THE TYPOLOGICAL RANGE OF TEACHING STAFF’S PERSONAL POTENTIAL: EMPIRICAL DIMENSION

Abstract

Purpose. The article analyzes the results of the empirical study into the typological range of teaching staff’s personal potential. The personal potential types are considered as the measures of the effectiveness of designing and realization of teaching staff’s personal educational pathways.

Methods. Life satisfaction and subjective happiness, personal and social identity, stress resistance, reflexivity, conscious self-regulation and self-organization, ambiguity tolerance, meaningfulness of life, and coping strategies are used as the basic components of personal potential. The sample was made up of 884 individuals. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 17 factor and cluster analyses.

Results. Factor analysis allowed clarifying the functional structure of personal potential as a personal self-regulation potential, and it found that personal potential included three components. Self-determination potential (18.75% of variance) was characterized by the resultant variables of subjective character (life satisfaction and subjective happiness) and objective character (features of personal and social identity and stressful events in the life of the individual). The realization potential (18.26% of the variance) was determined by the individual’s capacity for reflexivity, self-regulation and self-organization, as well as ambiguity tolerance. The conservation potential (14.93% of the variance) in situations of pressure and threat, along with reduced overall meaningfulness of life, was provided by the individuals’ coping strategies. Cluster analysis revealed the existence of seven types of personal potential, of which low or deficient type was present in 12.1% of the teaching staff, high or sufficient type was present in 10.1% of the teaching staff, with the other five types being distributed among 77.8% of the sample and interpreted as medium or transitional types of personal potential.

Conclusions. The found typological range reflects the content and dynamic characteristics of personal potential at different stages of its development and realization. The dynamics of personal potential can be correlated with the dynamics of the individual educational path and the psychological features of its design, which may be the subject of further scientific research.