TEACHER’S SELF-EDUCATION UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF MARTIAL LAW: FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION
Authors:   Alfred Nobel University, Volkova Nataliia , Kozhushko Svitlana ,   Alfred Nobel University, Onyshchenko Marianna ,   Alfred Nobel University
Published: September 2024

The article examines the problem of the teacher’s professional growth due to continuous self- education and personal development in the conditions of martial law. The aim of the article is to outline the pathways of self-educational activities for teachers and the approaches to enhancing the professional level of educators, implemented at Alfred Nobel University under martial law conditions. In the course of the research, methods of analogy, retrospective and semantic analysis, SWOT analysis, generalization, and specification of scientific principles and the regulatory framework related to teacher self-education were employed. A SWOT analysis of interpretations of the concept of “self-education” was conducted, and it was found that self-education is a necessary component of professional activity which is determined by social order and is a factor in the personal and professional growth of a specialist. Emphasis is placed on self-education of the teacher as the leading form of improvement of pedagogical skill and professional competence, which consists in assimilation, renewal, dissemination and deepening of knowledge, generalization of experience through purposeful, systematic self-education activities aimed at self-development and self-improvement of the individual, satisfaction of personal interests and objective needs of the educational institution. It was found that the conditions of the martial law in Ukraine and changes in educational orientations made corrections both in the content of teachers’ self-education and in the forms and types of their self-education activities. Some approaches to raising the professional level of a teacher, which were implemented at Alfred Nobel University under martial law conditions, namely acquiring competencies to preserve and restore mental health, providing psychological support to participants in the educational process, improving information competence, implementing effective ways to improve the quality of education in online learning, and mastering new learning/teaching methods, are considered. The content of the developed and implemented comprehensive program of care for human mental health, including a marathon of online meetings with domestic specialists and lecturers from European countries, aimed at mastering the competencies to ensure one’s own psychological health and improve the psycho-emotional state of higher education students in wartime conditions, is disclosed. The expediency of particular directions of development has been substantiated including teachers’ mastering various software, the ability to work on various educational platforms, and the use of interactive applications; cooperation and interaction with domestic and foreign higher education institutions in order to gain experience for the further implementation of the best European practices in the educational process; internships, participation in international projects, thanks to which teachers found and implemented effective ways to improve the quality of education in online learning, and mastered new methods of learning/ teaching. The feasibility of implementing special measures to support the self-educational activities of teachers under martial law conditions has been confirmed, with a focus on the targeted development of key professional competencies related to continuous professional self-development. The conclusions emphasise the need for purposeful self-education of the teacher, thanks to which a new invaluable experience of providing quality education in wartime conditions is formed.