Preparation of Teachers for Spiritual and Moral Education

Abstract

The purpose of this research is improvement of bachelor’s and master’s programs in education for the spiritual and moral development of pupils. The relevance is proved with analysis of the data on value orientations of future teachers. The need to rely on traditional religious cultures of the country is noted. The research is aimed at forming of special programs of future teachers’ professional development through increasing their competence in the fields of theory and methods of spiritual and moral education and maintaining their professional position in the process of spiritual and moral education. The age dynamics of value orientations and methods of their appropriation, the dominance of cognitive, axiological or praxeological approaches at each stage are taken into account. Modular master's courses for teachers with higher pedagogical education are proposed, including the foundations of the main religious cultures; the courses for foreign language teachers can be supplemented by the religious culture of the studied folks. Participants prefer the combination of traditional and part-time e-learning master’s course. The importance of traditional "teacher-disciple" relationships and student-centered approach to educational activities as an environment to facilitate students’ abilities is underlined.