Characteristics of the former teacher and director of the school. The headmaster is a key figure in education

The success of the school largely depends on the level of training of the directors and their deputies, how relationships develop between them, how their responsibilities are distributed, whether management decisions are jointly developed, whether they find common approaches to analyzing and evaluating the activities of the school and individual her employees. I remember such a case. me, comparatively young teacher, was appointed director of a large high school, and the head teacher - the former director of a small eight-year-old school, which connected with the new building. At the first teachers' council I made a speech, but before I could finish, the head teacher asked for the floor and said in a harsh manner: "I fundamentally disagree with what the director said here." I did not let her talk further, announced a break, and in the office I resolutely declared: “Here, in the office, we can argue as much as we like, but before the team we must act as a united front. I will always support you, but I demand the same from you. Luckily we found mutual language and have worked together and productively for many years. How to establish a relationship? Much depends only on the character, general culture, experience of leaders. Observed Various types relationship between director and deputies. The most favorable relations are relations of mutual trust and respect, as it should be between people of high qualification, proper culture and upbringing. Everyone listens attentively to each other, understands perfectly, and comes to a single useful solution. Everyone knows the value of each other, supports the initiative and any action, provides assistance and assistance. The deputy recognizes the administrative abilities of the director, his ability to scale, widely cover events and circumstances, feels behind him, as if behind a “stone wall”, diligently and skillfully performs his functions. The director recognizes the methodological skill of the deputy, listens to his words, supports his authority and role in the teaching staff. Under such conditions, the school works calmly, confidently, with a high coefficient useful action. But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Let's try to consider what relationships develop most often, what deviations from the norm occur and what are their causes. The most harmful is the crude primitive relationship of complete subordination, that is, the suppression of the initiative of the deputy by the will of the director. IN pure form this is quite rare, but in a veiled and in different options- much more often. The director takes care of everything, the deputy - the performer and nothing more. The director establishes a job barrier, abolishes 1 This refers primarily to the activities of the deputy director for teaching and educational work. orders of the deputy, is even able to cut him off in the presence of other people, dismissively refers to his work. The deputy loses faith in himself, constantly experiencing humiliation of his dignity. If the deputy is a capable and worthy person, such relationships lead to discord and rupture. If the deputy is a weak and submissive person, he turns into a kind of faceless person that no one at school takes seriously. But there are times when the deputy accepts the role offered to him by the director, and actually turns into his mouthpiece, an active executor of someone else's will. "Ivan Ivanovich said ..." - no other arguments are needed. In all cases, the team works hard, not feeling goodwill either to the director or to his faithful executor. Another type of relationship is a sharp division of functions: each of the members of the administration performs his duties without interfering with the work of the other, and is also ineffective for general activities. The following option is most common: the director conducts economic work and sees his task only in creating conditions for normal course educational process. He almost does not interfere in the educational process. The deputy director conducts educational work, his task is to ensure high academic performance, discipline, and the activities of methodological associations. The organizer oversees extra-curricular educational work and helps class teachers and children's public organizations. With such a “distribution of labor”, everyone can be satisfied and even things are somehow going on, but, of course, the efficiency is much lower than the requirements that we impose on the school. The third type of relationship is to some extent close to the second, but it has the peculiarity that the director is passionate about one kind of activity and actually does not pay attention to other areas, shifting them onto the shoulders of the assistants themselves. This hobby of the director, as a rule, is useful, important, even winning, as it gives good results. It can be a school site, an international friendship club, labor training for schoolchildren or sports work, out-of-school educational work: hikes, clubs, raids, olympiads, etc. A school can take first places in these areas, it can be set as an example, reward the director , but in general plan a detailed analysis reveals that other important areas of work suffer, especially the educational process. It is good if the deputy is experienced enough, but if this is not the case, the success of the school is one-sided and insufficient. The fourth type of relationship is relatively rare, but it does take place, and this should be said. It's about about an energetic, strong-willed, persistent deputy director who actually "seizes" power in the school, suppresses the director, decides everything on his own, sometimes against the wishes and opinion of the director and other leaders. In order not to come into conflict with him, everyone accepts his pressure and obeys his dictates. If this is a capricious, narcissistic, power-hungry and, moreover, biased person, then the school suffers seriously from such a “distribution” of responsibilities. Of course, she does not win anything if the director has the same character traits. However, events should not be dramatized. In addition, such types of relationships in their pure form are quite rare. Fortunately, in the vast majority of cases, relations between members of the administration are healthy and normal. Of the more than 360 school leaders we interviewed, only 24 had broken relationships. And yet, the leader must design the results of interaction with his assistants. We have to take into account some features of the personality of each, even the nature of his previous work. So, practice shows that about a third of directors were head teachers, a third - organizers educational work. The rest - from the asset of teachers, former inspectors, methodologists of the department of education, a significant percentage of young school leaders have completed reserve courses. Such a regularity is curious. Former head teachers, having become directors, pay the main attention to the educational process, showing high professional training here, the directors, who previously worked as organizers, devote all their efforts to establishing extra-curricular educational work, enthusiastically arranging trips, evenings, meetings, competitions, etc. e. Approximately a third of school directors spend most of their time on household chores, are fond of supply work, decorating the school, equipping classrooms, putting things in order, gradually turning into good business executives. In the vast majority of cases, they are men. And only a small part of school principals (about one in five) is able to balance and evenly distribute their efforts to all main areas school work: and the educational process, and educational, and economic work. Practice shows that the deputy director for educational work also often understands his duties one-sidedly. Up to 90% of the interviewed head teachers frankly admit that they are not involved in the educational process and solve only educational problems. The organizer is directly subordinate to the director and performs his functions autonomously. The head teacher does not consider it his duty to lead the organizer and give him instructions, the organizer actually refused dual subordination and does not consider the head teacher to be his leader. IN best case there is a mutually balanced, interconnected work of two leaders, equal in rights, very often friendly and loyal. Numerous observations have proven the expediency of such relationships and they are unlikely to need to be changed. With regard to functional duties, the following should be borne in mind. When distributing responsibilities, everything must be taken into account, even the passion and interests of the director and vice teacher. However, there is something in common that unites the entire administration. Each of them must feel responsible for the entire school and actively intervene in the work, regardless of the assigned area. If the head teacher noticed a violation or shortcoming in the work of the parent committee, he cannot remain silent, based on the principle: this is the site of the headmaster, I don’t care about that. This approach is detrimental to the school. No less dangerous is the lack of rights of this or that leader. In the science of management there is a position on delegating managerial functions down. This means that the person responsible for this or that area of ​​work has the right to make the final management decision. The director and the head teacher are obliged to agree not only on who is in charge of which section and what decisions they have the right to make individually and immediately, but which after agreement and discussion. For example, the director or the head teacher decided that the class teacher should be released from working with this class and attached to another. It is clear that neither the director nor the head teacher can single-handedly, by a strong-willed decision, perform such an action. The head teacher is outraged by the teacher who came to the lessons without a plan. Nevertheless, he does not have the right to prevent the teacher from taking lessons, etc. But there are a lot of current issues that fall within the competence of the director or head teacher. The teacher came to the director with a request to allow the excursion to be rescheduled. The director sends the teacher to the head teacher with a request to sort it out and make a decision. Thus, the boundaries of rights are established, ensuring responsibility and clarity in work. Each school employee knows not only whom to contact on a particular issue, but also who will make the final decision. The confusion leads to grave consequences. The head teacher regulates the educational process. According to the plan - an excursion, and the director went to meet the teacher and canceled it, the head teacher does not know anything about it, the teacher left, the children hang out somewhere, they did something ... It would seem a trifle, but the discrepancy, the shift in administrative functions led to violation of the process, and even to an emergency. The distribution of responsibilities takes place at different levels. This is a permanent distribution of sites and events for the year. This is the distribution of responsibilities according to a balanced plan for a quarter, month or week. Finally, this is a clear distribution of responsibilities for some one-time event, for example, preparing pedagogical council, exhibitions, trips, etc. Of particular importance is the distribution of permanent areas of work for the entire academic year. The director and his deputies single out the main strategic directions of their activities, they bear full responsibility for the work in certain areas. Here is an example of such a distribution of responsibilities in secondary school No. 1 in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Region. The director of the school is responsible for the work of the parent committee, the committee of the Komsomol, the academic committee, conducts economic work and oversees the work of teachers of labor, the Russian language, history, and physical education; The first deputy is responsible for the schedule of lessons, the work of methodological associations, circles, parent lectures, oversees the work of teachers primary school, foreign language, geography, singing. The second deputy is responsible for the work of the pedagogical council, labor training, oversees the work of teachers of mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, drafting and drawing. The organizer of extracurricular and out-of-school activities is responsible for the seminar of class teachers, duty and self-service at school, work in the microdistrict, communication with public organizations, publishing a wall newspaper, helps in the activities of the self-government system, the council of the squad and the Rodina public club. The principal of the school, P. E. Reznik, says: “The main thing is not to interfere with each other, not to impose decisions, trust, discuss everything serious questions together, to convince, if necessary, to argue, but never be offended and be able to subordinate your personal opinion to the opinion of the majority or decision". From the general school plan, the directors and deputies write out those sections that are directly related to their specific duties, the rest are clearly distributed and taken under control. At meetings with the director, when drawing up personal plans for a quarter and for a week, details are specified, the role of everyone in solving certain issues is balanced. One-time events are preliminarily considered, areas of work are outlined, each member of the administration receives a specific task. “At first,” says the principal of the school, “I myself planned who was doing what. For example, a conference is being prepared at the beginning school year. I point out: the first deputy is preparing an exhibition, the second - reports on the work of societies for last year, the third - the plan of the holiday "Day of Knowledge", etc. And suddenly I notice that my deputies are unhappy. What's the matter? It turns out that they believe that one should not so categorically impose work on everyone, it is better to consult and invite them to choose for themselves. I am convinced that this way the task is performed better, and now I always agree on who to entrust what task. Thus, the distribution of responsibilities, both long-term and one-time, is purposeful and covers all areas of the school's work and monitoring results. At a meeting with the director, certain difficult questions are discussed jointly, timely adjustments are made, decisions are made collectively. School leaders report on the work done from time to time. The most important area of ​​activity of the director and deputy is working with teaching staff and managing the educational process. Let us trace the work of the administration with teachers on the example of secondary school No. 4 in Kislovodsk. School director V. A. Omelchenko working? at school for 16 years, his deputy A. S. Ryabinina - more than 10 years. "Our work, - notes the director of the school, - goes smoothly, without duplication, is clearly delineated and at the same time covers all the most important areas related to the activities of the teacher." At the school council (the so-called meetings with the director), the placement of personnel is comprehensively considered. By the end of the school year, every teacher knows their workload. next year. Heads of offices responsible for certain areas of work, class teachers, heads of methodological associations, circles, societies, etc. are also appointed. School leaders determined the responsibilities of each member of the team and developed memos-recommendations. Some of them were developed by the deputy, others - by the director. These reminders are brought to the attention of all teachers, and they clearly know what is required of them. The memos are simple and accessible: “Requirements for the lesson”, “How to conduct class meeting”, “Help in organizing a pioneer gathering”, “Council of the squad”, “Komsomol meeting”, “Requirements for the study room, pioneer room”, “K ^ k to organize the work of the class teacher”, “How to conduct Parent meeting”, “Methodological association”, etc. Recommendations are devoid of uniformity and cliches, they are variable, they give scope for creativity, but at the same time they determine the general requirements for each and help to see the final result. The director and assistant attach particular importance to the study of the style and nature of the work of each teacher. They outlined a joint plan for attending lessons, educational activities, checking the required documentation and exchanging information. Both joint visits and visits with the invitation of specialists were envisaged. For many years of joint work, taking into account the stability of the team, the school leaders got a clear idea about each teacher, about the advantages and disadvantages of teachers, the growth of their skills and knowledge. On this basis, a joint plan is being developed to help those teachers who need it, and a system is being created to control the work of all school services. The Deputy Director draws up a schedule of control, laboratory, practical work and excursions. The school principal gives Special attention the principle of diligence, the precise implementation of all instructions, decisions, orders. IN certain deadlines documentation, magazines, children's notebooks, textbooks are being checked. Importance the director and the deputy give follow-up work to correct the deficiencies noticed. “We found that many teachers do not have a feedback system,” says the deputy director, “measures were immediately thought out to study survey methods.” “We attach particular importance to the dissemination of excellence. All the best we try to adopt and implement in as soon as possible". The joint balanced work of the director and the deputy ensured the comprehensive introduction of NAT into the practice of the school. The director and deputy, being responsible for their specific areas, at the same time, during their days of duty around the school, follow literally everything: order, attendance, discipline - and exchange information at the school council. On the example of this school, we see how the joint work of the director and the deputy for the organization of the teacher's activities is organized, on which the success of the entire educational and educational process actually depends. educational process. Academic work has long been considered the patrimony of the deputy. We have already said that it is still not uncommon to meet directors who are almost completely disconnected from the management of the educational process. From the point of view of scientific management, such a position of the director is harmful: firstly, it leads to the disqualification of the head of the school, and secondly, it sharply reduces the activity of control. And yet two qualified leaders are always better than one. The study of best practices helped the leaders of this school to identify the ways of interconnected actions of the director and deputy director for the management of the educational process: they jointly determined the learning objectives, taking into account the latest achievements in pedagogical science and the requirements of the reform of the general education school, taking into account their capabilities: student composition, teacher training, parents, school equipment , features of the area, sponsoring organization, etc. A special place was occupied by the development of a lesson analysis system. The director and deputy singled out seven leading blocks: preparation of the teacher for the lesson, organization of the lesson, ideological and scientific explanation, independent work students Feedback, homework and their verification, educational work in the classroom. Each of the members of the administration had a clear idea of ​​what and when he would do. The director took over the supervision of a number of teachers and subjects, providing classrooms with technical equipment, the deputy, in addition to attending lessons, organized methodological work, mentoring, etc. The director and deputy systematically exchange necessary information about the work of the school in their areas, as well as outline specific plans for joint work for the future. The learning process is under close observation school leaders. The headmaster wins a lot if he gives the deputy room for creativity, independence, wide introduction of best practices, while he himself can get involved in this process or choose his own way to improve work. Such parallelism is not terrible if there is no contradiction between the undertakings of the leaders. In this regard, the experience of school No. 6 in Pyatigorsk is interesting. T. F. Murzova, the deputy director of the school, was carried away by the idea of ​​introducing NOT into the educational process. The director of the school, A.F. Arzamastseva, pays much attention to improving the office system. School leaders have chosen to study general theme: "Analysis of the educational process as a means of introducing NOT" and from the standpoint of this global problem conduct the most diverse work, taking into account their approaches to its solution. For example, you need to study the work of teachers to improve their skills. Each teacher attends a methodological association, participates in pedagogical readings, has a self-education plan, etc. How can you check the result? In some schools, they arrange interviews, ask for notes, create commissions, conduct almost exams, sometimes humiliating the dignity of teachers. The leaders of School No. 6 chose other means. They conduct a thorough analysis of the teacher's activities, and above all the organization of his work. For example, in certain time cabinets are being reviewed. Each teacher has his own office. School leaders are studying the state methodological literature in the office, quality visual aids, technical means, the production of various manuals by the children. It turns out that the teacher introduces new things into his work, what he uses. Records of class attendance are reviewed and, based on a comprehensive analysis, an objective conclusion is made that helps both the teacher and the administration: where and what needs to be corrected, what is interesting to distribute and use as a positive experience. Of particular difficulty is the work of school leaders to improve educational work. We distinguish several aspects of this activity. First of all, school leaders are involved in planning the main goals and objectives of school-wide events, determine their dates, appoint responsible persons, which include representatives of the administration in charge of certain areas. As a rule, the director participates in the most significant school-wide affairs: school-wide student meetings, the most important school holidays Day of Knowledge, Olympiads, etc. The director of the school is directly involved in the work of the children's asset, the meetings of the school committee, the organization of self-government, from time to time checks the work of individual class teachers, takes patronage over especially “difficult” students and their parents, visits cool watch etc. The first deputy directly conducts the work of electives, subject circles, organizes olympiads, discusses current educational events with the organizer, helps the work of the educational sectors of the academic committee, school associations, patronizes individual class teams and students, monitors the duty of students. The organizer ensures the direct work of class leaders, the activities of children's public organizations, circles, societies, organizes trips, competitions, helps to establish educational work at the place of residence of students. The work of leaders school is coming in three directions: they study and direct the educational work with the team of school students on moral, labor, aesthetic and physical education children, help organize individual work with individual students and analyze the level of work achieved: the upbringing of students, their attitude to work, labor affairs. A special place in the development of a holistic pedagogical process works as a school principal. Let us recall how much time, effort and energy such well-known school directors as Shatsky, Sukhomlinsky, Novikov, Kostyashkin spent on the educational process, especially on individual work with individual students. In this regard, the director's participation plays a dual role: it helps in solving specific issues, and on the other hand, and this is the main thing, it is an example for all teachers. The work of the director and his deputies cannot always go smoothly, without disputes and contradictions. “I have developed a good relationship with deputies for educational work, - says the director of school No. 1 in Solnechnogorsk, P. E. Reznik, - but, of course, there are disputes. Most often these are current issues. Here is an example. Yielding to the pressure of the parent, the deputy personally transfers the student to another class, to another teacher. I don't agree with this. How to be? I put the question at a meeting with the director, discuss, accept optimal solution with the participation of the secretary of the party bureau and the chairman of the trade union committee. There are also small disputes: whether or not to place an article of such and such a teacher in the methodological bulletin, etc. Frankly, wherever possible, I try to make concessions, this increases the authority of the deputy and contributes to his self-assertion, develops initiative. Experience shows that sometimes different opinions not only do not interfere with the cause, but even help to find correct solution. In one of the schools, the deputy director vigorously condemns the history teacher: “You go to the lesson,” she complains to the director, “the boredom is hellish, the students write, swarm, and the teacher himself occasionally mutters something. Doesn't respond to my comments. You, he says, go to Nina Ivanovna, there is a concert, and I have a job. The director is cautious in his assessment: "Let's examine the situation." The results of the study were stunning, striking both the director and the deputy: Nina Ivanovna's “bright” lessons captivated everyone: both students and those present, but the guys had no knowledge. And the children worked for the historian K., and their knowledge was deep and thorough. “We do not know how to evaluate the work of a teacher,” the director honestly admits, “we judge only by the process: bright, exciting - good. But that's not all." Joint search helped to understand the essence of the teacher's work. In one case, painstaking, scrupulous, almost pedantic work of students on primary sources, a textbook, the search for complex conclusions and conclusions, and in the other, a firework of bright phrases, witty remarks and memorization of ready-made provisions. Careful study of the case enriches both leaders and other educators and helps to discover the truth. Conflict situations can also take on a complex, dramatic character. The reasons for this are different. The director is not satisfied with the work of the deputy, but he does not agree with this assessment and appeals to the staff and heads of bodies public education. And vice versa: the deputy does not agree with the director's style of work and makes claims against him. These conflicts are ambiguous. It happens that one director's deputy works well, the other does not cope. In one of the schools for many years there was an experienced, enterprising director, he skillfully cooperated with his deputy, which was expressed mainly in the fact that the director gave him advice and orders. But a new principal has arrived at the school. The deputy, out of old habit, went to him for instructions. “What instructions?” the director asked with surprise. “You decide for yourself.” The deputy was confused. The feeling of confusion, uncertainty that appeared in the deputy, upset his participation in the leadership of the school. In another school, the situation was much more dangerous for business. Appointed director young man who had just completed the reserve courses. School was difficult. For several years it was headed by a low-initiative and often ill director, the school was actually headed by his deputy, an energetic, prepared woman, but sharp, sometimes rude. It was arranged by the old director. She also tried to impose on the new director the role she wanted, but when she saw that this was not working out, she began to ignore him, sometimes discredit him, using the support of "devoted" teachers. The young director tried his best to reason with her, to convince her, but in vain. Once, in her hearts, she told him: “You are not suitable for us, the team did not accept you, leave!” Then the director turned to the district committee and city administration with a request to release him from such a deputy and transfer the latter to another school. Having understood the situation, the leaders of the district granted the request of the director. It happens that the director is not right in the conflict. An energetic, active director came to a well-organized school and actively got down to business. He wanted to quickly, resolutely rebuild everything in "his own way", neglecting the established traditions and style of work of the team. The deputy, relying on the asset, tried to convince him and abandon the unnecessary reorganization. However, the director accused the deputy of conservatism, backwardness and weakness. The conflict grew, the director was left alone. And although his undertakings were in many ways interesting and useful, the team did not understand him and did not follow him. His vehemence, impatience and haste irritated people. A nervous, unhealthy atmosphere was created. The director had to leave. The situations are very varied. The district department of public education was supposed to appoint a new director to the school, where for many years a talented teacher, who enjoys great authority in the team, worked productively as the head of educational work. He was summoned to the rono and honestly told him: “We are very pleased with your work, we consider you one of the best workers district, but it seems to us that it will be difficult for you to be the director of the school: you do not like chores and do not always get along with people, especially with members of the public, bosses. You are always right in your claims, we know that, but the director has to be very flexible. We're afraid we'll lose a good leader teaching and educational work and acquire a "difficult" director, which will greatly complicate the work of the school. Do not be offended, show courage and wisdom. And an agreement was reached. The elections are over. The team agreed with the opinion of rono and chose a new person. Sometimes a young director comes to the school, and the deputy is an old, highly experienced leader. It should not be thought that this is grounds for conflict. Very often, business, smart relationship. Here is a live example. At school No. 7 in Velikie Luki, physics teacher A. A. Golubev was chosen as the director. T. N. Kastorskaya worked as a deputy in this school for 15 years. She spared neither time nor effort to help the new director to comprehend the secrets of the art of management. “She taught me,” says the young director, “she taught me surprisingly tactfully, unobtrusively, never replacing, but at the same time warning me against mistakes and hasty emotional decisions. I am very grateful to Tamara Nilovna for the excellent help.” They have been working together for several years now. I was in this school and saw how clearly the team of teachers works. This type of mentoring is not only a sign of great personal nobility, but in fact is a kind of internship that helps in a short time to adopt rich experience in management activities. This leadership training option should be used wherever possible. It is difficult to work for both the director and his deputies. But if they find a common language and correctly distribute responsibilities, their work is greatly facilitated and, most importantly, an overall high result is achieved.

Don't you consider regional leaders to be such guides?

And they have a different role - unlike the director, they do not reach every teacher and every student, every parent. At least the director should reach them.

If the director is such a key figure, then what is the point of the personnel policy that you are pursuing in relation to the directors' corps?

Today, the Ministry does not have the possibility of direct influence on personnel policy in relation to school directors - we do not appoint them, we do not certify them, and so on. But we try to make an impact in a different way. For example, recently we managed to somehow redistribute funds within the framework of the “Informatization of the Education System” project (although it is very difficult, money has been distributed according to expenditure items from this amount for a long time) and insist that each director from the seven regions participating in the experiment, was trained to work with computers. Indeed, there is a person in the school who tries to equip it with computers, connect them to the Internet, but he himself is not always very immersed in this world. We said: let's take a chance and, at the expense of the loan, give each director a new office space - a personal laptop with all the relevant software, which only the head of the school needs, starting from the Law "On Education" and ending with report forms, instructions, the best examples some managerial plans. A tender for the supply of equipment and software has already been announced. For certification, the director needs to take the appropriate course and pass the appropriate qualifying exam.

You decided to computerize the directors' corps by force. And how did he react to it?

The first reaction, as you might guess, was not joyful for everyone. But I think that introducing directors to new technologies - a good thing. This may be a small but significant step. After all, we singled out the director from the general background, said that this is the person without whose immersion in the topic it is impossible to implement it in an educational institution. When the director own experience will understand how well and convenient it is to use information technologies in their work, this will in many cases become an impetus for changing the attitude towards the technologies used by the team. I would not focus solely on the material side (laptops and everything else), for me it is much more important here that a person is ready to keep up with the students, environment, from society.

But what if the director is of post-retirement age, if he cannot study according to his data (for example, age), does not want to change something, and it is useless to push him to make any changes?

We discussed this more than once, moreover, hotheads suggested writing in the conditions that the director being trained should not be older than such and such an age. When the first computers were installed in a rural school in 2000, we adopted a strict condition in our region: the director or deputy director must undergo training, but only if they are not older than 50 years. I still regret this careless phrase, because I went to one of the rural schools to the head, who was over 60 years old. The director asked to be allowed to study as an exception. Then I realized that not everything depends on age: a 30-year-old director can be a deep pensioner in spirit, who needs to be removed so as not to interfere with work, and a sixty-year-old director can be ready to introduce the latest technologies. We immediately removed the careless phrase as erroneous.

And what, in addition to mastering computer technology and the ability to work with information technology, should a young director have in order to be modern?

Coming to a rural school, I always think that, if I had my way, I would give young directors for official use cars. By the way, one small district in Russia has already done this. The mere fact that this director, unlike all the workers in the village, was given a car, would give him the opportunity to psychologically feel differently. This is one stroke, but what an important one.

Does the principal of the school in the current conditions have to be a good financier?

I would say in another way: he must be a good owner. And this is the ability to manage money, and manage the economy in modern conditions using modern approaches. Here, too, it is important that the director does not lag behind those around him. You know, when the director himself talks about his small salary, this is a weak argument, but when the head of the district administration says that this director must definitely raise his salary, this is already serious, because the authorities see him as a good serious leader. After all, to be honest, sometimes the director lives in his school, as in a cocoon, he thinks that everyone owes him. After all, life goes along a parabola: first up, then, unfortunately, down. I think the laptop modern technologies and approaches to management and management - an alternative to not going down.

I think that everything goes not along a parabola, but along a sinusoid: descending, a person must find the strength in himself to rise time after time, not leaving the circle as long as he has the opportunity for this.

And the belief that it can still develop.

Today, having ascended to a certain managerial height, do you remember your directorial activities, correlate what you say and advise people with your previous work? Do you see today the mistakes that you made, do you warn against them those whom you lead today?

Of course, but today my memories are not as specific as you suggest, they are more general. I think that, having become a director today, I would try to get less excited, would begin to pause - and this is a great art. I always wanted to immediately respond, immediately make a decision. And the director needs iron endurance.

In Moscow, on the eve of the certification of directors, an interesting survey of teachers was conducted. So, they attributed the director's ardor to the number of not very pleasant qualities. Do you think that in assessing the qualities of a director, the opinion of teachers is the ultimate truth?

The people choose their president, trust him, the teachers do not choose the director, but they work with him.

Is the principal's mission to meet the needs of teachers?

Expectations - in any case, but how else? It seems to me that the main thing is the expectations of students and parents. With great respect for the teacher, with an understanding of his enormous role, one must nevertheless admit that for the director this is not the only means for realizing the goal of graduating well-prepared graduates. If he forgets this goal, he will become a kind, comfortable, conflict-free director for teachers, but bad for students.

And should the director be a good, and maybe the best teacher in the school?

You have too A complex approach to the director - and the manager, and the psychologist, and the economist. A director cannot be the best in all areas. He has other tasks: if, as one joke says, we want not a goose who can do everything, but badly, but an eagle who can only fly, to the position of leader educational institution, then we must endure that in some guises he will not be the best in the team. It is important that he finds allies and helpers of such people who will be the best. For example, to find such a head teacher so that everyone knows - better - does not happen, such a supply manager, better than whom no one can cope with the school economy. The director must select personnel and manage the school, and not rush every time for a breakthrough or do everything at once. Well, it is impossible to find such a leader who would know all the issues better than anyone in the team. But it is realistic to find someone who will be attentive to people and work with them in such a way that they will realize their full potential and put the school among the leaders, among the institutions that work in an interesting, modern way. The director must lead in such a way that teachers the best way wanted to participate in the common work.

And what does the director need for this, first and foremost?

It seems to me, quite a bit - he needs to be fair. By the way, in order for the director not to want to help, you also need very little - you must not be fair.

Don't you have to be smart?

Everyone, as someone said, is smart in the business that he knows. But in the usual and ordinary sense, a smart, but unfair person is doomed to failure.

You want to improve the education system, offer concepts, programs, directions. The same was offered by your predecessors in my memory for a decade and a half in a row. But the reforms are not coming. Don't you think that's why this is happening. that the directors' corps does not become like-minded to the managerial?

Firstly, all 15 years have passed, a lot has changed. But of course, the speed of reforms in different regions is different, and there is no need for knowledge to be total and instantaneous. To begin with, each manager on regional level it is necessary to make 40-50 heads of city departments and departments as like-minded people, and then recruit school directors as like-minded people. Remember the famous: "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal?" After all, we have a clearly defined management vertical, and success depends on how weak the interference will be when passing ideas from top to bottom. If the head of the regional department of education starts trying, waving his hand at the heads of the regional departments, who, in his opinion, cannot competently pursue regional policy, work with directors, this will be a rather complicated and, I'm afraid, unproductive way. The task of “leading” is easily solved: the head of the regional department needs to find several dozen smart heads and city departments, and the same number of smart directors need to be found. If you find allies for yourself or make people your allies, then success in leadership is guaranteed to you. This is the first and most difficult task.

Lyubov Petrovna Kezina has a team of like-minded managers, but recently she fired a dozen and a half directors who were not her like-minded people, who took bribes for the admission of children to the first grade, who survived children from school because they had poor grades. How to evaluate it?

13 directors in Moscow is such a small percentage of the total number, in mathematics this is an infinitely small value in relation to the general corps of directors, that the cut-off of 13 directors can in no way serve as a characteristic for the entire director corps of the capital. This is cutting dry branches, normal surgery. And what, it was necessary to endure them, educate them? The director, by the way, also needs to get rid of those who prevent the school from developing and working normally in the spirit of the concept that the teaching staff has developed for the sake of the students. Otherwise, there will be no work. What does a director do? Creating conditions for people to work, searching for or even creating motivation for the team and immediately freeing them from those who will not be helped by either the first or the second.

Sometimes it seems that teachers do not want to be school directors, because it is a very difficult job.

They do not want until such an opportunity is provided. As a rule, if the director leaves, a successor is found, it turns out that there are young and not so young applicants, and a choice can be made. I don’t remember that at least one school stood without a director. Worse than that, getting rid of an unsuccessful director is several hundred times more difficult than finding a director for a vacant position. The trouble is different - the director's salary does not motivate him to professional growth.

And how to make sure that a person who takes the place of a good director can at least keep the bar at the same height?

I am afraid that there are no ready-made recipes for this. This is where your sinusoid works: as a rule, a wonderful director at one time fully mobilized the forces of the team, they worked to the limit, and that's why he was a powerful director, because he found some levers to mobilize the team to work on the verge of ultimate capabilities. New director, of course, it cannot immediately keep these motivational parameters, a certain decline occurs. But then he will find something of his own, and here it depends on what kind of director he will become. By the way, the director will have to make changes in the school in all areas, not a single change will have an effect. Wherever the director starts, he will still solve many issues. It will not even be about changing one school, but a network of schools. The demographic situation, the introduction of specialized education, restructuring, regulatory funding and much more will lead to competition in the educational field. Only those schools will survive and become strong, where the director will constantly think about development, enrich the school with new technologies, improve the quality of education, develop the material base, and thereby attract new and new students. Good schools will remain and will work. good director will come to make their school multi-complete, with specialized education, where each student will be able to choose the individual path that interests him. A good director is sure to achieve independent accounting and full regulatory funding for his educational institution. He will certainly develop a system of remuneration, but with his own individual school characteristics. He will certainly create or initiate the emergence of some public governing body (for example, a good parent committee), an alumni club, and so on.

The one that is called not by number, but by the name of the director. When a teacher says: I work at the Ivanov school, when a student says: I study at the Ivanov school, when the director works with graduates and parents not to collect money from them, but shows attention to these people, gives parent committee room next to the staff room, creates a museum of graduates, who after that are pleased to go to the school, where he is remembered. A good director is not the one who spends the strength of the team on preparing regular folders, stands for visiting bosses. If the school does not have normal wardrobes and toilets that are comfortable for children, then it is unlikely that anything seriously written about respect for these children is written in the “Educational work” folder. Life proves that there would be attention to people, and then money will definitely appear.

Kasprzhak Anatoly Georgievich, PhD in Pedagogy, Head of the Center for Leadership Development in Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics

Most recently, I witnessed a conversation between a large regional chief and a school principal. The latter allowed himself to remark in the conversation that "in his school" there is a certain dissenting opinion regarding the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation discussed at the meeting. The answer of the regional leader, to be honest, if not shocked, then at least surprised me. He "knocked down" the pace of the discussion with a long pause, and then firmly, minting every word (as in a dictation in the sixth grade), noted that this school was not his - the director, but the state, since it was built for state money. He, the director, is only a manager, a clerk, if you like, who manages this school today, fulfilling the will of the founder, and only until ....

I listened to this instruction of the "lost sheep" on the true path and I was reminded of the schools of Milgram, Karakovsky or Tubelsky, which few people knew as N 45, N 825 or N 734.

Director as a person who official duties it is imputed to organize the interaction of participants in the educational process, to support, develop - manage, in a word. I, a person who is not even slightly offended by the phrase "educational service", was somehow uncomfortable with the fact that for a decade and a half, during which I had the honor of heading one of the most interesting Moscow schools, in fact, It turns out that he worked as an executor of someone's will. By creating something new, thereby proving to the bosses the need for change. It was kind of embarrassing.

Well, God bless them, with insults. What kind of position is this - the director of the school, who occupies it? How does the director's functionality change "in space and time", his personal

responsibility for educational outcomes? How is the image of the profession changing and who, as a result, worked yesterday and is working today as a principal in a Russian school?

All these are questions to which we have only intuitive answers, and to be precise in the scientific sense of the word, there is no answer. But a lot depends on this in education: on the content and forms of organization of educational programs for the training and advanced training of managers educational organizations to the level of tasks that can be solved by the education system, that is, the innovative potential of the system.

FROM ADMINISTRATOR TO MANAGER?

About fifteen years ago I had the opportunity to attend the class of Oleg Ermolaevich Lebedev, [ Lebedev Oleg Ermolaevich - Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education, in 1991 - 1996. Chairman of the Education Committee of the city of St. Petersburg] which he led with school principals transition period. The first thing that got me thinking was the topic. It sounded like this: "What can be managed in the education system?".

During the discussion, it was discussed that the vast majority of Soviet schools did not face such a question, since it was possible to “get tired” while functioning, to feel inhuman overload, carrying out instructions “from above”. But it was worth thinking about the essence of management, starting to translate the tasks set by the founder, society, professionals and students into educational projects focused on the development of all subjects of the educational process, the director's activity took on meaning. He is the director of the new Russian school, had to realize the new tasks of education and, having assessed the resources, build a project for the transformation of the organization he led, balancing between "due" and "possible".

And for this you need to read strategic documents (who did this in Soviet time), and teachers to find a way to support and improve relations with partners, and modify the structure of the school, and ... In a word, the reactions to requests "from above", which, as a rule, were and are the main content of their work, faded into the background , became a routine, a burden that interfered with the director's work.

Many years have passed, we are in 2013. Natural curiosity asks you to ask (it would be better to get an answer) a number of questions:

What is the part of school directors who are not only directors by position, but also in fact, that is, managers?

For what part of the directors of modern Russian schools has managerial activity become a priority?

Are those who have become a modern director (manager) still focused on managing the educational process in the traditional sense of the word, or is he, this newest manager, ready to "rule" the school as a significant socio-cultural element of the territory?

Which of them - intuitive managers - is ready to lead not only teachers-specialists who are called to solve the assigned tasks, but individuals who have not only a professional, but also a civic position?

Answering these, as well as a number of related questions, is simply necessary. It is clear that without a clear idea of ​​what constitutes a successful school director who is in demand by parents, teachers, and the founder, we can hardly hope for a successful solution of a number of organizational and managerial tasks that the education system faces today. I will try to demonstrate

To put it on a very relevant today, it seems to me, an example.

Imagine that your school has decided to enter into an experiment to test the federal educational standard for complete secondary education. Having carefully studied the new standard, you compared it with the Law "On Education" as amended in 2013. It was then that it became clear that, along with many innovations that are revolutionary for Russia, such as, for example, an individual curriculum, there is a position that has so far remained almost unnoticed.

It turns out neither more nor less than that the standard is now becoming a document of direct action.

So, if GEF-2004 contained an exemplary program (inside, on the basis of it, the school made its own educational program), now it does not. Sample program really became exemplary, which translated the new standard from the document addressed to the authors teaching aids(not even teachers), into a document that will have to be discussed in the school when compiling their own educational program(see fig. 1). And not only with teachers, but also with students and their parents.

As an advocate of liberal views, I cannot but rejoice at the change that has taken place, but it is written - a "new, advanced" standard - in such a way that it will have to be translated from Russian into Russian. Indeed, fellow directors, think about whether you can explain to the members of the governing board what is the essence of the system-activity approach or educational and cognitive activity? But this is for you, and it is you who will have to explain all these "high matters".

We add to this that, in addition to the educational standard, it will be necessary to discuss with the founder and the staff the question of the expediency of obtaining the status of an autonomous institution, for example, or new principles of remuneration, etc., etc. Here, only knowledge is not enough, you have to be both an orator and a psychologist, in a word, a politician. That is, a person representing the interests of the state in the school and at the same time the school in front of the state, all together - in front of the family, society. Approximately such a director-politician in Western countries began to be called a leader.

WHAT HAVE THEM?

Let us now move away from the Russian situation and turn to the world practice of studying phenomenological

RICE. 1. NEW GEF: WHAT CHANGED FOR THE "CONSUMER"

"In contrast to the concept of directorship (principalship), which became widespread in the middle of the 20th century, in recent decades, the concept of leadership (leadership) has received increasing recognition.

The first concept is based on the consideration of the school organization according to the industrial model (industrial model of schooling), according to which the responsibility for the functioning of the organization (school) lies with the representatives of the administration. Within the framework of the concept of leadership (leadership), managerial powers are distributed among different participants who perform various functions and roles both inside and outside the school. Storchak N. V. Modern international studies of leadership in school education // Academic Bulletin of the Institute of Pedagogical Education and Adult Education of the RAO "Man and Education", 2012. N 3 (32).]

At the same time, as follows from the documents we studied, the researchers accepted the following statements as axioms:

1. School (education system) as a humanitarian system cannot be considered in isolation from the environment in which, ultimately, the socialization of the personality of a young person takes place.

2. "Leadership (management) is usually carried out at three different levels. At the individual level, leaders teach, educate and motivate; at the group level, they build teams and solve problems; at the organizational level, leaders create culture." [ Mintzberg G. Hidden Leadership: Notes on Management by Professionals.]

3. The results of the work of an educational institution (humanitarian system) were considered in connection with the achievement of socially significant effects by its graduates. But these effects are viewed rather than as the arithmetic sum of the results of curricula in subjects, but as what arises due to "the most integral structure of learning and organizational order educational institution". [Plotnikov A. "Hidden program" as a subject of educational research and practice // Scientific and Cultural Journal, 2011. N 6]

Studying the situation in various countries, scientists involved in the new concept of school leadership, tried to answer the following questions:

What professional skills and personal qualities of leaders are in demand inside and outside the team?

What is the background of a modern, successful school principal?

Who and how becomes a director, do they all become leaders of their teams, and if they don’t, then ..?

Who forms effective management teams and how? If they are, how are powers distributed between them? Which member of the management team does what during the day, week, year?

Where and how does leadership training take place?

And finally main question: are school leadership styles related (and if so, how) to educational outcomes?

The very results of the work of the humanitarian system, which are so difficult to measure "on the forehead", as they like to do with us (the rating of schools and (or) regions according to the results of the Unified State Examination, for example).

The very results that are made up of at least learning outcomes and a certain set of characteristics of the school environment, which hypothetically should ensure the stability and positive dynamics of these results.

A positive answer to this question was received during the implementation of the international project "Improving the system of school leadership" (Improving School

Leadership, initiated by the OECD Education Policy Committee in 2006. [New projects. Improving the system of school leadership // Bulletin international organizations, 2008. No. 2 (17).]

The result of this comparative study was the development of recommendations on improving the practice of school management, the identification and description of the most successful practices, the formulation of recommendations to the authorities aimed at improving the quality of education by improving school management mechanisms taking into account external conditions.

In addition, the project resulted in thematic analytical reports that contained descriptions of particular cases (case studies) of successful improvement of school leadership, modernization of training programs and retraining of school leaders (including management teams). If we add to this that today a similar project is being launched in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, it becomes clear that we should not leave this work.

PROPOSAL OF COLLABORATION

So, acquaintance with world experience has shown that studying the state of the administrative body of the education system in Russia is not only an attractive research task, but a necessity. We are sure that without the preparation of an analytical report with the working title "Leading personnel (leaders) of Russian schools: who and how manages the renewal of the educational process" it is simply impossible to design not only national system preparation of leaders, but, more broadly, a step of development.

In order to do this (to describe the phenomenon of a Russian school-level manager working in the vast expanses of our vast Motherland), it will be necessary first of all:

1. "Draw" a typical portrait, more precisely, portraits of the director of a Russian school. In fact, to answer the questions: who is he, the director of a modern Russian school, what, as they say, gender and age, where did he study, where did he work before he took responsibility, etc.

After 10 years pedagogical work I was appointed director of the Pavlysh secondary school. Here, the formation of my pedagogical convictions, which took shape in the first 10 years of pedagogical work. Here I wanted to see my convictions in a living creative work.

The more I tried to translate my beliefs into practice, the clearer it became that the leadership of educational work is the right combination solving ideological and organizational problems on the scale of the whole school with personal example at work. The role of the school principal as the organizer of the pedagogical team immeasurably increases if teachers see in his work an example of a high pedagogical culture, a direct educator of children.

Education is, first of all, constant spiritual communication between the teacher and the child. The great Russian teacher K. D. Ushinsky called the director the main educator of the school. But under what conditions is the role of the main educator carried out?

Raising children through teachers, being a teacher of teachers, teaching the science and art of education - this is very important, but only one side of the multifaceted process of leading a school. If chief educator only teaches how to educate, but does not directly communicate with children, he ceases to be an educator.

From the very first weeks of my work as director, the facts convinced me that the path to the heart of a child would forever be closed to me if I did not have common interests, hobbies and aspirations with him. Without a direct, direct educational influence on children, I, as the Director, will lose the most important quality teacher-educator - the ability to feel the spiritual world of children. I envied the class teachers: they are always with the children. Here the educator conducts a sincere conversation, here he is going to the forest, to the river, to work, to the field with the pupils. The guys are looking forward to those days when they will go on an excursion, cook porridge and fish, spend the night under open sky peer into the twinkling stars. And the director remains on the sidelines. He is forced only to organize, advise, notice shortcomings and correct them, encourage what is necessary and prohibit what is undesirable. Of course, this cannot be avoided, but I felt dissatisfaction with my work.

I know many excellent school directors who take an active part in educational work: the director of the Smelyanskaya secondary school in the Cherkasy region G.P. Mikhailenko, the director of the Bogdanovskaya secondary school in the Kirovograd region I.G. boarding school of the Gomel region M. A. Dmitriev, Krasnoyarsk eight-year school No. 8 L. N. Shiryaev, boarding school No. 14 of Kiev A. G. Kalinichev. These are true masters of the pedagogical process. Their lessons are a model for teachers. They take an active part in the life and activities of the pioneer and Komsomol organizations. They have something to learn and teacher, and class teacher, and a pioneer leader. But it seemed to me, and this conviction has now become even deeper, that the highest level of educational excellence is the direct and very long participation of the headmaster in the life of one of the primary student groups. I wanted to be with children, to experience their joys and sorrows, to feel the closeness of the child, which for an educator is one of the highest pleasures of creative work. From time to time I tried to get involved in the life of this or that children's team: went with the guys to work or on a hike along native land, went on excursions, helped create those unique joys, without which it is impossible to imagine a full-fledged education.

But both I and the children felt some kind of artificiality of these relations. I was haunted by the deliberateness of the pedagogical situation: the guys did not forget that I would only be with them for a while. A real spiritual community is born where the teacher for a long time becomes a friend, like-minded and comrade of the child in a common cause. I felt that such a community was necessary for me not only for the joy of creative work, but also in order to teach my colleagues the science and art of education. Living, direct, everyday communication with children is a source of thoughts, pedagogical discoveries, joys, sorrows, disappointments, without which creativity in our work is unthinkable. I came to the conclusion that the main educator should be the educator of a small children's team, a friend and comrade of the children. This confidence was based on the pedagogical convictions that I had formed even before working at the Pavlysh school.

Already in the first years of pedagogical work, it became clear to me that a true school is not only a place where children acquire knowledge and skills. Teaching is a very important, but not the only area of ​​a child's spiritual life. The closer I looked at what we all used to call the educational process, the more I became convinced that a true school is a multifaceted spiritual life of a children's team in which the educator and pupil are united by many interests and hobbies. A person who meets with students only at the lesson - on one side of the teacher's table, and on the other the students - does not know the child's soul, and whoever does not know the child cannot be an educator. For such a person, the thoughts, feelings and aspirations of children are closed behind seven seals. The teacher's table sometimes becomes that stone wall, because of which he conducts an "offensive" on his "enemy" - the students; but more often this table turns into a besieged fortress, which the "enemy" takes to starvation, and the "military leader" who has taken refuge in it feels bound hand and foot.

With pain, you see how even with teachers who know their subject, education sometimes turns into a fierce war only because no spiritual threads connect the teacher and students, and the child’s soul is a buttoned-up shirt. The main reason for the ugly, unacceptable relationship between the mentor and the pupil that takes place in individual schools is mutual distrust and suspicion: sometimes the teacher does not feel the innermost movements of the child's soul, does not experience children's joys and sorrows, does not seek to mentally put himself in the child's place.

The outstanding Polish teacher Janusz Korczak in one of his letters recalls the need to rise to the spiritual world of the child, and not condescend to it. This is a very subtle idea, the essence of which we, teachers, need to delve deeply into. Without idealizing the child, without attributing to him any miraculous properties, a true teacher cannot but take into account the fact that children's perception of the world, children's emotional and moral reaction to the surrounding reality are distinguished by a kind of clarity, subtlety, and immediacy. The call of Janusz Korczak to ascend to the spiritual world of the child must be understood as the subtlest understanding and feeling children's cognition peace - knowledge of the mind and heart.

I am firmly convinced that there are qualities of the soul, without which a person cannot become a real educator, and among these qualities in the first place is the ability to penetrate into the spiritual world of a child. Only he will become a real teacher who never forgets that he himself was a child. The trouble with many teachers (children and especially teenagers call them crackers) is that they forget: a student is, first of all, a living person entering the world of knowledge, creativity, human relationships.

In upbringing, there are no disparate things that act on a person in isolation. The lesson is the most important organizational form of the process of cognition of the world by students. The whole structure of their spiritual life depends on how children learn about the world, what beliefs they form. But knowledge of the world is not limited to the assimilation of knowledge. The trouble with many teachers is that they measure and evaluate the child's spiritual world only with grades and points, they divide all students into two categories depending on whether the children are learning or not learning lessons.

But if a teacher who has a one-sided understanding of the versatility of spiritual life finds himself in such an unattractive position, then what can be said about the director, who sees his mission only in exercising control over the work of teachers, giving “general instructions” in a timely manner, allowing or forbidding? His position is even worse. I was drawn to this role. I suffered when, sometimes, I came to the students, and they were passionate about something with their teacher. You turn to them, but they do not notice you: children live a rich spiritual life with their teacher, they have their own secrets. Do you need such a school principal? No, not needed. The methods and forms of leadership that developed in the pre-revolutionary school, when the director was essentially an inspector over the teacher, an administrative official, whose duties included monitoring whether the teacher correctly presented the program, whether he said anything superfluous or erroneous, have become an anachronism today.

The Essence of Leadership modern school lies in the fact that in the most difficult task of upbringing, in front of the eyes of teachers, best experience embodying advanced pedagogical ideas. And the one who is the creator of this experience, whose work becomes a model for other educators, should be the director of the school. Without such a director - the best educator - it is impossible to imagine a school today. Education is, first of all, human science. Without the knowledge of the child - his mental development, thinking, interests, hobbies, abilities, inclinations, inclinations - there is no education. How chief physician A hospital cannot be a real doctor without its patients, just as a headmaster cannot lead educators if he does not have his own pupils. His own in the sense that from the first days of the child's stay at school until receiving a matriculation certificate, he rises with him from step to step, directly takes care of his mental, moral, aesthetic, emotional, physical development, has common spiritual interests with him, transfers his spiritual wealth to him.

Who is central figure At school? In what area of ​​the educational process should a school principal be a model that other educators look up to? The main figure of the school is the educator of the primary children's team - the class team. He is both a teacher who gives knowledge to students, and a friend of children, and the leader of their many-sided spiritual life. Teaching is just one of the petals of that flower which is called education in the broadest sense of the term. In education there is no main and secondary, just as there is no main petal among the many petals that create the beauty of a flower. In education, everything is important - both the lesson, and the development of the versatile interests of children outside the lesson, and the relationship of pupils in the team.

After 6 years of work as a school principal, I became a classroom teacher. I want to make a reservation: this is not the only way of direct spiritual communication between the headmaster and pupils. But this way in specific conditions was the most expedient for me. I consider work as a direct educator of a children's team as a very long experiment set in natural conditions.

Before proceeding to a story about how and what was done over a number of years, I will dwell on the characteristics of another important provision that determines to a large extent the content and purposefulness of practical work. Exclusively important role play in the formation of the human personality years of childhood, preschool and primary school age. The great writer and teacher L. Tolstoy is deeply right when he asserts that from birth to the age of five, a child takes from the world around him many times more for his mind, feelings, will, character than from the age of five until the end of his life. The same idea was repeated by the Soviet teacher A. Makarenko: a person will become what he became before the age of five.

Janusz Korczak, a man of extraordinary moral beauty, wrote in When I Become Small Again that no one knows whether a schoolboy gets more when he looks at a blackboard than when an irresistible force (the force of the sun turning the head of a sunflower) makes him look into window. What is more useful, more important for him at that moment - logical world, sandwiched in a black chalkboard, or a world floating behind glasses? Do not force the soul of a person, carefully look at the laws of the natural development of each child, to his characteristics, aspirations, needs.

I remember for the rest of my life these words from a small book in a gray cover in Polish. When I soon after the war learned about the heroic deed of Janusz Korczak, his words became a covenant for me for life. Janusz Korczak was an orphanage teacher in the Warsaw ghetto. The Nazis doomed the unfortunate children to death in the ovens of Treblinka. When Janusz Korczak was asked to choose life without children or death with children, he chose death without hesitation or hesitation. “Mr. Goldschmit,” the Gestapo man told him, “we know you as good doctor, you don't have to go to Treblinka." “I don't sell my conscience,” Janusz Korczak replied. The hero went to his death together with the guys, reassured them, taking care that the horror of waiting for death did not penetrate into the hearts of the kids. The life of Janusz Korczak, his feat of amazing moral strength and purity was an inspiration to me. I realized that to become a real educator of children, you must give them your heart.

K. Ushinsky wrote that we can strongly love the person we constantly live with, and not feel this love until some misfortune shows us the full depth of our affection. A person can live his whole life and not know how much he loved his fatherland, if an accident, for example, a long absence, does not reveal for him the full strength of this love. I remember these words every time I don't see children for a long time, I don't feel their joys and sorrows. Every year I became more and more convinced that one of the defining features of pedagogical culture is a sense of attachment to children. But if the feeling, according to K. Stanislavsky, “can not be ordered”, then the education of the feelings of a teacher, educator is the very essence of high pedagogical culture.

Without constant spiritual communication between the teacher and the child, without mutual penetration into the world of thoughts, feelings, experiences of each other, emotional culture is unthinkable as the flesh and blood of pedagogical culture. The most important source of educating a teacher's feelings is a multifaceted emotional relationship with children in a single, friendly team where the teacher is not only a mentor, but also a friend, comrade. emotional relationship are inconceivable if the teacher meets with the students only in the classroom and the children feel the influence of the teacher only in the classroom.

Of course, one cannot oppose "the world squeezed in a black chalkboard" and "the world floating behind glass." One cannot even admit the thought that compulsory education is a violation of the soul of a person, a blackboard is the enslavement of children's freedom, and the world outside the windows is true freedom.

In the years preceding my work at the Pavlysh school, I was convinced many times of what huge role plays in the life of a child primary school teacher. He should be for the child the same dear and dear person as the mother. The faith of a little schoolboy in a teacher, mutual trust between an educator and a pupil, the ideal of humanity that a child sees in his educator - these are elementary and at the same time the most complex, the most wise rules education, having comprehended which, the teacher becomes a true spiritual mentor. One of the most valuable qualities of an educator is humanity, deep love for children, love that combines cordial affection with the wise severity and exactingness of a father and mother.

Childhood - critical period human life not preparing for future life but a real, bright, original, unique life. And on how childhood passed, who led the child by the hand in childhood, what entered his mind and heart from the outside world - it depends to a decisive extent on what kind of person today's baby will become. In preschool and primary school age, the formation of a person's character, thinking, and speech takes place. Maybe everything that comes into the mind and heart of a child from a book, from a textbook, from a lesson, just comes only because next to the book is the world around it, in which the baby takes its difficult steps from birth to that moment, when he himself can open and read the book.

In childhood, a long process of cognition begins - cognition both with the mind and heart - those moral values which underlie communist morality: boundless love for the motherland, readiness to give one's life for her happiness, greatness, power, implacability towards the enemies of the fatherland.

For 33 years I have studied the vocabulary of young, middle and old children, as well as adults. An amazing picture opened up before me. A seven-year-old child from an ordinary family of a collective farmer (father and mother are people with a secondary education, in the family there is a library - 300-400 books) by the time he enters school understands, feels the emotional coloring of 3-3.5 thousand words of his native speech, of which more than 1.5 thousand - in its active vocabulary. A worker, a collective farmer with a secondary education at the age of 45-50 understands, feels the emotional coloring of 5-5.5 thousand words of his native speech, of which in his active vocabulary there are no more than 2-2.5 thousand words. This fact clearly demonstrates the importance of the years of childhood in a person's life.

The firm conviction that preschool and primary school age to a large extent determines the future of a person does not in the least deny the possibility of re-education in a more mature years. The power of re-education was brilliantly proved by the experience of the Soviet teacher A. Makarenko. But he attached exceptional importance to the younger age. The correct way of education is not to correct the early childhood mistakes, but in not making these mistakes, in preventing the need for re-education.

Working as a school principal, I noticed with bitterness how sometimes perverted natural life children when the teacher sees education only in putting as much knowledge as possible into their heads.

It is impossible without deep heartache to look at how the natural life of a child is disfigured not only during lessons, but also in extended day groups. Unfortunately, there are schools where, after 5-6 lessons, children stay at school for another 4-5 hours, and instead of playing, relaxing, living among nature, they again sit down to read a book. The stay of the children at school turns into an endless, tedious lesson. This must not continue! Groups and extended day schools are, by their very nature, a very valuable form of education. It is here that favorable conditions are created for that constant spiritual communication between the educator and children, without which the upbringing of a high emotional culture is unthinkable. But the trouble is that great idea often perverted: staying in an extended day group often turns into the same lesson, into the same sitting at a desk from bell to bell, exhausting the child's strength.

Why is it so?

Because taking children to the lawn, visiting the forest, the park with them is a much more difficult task than giving lessons.

Very disappointing that a positive experience best schools extended day, well summarized in pedagogical literature, in many schools it does not take root well. And the main reason for this is the general weakness of educational work (in the narrow sense of the term).

We live in a time when, without the mastery of scientific knowledge, neither work, nor the elementary culture of human relations, nor the fulfillment of civic duties are possible. Teaching cannot be an easy and pleasant game, delivering only pleasures and pleasures. And the life path of a growing citizen will not easy walk along the paved path. We must educate highly educated, hardworking, persistent people who are ready to overcome difficulties no less significant than their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers overcame.

The level of knowledge of a young person of the 70-90s will be immeasurably higher than the level of knowledge of the youth of previous decades. The more knowledge you have to master, the more you have to take into account the nature of the human body during the period of rapid growth, development and formation of the personality - in the years of childhood. Man has been and will always remain the son of nature, and what makes him related to nature should be used to familiarize him with the riches of spiritual culture. World, surrounding the child, is, first of all, the world of nature with an unlimited wealth of phenomena, with inexhaustible beauty. Here, in nature, is the eternal source of the child's mind. But at the same time, the role of those elements of the environment that are associated with the social relations of people with labor increases every year.

The process of cognition of the surrounding reality is an irreplaceable emotional stimulus for thought. For preschool and toddler school age this incentive plays an extremely important role. Truth, in which objects and phenomena of the surrounding world are generalized, becomes the personal conviction of children, provided that it is spiritualized vivid images affecting the senses. How important is it that the first scientific truths the child learned in the world around him so that the source of thought was beauty and inexhaustible complexity natural phenomena so that the child is gradually introduced into the world public relations, labor.

From the very beginning of my work at the Pavlysh school, I became interested in children younger age especially first graders. With what quivering excitement the children cross the threshold of the school in the first days of their studies, how trustingly they look into the eyes of the teacher! Why does it often happen that after a few months, or even weeks, the light in their eyes goes out, why does teaching turn into torment for some children? After all, all teachers sincerely want to preserve children's spontaneity, joyful perception and discovery of the world, they want teaching to be inspired, exciting work for children.

This fails, first of all, because the teacher knows little of the spiritual world of each child before entering school, and life within the walls of the school, limited to teaching, regulated by calls, somehow levels the kids, adjusts them to one standard, does not allow the richness of the individual world to open up. Of course, I advised and recommended to primary school teachers how to develop interests and diversify the spiritual life of children, but advice alone is not enough. Important pedagogical idea, the essence of which is revealed in the relationship between children and the teacher, becomes clear when it appears before the eyes of the teaching staff as a slender building erected here, at the school. That is why I started educational work with the class team, designed for 10 years.

The life of the classroom team, which will be discussed below, is not divorced from the life of the school team. In many cases, I touch on the forms and methods of educational work within the framework of the entire school. But I resort to this only in order to more clearly show the class team, since it is precisely the content of educational work in the class that is essential condition the success of all school education.

For example, in books: E. G. Kostyashkin. Extended day school. V. S. Kobar. Organization of primary and secondary work in day schools.