form of "loops".
Left-handed children more often than right-handed children have mirrored writing, pronounced handwriting disorders, for example, incorrect lettering (optical errors), most often they have a lower speed and worse writing coherence. When writing, drawing, reading everything should fall on the right side.
The general tactics of the behavior of the teacher and parents, who consider the child's left-handedness as an individual development option within the normal range, creating favorable conditions for the formation of motor skills will help left-handed children adapt in a predominantly right-handed world and successfully study at school.
Asthenic syndrome
As mentioned above, one of the possible reasons for school failure is the physical health of the child. Many diseases, which were previously mostly affected by adults, are increasingly common in children.
Often a sick child is more irritable, gets tired faster, his level of physical and mental activity is reduced, he is less resistant to various kinds of stress, less efficient.
However, the general weakness of the body can be congenital. By the beginning of schooling, a somatically weakened child often looks younger than his age, is distinguished by excitability, moodiness, fatigue, and tearfulness. Additionally, the changes occurring in the body in connection with the growth leap occurring at 6-7 years of age can also reduce the child's endurance to stress. the period of primary schooling may coincide in time with the period of intensive growth of the child's body.
The probability of such a coincidence is especially high in children with delayed development, the level of their biological development often does not coincide with the calendar. The changes that, with timely development, occur in the senior preschool age, are already taking place at the school desk. The child's stability during this period decreases, the usual school load may be excessive and adversely affect health. This load of a weakened child is all the more tired, and resistance to training load and various diseases decreases even more.
Difficulties in adapting to school conditions are caused not only by the increased fatigue of these children and reduced working capacity, but also by the infantile features of the psyche, which differ in a frequently ill, weakened child: lack of independence, fearfulness, timidity, extreme dependence on an adult.
Despite the fact that the intellectual activity of such children can be relatively safe, the systematic study load and stay in the children's team often turns out to be overwhelming for them. The standard workload turns out to be excessive: fatigue sets in faster than in healthier children. The accumulating fatigue, lack of timely rest (they manage to get tired, are exhausted long before the break between lessons and do not have time to rest during the break) leads to the formation of asthenic syndrome, i.e. a state of neuropsychic weakness, rapid exhaustion, fatigue from any activity, inability to prolonged stress.
The child's sensitivity to external stimuli (loud noises, bright light) increases, he becomes irritable, whiny, impatient, headaches appear more often, attention and memory deteriorate. A painful increase in sensitivity can be so pronounced that the child suffers from ordinary everyday stimuli - it becomes unbearable for him to be in a noisy classroom, the sound of a school bell makes him shudder, the teacher's loud voice causes a headache.
The violation of the regulation of vegetative processes is clearly manifested: indigestion and vascular tone, lethargy to fainting, all kinds of pains that do not have an organic basis. Sleep becomes superficial, anxious, the child often wakes up in the morning, feels tired, depressed, unwilling to do anything.
The social and living conditions of the family and the style of upbringing pay great attention to the school success of a frequently ill child. A child growing up in conditions of social and pedagogical neglect, as a rule, does not receive sufficient treatment at home and, possibly, spend most of the year in hospitals and sanatoriums. Often missed lessons, gaps in knowledge, a constant change in learning conditions, the absence of a permanent children's team and a violation of friendly ties leads to a violation of school motivation (their decrease), the level of aspirations. The child ceases to cope with the material available to him.
Another problem is overprotective upbringing, which makes it difficult for the child to develop independence and adequate self-esteem. The child's fixation on his morbidity, the underestimation of the level of requirements leads to the fact that, faced with real school difficulties, he is not ready to overcome them in order to achieve the required result. A child, feeling uncomfortable, is more likely to avoid solving the problem than to make any efforts to resolve it.
In both cases, the combination of the child's asthenization and inadequate social conditions can lead to a distorted personality formation, which turns out to be maladjusted not only to school, but also to a generally mobile social conditions.
Mental Infantilism Syndrome
A number of children, upon entering school, have traits of mental immaturity (first of all, this is manifested in the emotional-volitional sphere), retaining, according to L.S. Vygodsky, an earlier children's organization of the psyche. In such children, there is a later formation of educational activity and more direct behavior than required by school conditions.
This state, when the child seemed to "linger" at the previous stage of maturation of the psyche, was called the syndrome of mental infantilism.
It is customary to distinguish between several tests of mental infantilism.
1. Harmonic - a proportional combination of physical and mental immaturity in the absence of painful deviations in the child's mental state. This form of infantilism is usually found with a hereditary predisposition of a child to later development; in close relatives, it is also possible to reveal the presence of infantile features in childhood. It sometimes occurs in twins and premature babies. The development of children with harmonic infantilism has a favorable prognosis: with the correct organization of upbringing and education, these children eventually catch up with their peers in their studies, the negative tendencies of their personal development are smoothed out by Drobinskaya A.O. School difficulties of non-standard children. M., 2001.
2. Disharmonic - based on a delay in the development of the frontal lobes of the human brain, due to objective factors and improper upbringing. Children with a simple form of mental infantilism in behavior are assessed as 1-2 years younger than their age. Parents and educators are often confused by their naivety, unadaptation to reality, and the manner in which they treat adults freely. Peers treat them as equals, but communication is difficult or not at all possible.
3. Psychogenically conditioned - an artificial delay in the socialization of the psyche and a physically healthy child by an egocentric or anxiously suspicious style of education. Infantilism is cultivated by overprotection, the child is protected from difficulties, communication with peers is limited. The missed developmental age may be missed forever: the child did not have objective prerequisites for the development of infantilism, he was caused artificially. According to V.I. Zakharova, this type of mental infantilism is more difficult to correct.
Mental infantilism is not a general retardation of mental development. Speech development the ability to draw - to develop in full accordance with age standards, they master reading and counting in a timely manner.
The most noticeable signs of infantilism become at the beginning of school education, when children find themselves incapable of learning activities: they do not understand their responsibilities in the classroom, they do not have a sense of responsibility to the school and the teacher. Classes at school are hampered by increased physical activity, inability to exert themselves, and lack of educational motivation. The interests of these children correspond to preschool age, and play remains the leading form of activity (they bring toys to the classroom, they say that they would like to stay in kindergarten).
An infantile child by the beginning of school is not able to arbitrarily control his behavior. His behavior is impulsive and direct: he can engage in common work, actively carry out the task, but if he gets tired of playing "school", he can get up and walk around the classroom, talk with a neighbor at the desk, and do extraneous things. He does not understand the school rules and regulations.
Repressive measures only increase the risk of school maladjustment of such a child. The most effective technique in working with such a student is to maintain a direct interest in what is happening in the class.
However, mental infantilism can be combined with a low level of the child's intellectual capabilities. In this case, it is advisable to conduct additional individual lessons with the child in the form of didactic games.
Experts note a number of features of the psychophysiological development of infantile children that affect the success of their education:
Motor infantilism - the movements of infantile children are often impetuous, insufficiently coordinated and precise; it is difficult to develop motor stereotypes, which is especially clearly manifested when teaching a child to write, drawing and when performing work on labor;
Concrete-figurative and visual-active thinking prevails;
Insufficiency of verbal-semantic memory is noted (the greatest difficulty for memorizing material, requiring awareness of the connection between its parts);
Deficit of active attention, increased distraction, inability to concentrate;
Inability to work according to instructions in a general pace for the whole class.
Thus, the construction of correctional work with infantile children implies taking into account their physiological characteristics, the level of mental development and general readiness for school.
Psychoorganic syndrome
Learning difficulties and behavioral disorders can be the result of the so-called psychoorganic syndrome. Psychoorganic syndrome (in the domestic literature) is a complex of impaired intellectual activity, emotional-volitional sphere and behavior that occurs as a result of organic brain damage. In the English-language literature, the term “minimal cerebral dysfunction” is used to denote a psychoorganic syndrome.
This concept is rather vague, since it does not have clear boundaries and degrees of expression. It can include individual manifestations characteristic of hyperdynamic syndrome, cerebrasthenia, organic infantilism, and can cause a complex of these disorders.
The causes of such violations are complications during pregnancy of the mother, her diseases, occupational hazards, intoxication, unfavorable course of childbirth (oxygen deficiency of the fetus during childbirth, birth trauma), serious illnesses at an early age, and brain trauma.
The manifestations of this syndrome are different depending on the age.
School-age children showed impulsivity, emotional incontinence, a weak sense of the situation, and insufficient self-criticism. In some cases (with a gross defeat, disturbances of temperament and drives may be noted (suggestibility increases, receiving pleasure, as the main motive of behavior), hot temper with manifestations of aggressiveness, disinhibition of drives (sexuality, gluttony, increased attraction to new impressions, leading to vagrancy). states are called psychopathic, they significantly disrupt the structure of the personality and behavior of the child.
Disorders of cognitive processes often come to the fore. At primary school age, the following disorders in the formation of so-called school skills are the most common:
Disgraphia (letter);
Dyslexia (reading);
Dyscalculia (counting);
The correction of difficulties and assistance to children with brain disorders should be comprehensive and include both psychological and pedagogical, speech therapy, and medical support from a neuropsychiatric doctor. Medical therapy will help to increase the overall tone and performance of the child, normalize sleep, improve attention, memory. The help of the teacher is necessary for the repeated repetition of the passed material and the formation of the necessary knowledge, abilities, and skills.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a medical diagnosis that can only be made by a doctor after a diagnostic test.
The traits that characterize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are usually:
Deficit of active attention;
General motor restlessness, restlessness, many unnecessary movements;
Lack of purposefulness of actions and their impulsivity.
According to epidemiological studies, the frequency of ADHD among preschoolers and schoolchildren is \u003d 4.0 - 9.5% N.N. Zavadenko. How to understand a child. M., 2000.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder occurs in various diseases and developmental disorders (more often with long-term consequences of organic brain damage) and is combined with impaired memory, working capacity, however, the main manifestation of this deviation in the development of a child is attention defect. The child has a reduced volume and concentration of attention (he can concentrate on something only for a few moments, distraction is extremely increased - he reacts to any sound, to any movement in the classroom).
Such children are often irritable, quick-tempered, emotionally unstable, which makes it difficult for them to communicate with peers and adults. Emotional tension is characteristic of such children, the tendency to acutely experience difficulties that arise during communication at school, lead to the fact that he easily forms and fixes negative self-esteem and hostility to everything related to school education Drobinskaya A.O. School difficulties of non-standard children. M., 2001.
These deviations are of a secondary nature, but they increase the child's school maladjustment. Successful personal development, successful school adaptation directly depend on the extent to which the adults around the child are able to understand his difficulties arising from his painfully increased activity and emotional imbalance.
The first manifestations of hyperactivity syndrome are as follows: increased muscle tone, excessive sensitivity to all stimuli (light, noise), sleep disturbance, mobility and excitability during wakefulness.
With age, disinhibition significantly decreases or disappears completely (in adolescence the child can become inert and lack of initiative), however, instability of attention and impulsiveness of actions, as a rule, persist. According to Zavadenko, cognitive and behavioral impairments persist in almost 70% of adolescents and in more than 50% of adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood.
The inability to maintain concentration of attention and control over one's impulses for a long time becomes most pronounced at the initial stage of school education, it is the cause of a violation of the assimilation of knowledge and often leads to disciplinary problems. All of this significantly disrupts school adaptation.
The prognosis of the success of a child's learning and development depends on the following factors:
The severity of motor disinhibition and instability of attention;
The nature of violations of the cognitive sphere;
The presence of secondary emotional and personality disorders;
Conducting adequate complex medication;
Psychotherapeutic support (for the prevention of secondary deviations in personal development).
For the treatment of the syndrome, drugs are primarily used that affect metabolic processes in the central nervous system and stimulate the maturation of inhibitory and regulatory structures of the brain. The choice of drug and therapeutic dose is individual.
Poor social and pedagogical conditions are a risk factor and can lead to impaired personal development. Children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are prone to behavioral disorders and antisocial behavior.
With the provision of timely medical and pedagogical support, with successful personal development, a hyperactive child is able to adapt in society, in the future to lead a normal working life, and to adequately establish interpersonal relationships.
d) Social reasons for academic failure
A dysfunctional, incomplete family, lack of contact with parents, low material level of the family, school educational environment, the media - all these social factors can also lead a child to failures in learning.
Social environment
V.M. Astapov Astapov V.M. Introduction to defectology with the basics of neuro- and pathology. M., 1994. believes that academic failure in most cases is due not to impaired cognitive activity, but other reasons. First of all - the unpreparedness of children for schooling, the unformed prerequisites for it and the skills of educational activity. In a class with a low level of HRP, this unpreparedness can develop into pedagogical neglect.
Often the reason for poor progress is unfavorable living conditions in the family, lack of both control and assistance in learning from adults, conflicts in the family, and lack of a regime.
The parenting style of the family affects the child's success. High academic performance is facilitated by the constant striving of parents for a systematic relationship with the child, communication with him, and joint leisure activities. When parents see a child in their home, a small loser, academic performance in this subject is low. Schoolchildren who are disliked (rejected) by their parents have low academic performance. And then the cause of school troubles becomes the influence of the family, the family "climate". And not necessarily only in dysfunctional families ... outwardly, the family may even be good, but the child does not live in it very sweetly.
But more often than not, these are, of course, dysfunctional families. And a special conversation about children who have drinking parents.
The fact is that it is the child's mental health that is the determining factor on which successful adaptation to school and successful learning depend. It is in the neuropsychic sphere of children that the circumstances of the life of a drinking family sharply hit. And as a result - homelessness of children, intellectual and emotional hunger, gross pedagogical neglect, retarded development ...
In such conditions, even those children who have reduced normal intelligence are not ready to go to school. But what about children with obvious disorders of the neuropsychic sphere?
These children are characterized by:
General weakness, stunted growth and physical development;
Predisposition to frequent diseasesespecially chronic;
Obvious sleep disorders: children do not fall asleep well, cry out in a dream, wake up in fear;
Delayed development of motor, speech functions, cognitive activity.
Many mothers in families where fathers suffer from alcoholism do not realize that they are bound to face great difficulties with the cash of their child's education.
Restless, fussy, scattering, inattentive, disinhibited children from such families from the very first days cause concern for teachers. Attention is drawn to the poverty of their speech, limited vocabulary, insufficient knowledge and information about the world around them, the lack of formation of many skills, without which successful learning is impossible, and indeed not a very big desire to learn.
At the beginning of schooling, such children behave very directly: they often play in the classroom, do not understand the school situation, and cannot critically assess their actions and deeds. They treat their studies carelessly, they do not care about failure. And happiness if the parents even a little "take their minds", they will understand that their child requires a particularly careful and attentive approach, and the shouts and punishments that are usually generous in such families will not help.
Unfortunately, in life, the answer to bad behavior and whims of a child is often just a shout, irritation, punishment.
This is how a stressful situation develops, a vicious circle for a child: at home he is punished, not allowed to walk, deprived of pleasure, rest; at school they are kicked out of the lesson for "hooliganism" and shamed in front of the class.
Of course, it is hard with such children, but still there is only one way - this is patience, endurance. No matter how hard it is, it is unacceptable to respond to a child's breakdown with your own breakdown! It is necessary to calmly point out to the child that his act is wrong; remember, for example, how his favorite cartoon character acts in such a situation, explain why this is good, but this is bad ... Try to communicate more with the baby, play with him, develop his speech. If he does not understand something, repeat, explain.
It is necessary for such a difficult child to have a favorite pastime, hobby - think, look ... Do not forget to praise the child for the slightest success and maintain confidence in his affairs.
And don't be afraid to go to a psychotherapist or psychologist for advice. Do not postpone this visit, do not hope that all this will pass! You will only waste your time. Qualified expert advice, and, if necessary, treatment, will help you provide your child with learning conditions that are feasible for him, and this is extremely important.
Another factor that strongly influences the process of school adaptation and school difficulties. This is the disharmony of family relations, both between adults and between adults and children.
Psychological tension between family members creates an unfavorable background for the child's development, breaks the necessary contacts, and reinforces the wrong behavior. In such families, they often cannot find a single line: it happens, the mother punishes, the father regrets, and vice versa. A child very quickly finds a favorable style of behavior for himself, adapts, gets out, and then transfers the same style of behavior with his peers. Parents sometimes reproach each other for poor upbringing. “Your son got a deuce again,” the father says with stern satisfaction in such a family, and the mother, no less evil, can add: “He, by the way, is not only mine; I would have brought up myself! " And such a dad is taken to bring up with a belt ... The child does not feel anything but anger, humiliation. He cannot come to terms with this - and begins to hate both his studies (because of which he suffers) and his parents ...
In such families, there is no joy, ease of relationship, mutual support and affection. Instead - constant bullying, tension, gloom ... And the children do not make noise, do not laugh, do not have fun, but get irritated in the circle of their comrades with anger, aggressiveness, fights. Or they lock themselves in their sorrows, turning into little old people.
Of course, even in conflict-free families there can be mistakes in their upbringing…. It seemed that it could really be harmful to the child that the mother takes all his affairs to heart, easily gets upset, worries about him? She worries that he will be late for school, did not have time to do something; that neighbor Kolya is much better than her son ... She tries to help in everything, she prepares lessons with him - and she gets very upset if there is still no desired grade. “No, I don’t say anything to him, I don’t scold him, but when I open the notebook, I must sigh out of disappointment and hold back tears with difficulty. But he doesn't react, he doesn't care. " And the child, in the absence of his mother, says: "I am very afraid to upset her. ... I am so afraid that even when I am writing a dictation, I think: if I make a mistake, they will give a two, and then she almost cries." In fact, the mother is afraid of school problems and makes the situation difficult, and the child strengthens the feeling of lack of confidence in her abilities, in her knowledge.
Situations where the success of children does not meet the claims of their parents can be very different. It happens that a child, according to the parents, is “the worst of all,” and instead of support, he is rejected emotionally, psychologically, and physically punished. Often parents naively (you cannot find other words) hope that the best way to mobilize a little student - fear. They do not beat the child, but only scare him: that he will receive a deuce, that he will be kicked out of school, that he cannot become anything ... But this is a psychological beat! The mother really wants her child to be an excellent student. But he cannot - he is afraid of his mother. And this fear paralyzes the will of the child, weakens the activity, self-confidence ...
How to fight?
The main difficulty for parents is the ability to combine exactingness with respect for children - and at the same time maintain emotional, heartfelt contact with them. An exaggerated sense of duty, excessive adherence to principles and moral pressure turns into a fear of “not being that,” otherwise - a fear of failure, as well as an alarming premonition of possible failures and defeats. Then, eliminating fears becomes a difficult task that requires frequent help from a psychotherapist.
Sometimes psychological beating is not at all perceived by parents as a potent remedy. Remember, Agnia Barto has a poem that perfectly illustrates this tactic of parenting behavior?
I earned a deuce
Because of the three-digit numbers.
My dad would be better
Shouted, stamped his feet,
Throw things on the floor
Smash the plate on the floor!
No, he is silent for hours ...
He won't say a word
As if I'm not Pavlik,
Like an outsider.
He did not answer me,
Didn't notice me
Is silent and at dinner,
Is silent during tea.
He with an indifferent gaze
Take a glimpse of me
As if I'm not Pavlik,
I am a table or a bench.
And silence is a burden to me!
I'll go to sleep with grief!
So, the bottom line: what can aggravate school difficulties or lead to their occurrence?
1. Misunderstanding. Parents do not see the true reasons for the difficulties, writing off everything to laziness, unwillingness, “bad inclinations”.
2. Inconsistency between the requirements and expectations of parents and the capabilities and needs of children. The good intentions of parents to teach everything at once: music, choreography, painting, and foreign language - face school difficulties as overcoming obstacles; but adults most often do not give up without a fight, and their children become victims.
3. Rejection of children. We tell mom about the tactics of communicating with the board and advise you to kiss her goodnight .... And in response, the unexpected: “I can’t kiss her. She is like a wolf cub, I physically feel her rejection. " At the heart of this situation is a deep, long-standing conflict, which the mother could not or did not want to remove, soften. And this constant tension in the relationship between mother and daughter, this confrontation in the future led first to school stress, and then to neurosis.
4. Vague parents. Imagine a family. Where strictness and exactingness prevails, where any mistake is put on the line, causes universal condemnation, there is hardly any alternative and no indulgences, where the elder is always right, and the younger has no right to have his own opinion. This is how a downtrodden, weak-willed, insecure person or, on the contrary, an embittered, constantly restraining protest person is formed. In both the first and second cases, he will most likely not be able to overcome any difficulties.
5. Unequal relationships, inconsistency in dealing with children. This is more common in families where parental zeal is manifested from time to time. An educational impulse arose - and a diary and notebooks were demanded, a headwash was arranged, conditions and golden promises were set. But a few days pass ... and again nobody is interested in the child! Mom has her own affairs and worries, dad has his own.
Children's psychiatrist Buyanov M.I. identifies several types of defects in family upbringing:
1. Upbringing like Cinderella, when parents are overly picky, hostile or indifferent to children, making increased demands on them, not giving the necessary affection and warmth. These children are downtrodden, timid, always afraid of beatings and insults.
2. Education as a family idol. In such cases, all the requirements of the children are met. The whole life of a family is centered only around their desires and whims. Children grow up capricious, self-willed, stubborn, do not recognize inhibitions, and do not understand the limitations of their parents. Selfishness, disregard for their duties, inability to delay receiving pleasure, consumer attitude towards others are the result of such an ugly upbringing.
3. Overprotection - the child is deprived of independence, suppress his initiative, do not allow his potential to unfold. Many of these children grow up indecisive, weak-willed, unadapted to life, they get used to the fact that someone will decide and do everything for them.
4. And on the contrary - a hypo-care. This type of upbringing, when the child is presented to himself, is not controlled by anyone. Nobody forms in him the skills of social life, does not teach him the understanding of "what is good" and "what is bad".
5. Education as a crown prince. It is more common in a well-to-do family whose members hold a high position in society. Such parents devote a lot of time to their careers, do not spend enough time with their children, getting them off with gifts and allowing whatever they like. Instead of receiving affection, warmth and care from their parents, children receive surrogates of emotions from them. Parents entrust their upbringing to relatives or random people - if only children do not interfere….
For all these types of parenting, school difficulties are more likely to be predictable. And the correction sometimes does not give an effect - until the attitude towards the child at home changes.
Parent-child relationships are a factor in the formation of children's anxiety, and as a result, the cause of school failures. It is interesting to note that not only parent-child relationships affect the success of learning, but also vice versa: if children study well, as a rule, they become warmer and family relationships... For successful teaching, children need emotional acceptance, a high level of parental exactingness and prohibitions, and the absence of conflicts in the family about raising a child.
There is a well-known phenomenon of “invulnerable children” who, being in unfavorable family conditions, are adapted in their studies and behavior. Experts believe that a similar phenomenon manifests itself in the presence of high intelligence and purposefulness of the child's personality.
Equally important is the factor of coincidence of the expectations of parents and teachers about the child. To improve the quality of students' knowledge, it is desirable to establish a close relationship between the school and the parents of the students.
Method of teaching
The school educational environment can have both positive and negative effects on a child's personality, behavior and learning success.
Psychologists and educators are ambiguous about the impact of various social factors, in particular the school educational environment, on the success of children's education. From the point of view of teachers, the reason for the ineffectiveness of teaching is Thomas and the methods of organizing teaching, psychologists among the negative factors of the influence of the school on the academic failure of children often cite such a reason as teacher-student interaction.
Research shows more specific reasons for failures in studies Pidkasisty P.I. Pedagogy. Tutorial. M., 1998 .:
Cruel, unified education system, educational content, the same for everyone, not meeting the needs of children;
Uniformity, stereotyping, in methods and forms of teaching, verbalism, intellectualism, underestimation of emotions in learning;
Inability to set learning goals and lack of effective control over results;
Disregard for the development of the student, practicality, coaching, focus on cramming.
Conclusion: didactic, psychological, methodological incompetence of the teacher leads to failures in studies.
Many authors believe that by improving the organization of the pedagogical process, it is possible to more effectively form positive typical characteristics of students (features of mental activity), which will contribute to improving academic performance. Academic and life tasks should be parallel, in this case, children will know the purpose of studying the subject and successfully master the material.
K.P. Galenkina Galenkina K.T. Revitalization of teaching methods. L., 1960. notes that the main disadvantage of teaching is the enthusiasm for verbal methods, as a result of which verbal-logical thinking develops, and the personality traits associated with the direct perception of the world around and practical actions are not improved. Education, according to L.V. Zankova L.V. Zankov On some issues of primary education. Uch. Gazeta, 1956, No. 94., Generates "verbalism", i.e. operating with words that are not associated in the child's mind with specific ideas.
The prevalence of verbal methods leads to a gap between the knowledge and skills of students, children know the rules, but they write illiterately, i.e. their knowledge is passive.
Some specialists call the collective form of education itself the main contradiction of education, in which communication "student - student" is excluded, only communication "teacher - student" prevails.
Indeed, the most important principle of teaching and educating schoolchildren is an individual approach, but if there is no knowledge of the psychological causes of student mistakes, even individual teaching will not bring an effect.
Harald B. Levy notes that teachers, trying to improve the learning process, change the amount of material or the sequence of its presentation, but do not think about the question of how children learn the information received. In his opinion, no comprehensive program can be suitable for all students, since each child's problems are different.
Harald B. Levy proposes to help unsuccessful students through the joint efforts of a qualified teacher, interested parents and an attentive doctor, since it is difficult for an individual "narrow" specialist to look at the problem as a whole.
Some learning difficulties can be caused by "pseudo-reasons" - organizational or pedagogical passivity.
E.S. Gobova cites poorly compiled textbooks as one of the reasons for poor performance. She believes that the textbook should be created taking into account the interests of children, have a parallel existing methodology for the teacher.
To eliminate the didactic reasons for academic failure, there are such means:
1. Pedagogical prevention - the search for optimal pedagogical systems, including the use of active methods, forms of teaching, new pedagogical technologies, problem-based and programmed learning, computerization. Yu.K. Babansky proposed the concept of CWP optimization for this. In the USA, they follow the path of automation, individuality, and psychologization of education.
2. Pedagogical diagnostics - systematic monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes, timely identification of gaps. For this, there are conversations between the teacher and students, parents, observation of a difficult student with the fixation of data in the teacher's diary, conducting tests, analyzing the results, summarizing them in the form of tables according to the types of mistakes made. Yu.K. Babansky proposed a pedagogical council - a council of teachers for the analysis and solution of the didactic problems of lagging students.
3. Pedagogical tyranny - measures to eliminate the learning gap. In a domestic school, these are additional classes. In the west - alignment groups. The advantages of the latter are that classes in them are conducted based on the results of serious diagnostics, with the selection of group and individual teaching aids. They are led by special teachers, attendance is mandatory.
4. Educational impact. Since academic failure is most often associated with poor upbringing, i.e. unsuccessful students should have an individual VR, which includes work with the student's family.
School readiness
Among the social reasons, a special place is occupied by the child's readiness to study at school. A child's admission to school dramatically changes his whole life. This period is as difficult as for 6 year olds, 7 year olds. Of course, the better the child's body is ready for the changes associated with learning at school, for the difficulties that may arise, the easier and sooner it will overcome them, the more painless the adaptation process in the first grade will be.
By the beginning of schooling, a child should not only be mature physically and socially, but also reach a certain level of mental and emotional-volitional development. At the moment, almost all children are being prepared for school: in kindergarten, at home or in special preparatory groups. Most often, this is done by educators or the primary school teachers themselves: children are taught to read, count, and sometimes write. As a rule, the main influence in such preparation is given to the child's intellectual development. However, pedagogical readiness for schooling is not sufficient in defining the complex concept of a child's psychological readiness for school.
What is school readiness? This is a complex complex, determined by the morphological, functional and mental development of the child, suggesting a sufficiently high level of development of the child's motivational, intellectual and voluntary spheres. The development of motivation and volition is commonly referred to as personal readiness to learn, and it is just as important to a child's successful learning as intellectual readiness.
In addition, the concept of “readiness for school” is important in the context of mass education at school, since the teacher in his work focuses on a certain average level of development of children, at which the curriculum falls, according to LS. Vygotsky, in the zone of proximal development of a child of this age Vygotsky L.S. Thinking and speaking. M .., 1982 .. According to N.I. Gutkina Gutkina N.I. Diagnostic program for determining the psychological readiness of children 6-7 years old for schooling // Psychological Science and Education. M., 1997., if the current level of the child is such that his personal "zone of proximal development" is lower than that necessary for mastering the curriculum, then such a child is not psychologically ready for schooling, he cannot master the material required by the program and most often falls into the category of lagging students.
Thus, determining the degree of readiness is one of the measures to prevent academic failure. This is a signal for the teacher, parents and specialists that the child requires additional attention to himself as a student, in this case, an individual approach is needed, a search effective means and teaching methods, taking into account its features and capabilities.
Most domestic and foreign experts recommend conducting a medical, psychological and pedagogical examination about six months to a year before entering school. The results of such a survey will help not only to determine the level of the child's readiness for school, but also to carry out, if necessary, a special set of developmental and corrective measures. And parents can get the necessary recommendations to improve the health of the child and eliminate the shortcomings of education.
Are there many actually "unprepared" children in the school? According to statistics carried out by M.M. Bezrukikh Bezrukikh M.M., Efimova S.P. The child goes to school. M., 1996. The number of such children ranges from the age of 10 to 50% in urban schools and can reach 75% in rural schools. At the age of 5 - 5.5 years, about 80% of children are not ready for intellectual schooling. At the age of 6, they are already 51%, at 6.5 years, 32%. And by the age of 7, the number of children “not ready” for school drops to 13%.
Giftedness
Another group of students that often cause additional trouble for teachers is gifted children. In recent decades, one of the problems of concern for both teachers, psychologists and parents is the problem of a decrease in interest in learning, and, as a consequence, of indicators of the intellectual development of gifted children who start school. According to A.M. Matyushkina, about 30% of American students expelled from schools for academic failure are gifted and super-gifted children. According to data from our country, quite frequent conflicts with teachers among highly intellectual students are accompanied by negative emotions of the latter, both towards the teacher himself and towards the school and even the discipline taught Matyushkin A.M. Riddles of giftedness. M., 1993.
Of course, gifted children differ from each other in the degree of giftedness, in the cognitive style, and in the spheres of interest.
Teachers often do not consider such a student in need of individual attention and assistance. It is believed that if a child successfully masters the subjects of the program, then he should be characterized by high school motivation. However, practice shows that a gifted child may, for one reason or another, have a negative attitude towards school, which undoubtedly affects the progress of his further education.
Very often, parents of a gifted child turn to a psychologist with the question of whether it is possible to send a child to school earlier than usual. They explain that their son or daughter is noticeably ahead of his groupmates in kindergarten and it is time for him to do something more difficult. By virtue of their advanced intellectual development, gifted children often do only their favorite things and are isolated from their peers. They need the development of communication skills, cooperation, they must learn to be friends, live in a team. The ability to cope with school assignments is not necessarily an indicator that a child should go to school.
As a gifted child enters the next grade of elementary school, parents often hear him complain that he is bored in class. At the same time, the child can only study at "5", and may not be the strongest student in the class.
Much in the fate of a gifted child will depend on the characteristics of training and education. How will these or those learning strategies affect the development of mental abilities? Gifted children need special programs and specially trained teachers.
However, not all children have giftedness withstand the test of time and progress. age development... B.M. Teplov wrote that the height of giftedness is revealed only by the results of a person's life, and its orientation manifests itself much earlier: in stable interests and inclinations, in the success of various types of activities, in the personality of assimilating various objects.
A gifted child is not just an abstract bearer of talents, but above all a person with his own merits and demerits. The school should contribute to both the mental and personal development of a gifted student. It is the calm and constructive attitude to the talent, non-standardness of such a child that will make him feel not like a “black sheep” among other classmates, but a student who will always be helped and who will be interested in school.
Teacher burnout
Some socio-pedagogical reasons for academic failure are associated not with the reluctance and inability of the teaching staff to effectively build the learning process, but with the emotional and physical overload of teachers.
Working with people, and with children in particular, requires a lot of emotional costs. Young teachers who have just graduated from special educational institutions come to work, eager to show the wonders of pedagogy and become a true friend and teacher for those children with whom they will work. However, soon they are faced with difficult professional everyday life, many understand that they are unable to change the system of work that has developed in a particular school, gradually losing enthusiasm. Tense situations in the work of a teacher include the following: interaction with students in the classroom, in which there are various manifestations of violation of discipline by students, conflict situations; difficulties in relationships with colleagues and school administration; conflict situations with the parents of certain students due to different assessments of the same child, lack of attention to the child in the family.
The emotional resources of a person who finds themselves in such a difficult situation can gradually deplete, and then the body and psyche develop various defense mechanisms. "Burnout syndrome" is one of such mechanisms. Boyko V.V. Syndrome of "emotional fire" in professional communication. SPb., 1999 .. Another definition of this mechanism - "emotional definition" - we often meet in everyday life. This concept characterizes an acquired stereotype of behavior, most often in professional behavior. Emotional burnout is a form of professional personality deformation.
Regardless of whether the teacher works in kindergarten or school, his devastation affects the attitude of children towards school and their desire to learn. If a teacher works in elementary grades, then, according to E. Golizek, children develop negative feelings towards school in general. If this happens to a high school teacher, an atmosphere of indifference and tension is created in the classroom, causing negative feelings in adolescents not only to the teacher, but also to the subject itself Golizek E. Overcoming stress in 60 seconds. M., 1995.
According to M.A. Berebina out of 7300 teachers surveyed general education schools Boyko V.V. Syndrome of "emotional fire" in professional communication. SPb., 1999 .:
56% note that the ion experiences constant and significant intellectual overload;
24% consider intellectual loads to be moderate, but constant;
32% of respondents point to the constant nature of emotional overload;
18.4% of teachers believe that their work causes significant physical overload.
The teacher works in a mode of constant external and internal control. During the day of the lessons, dedication and self-control are so great that mental resources are practically not restored by the next working day. Anxiety, depression, emotional rigidity and emotional devastation are the price of responsibility a teacher pays. All this is aggravated by complex social, economic and life factors and chronic health disorders.
E. Golizek in his book "Overcoming stress in 60 seconds" offers the following recommendations from teachers:
1. Continue to improve your professional skills, participate in courses, seminars and other professional development activities, this will help overcome the feeling of inadequacy;
2. Plan a rest break; coffee and lunch breaks should not be devoted to checking notebooks or preparing for class; get distracted from school worries;
3. Be aware of new ideas: using the same materials from year to year inevitably leads to boredom and devastation; change lesson plans and assignments - this will maintain interest in teaching;
4. Communicate with colleagues, exchange ideas and new knowledge.