The Relationship between the Stages of Agency of Schoolchildren in Grades 8-11 and Ecopsychological Types of Interactions with the Educational Environment

Abstract

Objective. Detection of the relationship between the level of development of agency of schoolchildren and communicative interactions in the system "student – teacher/educational environment".
Background. The development of agency is usually studied outside of communicative interactions in the system "student – teacher/educational environment". Moreover, as a subject of research, different subjective qualities are distinguished depending on the content of education. In this regard, there is a need to apply concepts that are invariant to the type of educational environment and the subject content of training about the formation of agency in communicative interactions.
Study design. The paper studied the relationship between the level of development of subjectivity of schoolchildren at different stages of learning and ecopsychological types of communicative (subject-environment) interactions in the "student – teacher/educational environment" system. For this purpose, the ecopsychological typology of subject-environment (communicative) interactions and the ecopsychological model of the formation of subjectivity were used. Comparison of the empirical data obtained and analysis of their interrelations were carried out using the Fisher criterion and Kendall correlation analysis.
Participants. Selection: 201 schoolchildren of grades 8-11 in Vladimir.
Measurements. Methods of A.V. Kaptsov, E.I. Kolesnikova "Diagnostics of the stages of formation of subjectivity of students" and "Diagnostics of interactions in the educational environment", developed on the basis of the ecopsychological model of the formation of subjectivity.
Results. Reliable data were obtained (p < 0.05) confirming that the older the class of study, the higher the level of subjectivity shown by schoolchildren, and the more often they demonstrate "subject-collaborative" and "subject-generating" types of interaction with the educational environment. 12-15% of schoolchildren indicated the "object-subject" type of interactions, 10% indicated the "subject-separate" type, 20-30% indicated the "subject-joint" and "subject-generating" types. From the 8th to the 11th grade, there is a positive dynamic in the development of high stages of subjectivity ("master" and "creator"). The "critic" stage is the least developed in the samples of all classes. The transition to a new stage (class) of learning returns the student to a new cycle of becoming subjectivity, but at a higher level.
Conclusions. The ecopsychological approach to the formation of agency and agent-environment interactions makes it possible to identify the main trends in the formation of subjective qualities at different stages of the formation of the agent of educational activity, as well as to analyze the features of communicative interactions “student – teacher/educational environment”, without relying on the subject content of these interactions. The obtained empirical data make it possible to objectify some problems that are an obstacle to achieving modern educational goals.