EDUCATIONAL AUTONOMY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR THE FORMATION OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF FUTURE PSYCHOLOGISTS
Authors:   Alfred Nobel University, Voshkolup Hanna 
Published: February 2025

The article is devoted to the problem of studying pedagogical features of educational autonomy as a
prerequisite for the formation of independence of future psychologists. The purpose of the article is to iden-
tify the psychological and pedagogical features of the formation of independence of future psychologists in
the context of the phenomenon of educational autonomy. The tasks of the article are as follows: to charac-
terize the theoretical foundations of the essence of educational autonomy as a psychological and pedagog-
ical category; determine the peculiarities of the formation of independence in future psychologists and the
role of educational autonomy in this; identify differences between autonomous and non-autonomous train-
ing of future psychologists; determine the main advantages of the introduction of educational autonomy as
a prerequisite for the formation of independence in future psychologists; provide recommendations for the
development of educational autonomy of future psychologists.
To achieve the goal, the following methods were used: literary analysis, generalization, comparison,
systematization, etc. The article contains the following research results. A critical analysis of approaches to
defining the essence of the concept of “learning autonomy” by various researchers was carried out. It was
established that the concept of “pupil/student autonomy” was introduced in the early 1980s by Henri Hole-
com who defined this category as “the student’s ability to take responsibility for their own learning”. A the-
oretical study of the views of different researchers has shown that variations in the definition of learning
autonomy reflect a trend of changes in educational beliefs, language of learning theory, technology, job de-
mands and learning goals. This ability of the individual needs to be localized and considered in certain so-
cial contexts, that is, people in different socio-cultural situations may have different views on educational
autonomy, and this leads to a set of different practices for the formation of this ability. As for domestic re-
searchers, the issue of the essence of educational autonomy still remains poorly researched and mainly con-
cerns the study of foreign languages or self-education in the direction of additional courses or programs.
It was found that the formation of students’ independence under the influence of educational au-
tonomy is considered as a process of so-called cooperative learning, during which guidance (coordina-
tion, mentoring) takes place on the part of teachers, in contrast to traditional pedagogical functions. A
number of skills are outlined that will help them take responsibility for their learning: defining and re-
alizing their own learning goals; planning one’s educational activities; evaluation of one’s own learn-
ing progress; understanding of own learning processes; formation of learning strategies in different
contexts and comparison of their effectiveness. The difference between autonomous and non-auton-
omous learning of students is established. The following advantages of the introduction of education-
al autonomy as a prerequisite for the formation of independence in future psychologists are outlined:
expansion of students’ educational opportunities in learning new information; providing students with
freedom of choice regarding the methods of organizing their studies; increasing the involvement of
students in the process of acquiring professional competences; development of problem-solving skills;
increasing self-esteem; greater variety of learning.
The following recommendations are offered for the development of the educational autonomy of fu-
ture psychologists: ask students what they specifically want to learn; provide students with several educa-
tional options to choose from; provide a wide range of resources for learning; offer the “I can do” exercise;
suggest keeping a diary; create an online community together with students; offer more multimedia edu-
cational content; focus on useful self-study tools; encourage students to take risks; create opportunities for
students to be leaders.
It has been concluded that the new learning methodology, known as the approach to fostering learn-
ing autonomy skills, focuses on students who are viewed by educators as active participants in the learn-
ing process – “actors of their own knowledge.” Through this approach, future psychologists develop inde-
pendent learning skills, enabling them to act in accordance with the principles of social justice while main-
taining rationality and efficiency.