The process of developing personal and meaningful readiness for working with pupils with disabilities during the introductory practice of future special education teachers

The research aims to provide insight into the process of developing personal and meaningful readiness for working with pupils with disabilities during the introductory practice of future special education teachers. The paper characterizes the essence of personal and meaningful readiness for future special education teachers and provides the author’s definition. The significance of developing personal and meaningful readiness for working with pupils with disabilities is proven within the structure of consciousness, personal traits, and activities of future special education teachers. The scientific novelty of the research lies in identifying and justifying the criteria for evaluating the achievement of personal and meaningful readiness by students who will become future special education teachers and the role of the introductory (educational) practice in the development of this readiness. As a result of the research, based on the mechanisms of personal meaning transformation (meaning formation, meaning awareness, and meaning construction according to the works of D. A. Leontiev), the stages, goals, content, methods, and techniques for developing personal and meaningful readiness for working with pupils with disabilities during the students’ introductory practice were identified and formulated.