Резюме. The article describes moral and humanistic qualities as key characteristics of a social teacher. The author examines the relationship of emotional and rational in retrospect, the teachings of Aristotle, also, the view of modern researchers (A. L. Fatykhova, I. Koleva) on emotional component as professionally significant qualities of a modern teacher.

Ключови думи: social educator; morality; emotions; feelings; emotional intelligence

Each professional activity requires specialist to have a certain set of abilities and personal qualities, that under the influence of the characteristics of this activity, appear as professionally significant. Professional activity is a stimulus for personal development and acts as a condition for the formation of its qualities and traits, the most adequate manifestations of its specific forms. Each profession is characterized by its own system of values and meanings, which are determined by the focus of activity on the object (subject). In this regard, the professional activity of a social pedagogue, determined by moral and ethical principles in relation to an object (subject), is very specific due to its range of tasks, including the interaction of a specialist with a fairly wide range of social reality phenomena.

Social work refers to such rare types of professional activity, where mostly not professional knowledge and skills, but the personal qualities of a specialist determine the success and efficiency of work.

Currently, in the scientific and educational literature, sufficient attention is paid to the personal-professional qualities of a social teacher. The objectives of our research include the selection and definition of one of the important personal qualities of a social teacher.

Traditionally, the most important personal qualities a specialist, a social teacher, include the moral and humanistic qualities. Moral qualities are the learned norms of morality, expressing universal human values in relation to a person, in communication, in social-pedagogical activity (Belkin, 1995). Moral feelings - the emotional attitude of the individual to their behavior and the behavior of other people, depending on its compliance or non-compliance with social norms.

The meaning of feelings (anger, sadness, joy) in situations of various kinds of experiences (resentment, envy, jealousy, injustice) led to the emergence of the concept of emotional intelligence (EI) (Petrushin, 2016: 69). The presence of this education, both from an individual and from the whole team, helps both to create a positive attitude, maintain friendly contacts, have high performance and organize individual and teamwork in such a way as to achieve significant results in it. These are the qualities that a social teacher must possess as a professional in his field.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is expressed in the ability to understand one’s own emotional state, as well as to analyze what actions need to be taken in a given situation and what may follow. This is a sensible management of emotions to harmonize your relationships with other people and achieve your goals (Kuznetsova, 2010).

Modern philosophers, following the thinkers of antiquity, emphasize the urgency of the problem of developing emotional competence – the openness of a person to his emotional experiences, linking its possibilities with the harmonious interaction of the heart and mind, affect and intelligence (Andreeva, 2006).

The problem of the relationship between the emotional and the rational has worried people since ancient times.

Some philosophers, in particular, Aristotle, in the context of the era of ethical philosophical traditions were interested in certain emotions, such as anger and fear, which should have been subordinated to reason and put at the service of ethical goals.

We will cite in confirmation of this relevant to our topic examples relating to the field of emotional intelligence and morality of man. Let us analyze the views of the philosopher of antiquity Aristotle on this problem.

Thus, in the work of “Nicomachean Ethics”, book II, the first chapter, it is written: “in the presence of two kinds of virtues, both mental and moral, the thinking arises and grows mainly due to training and that is why it needs a long exercise, and moral (ετηικε) born of habit (εχετηουi)”1).

At all times, people were interested in the question of sensible management of feelings and emotions. The struggle between the voice of reason and the voice of the heart, that is, the demands emanating from the conventions of society and the desires of the naive soul, occurs in the inner world of man, which is inaccessible to the inexperienced external observer.

Further, Aristotle in the work “Nicomachean Ethics”, book II, gives a definition of the concept of virtue. Virtue is the inner moral perfection that has become a habit. Its culmination is manifested in the activities of the higher part of the irrational soul, full of desires, but restrained by the mind. This is the perfection of rational desire, when virtue is manifested in our ability to adapt to different situations: “... what is a virtue. Since there are three things in the soul — passions, abilities, and foundations, then virtue seems to correspond with one of these three things. I call cravings, or feelings, desire, anger, fear, courage, anger, joy, love (πηιλια), hatred, longing, envy, pity – in general, all that is accompanied by pleasure or suffering. Abilities are what make us considered to be subject to these passions, so that we can, for example, be angry, made to suffer or soften. Moral foundations, or a warehouse of the soul, is what we know well or badly with our passions, such as anger: If we are angry or sluggish, then we own badly, if we keep the middle, then good. It is the same with all other passions2)“.

Investigating the problem of regulating behavior, Aristotle came to the conclusion that dual regulation is possible, both by emotions and by reason. He was convinced that only reasonable regulation can give true freedom and responsibility. According to the requirements for the personal characteristics of a social pedagogue, these are the latter qualities that can characterize a specialist as a high-class professional.

Moral qualities are based on the accepted in a given society understanding of good and evil, duty and honor, justice and injustice. It should be noted that the humanistic orientation is a system of value orientations and semantic attitudes in the sphere of interaction with people, which implies a moral and educated attitude towards people, an understanding of their value and significance, the fact that V.A. Sukhomlinsky called striving towards a person, the ability to cherish another person, respect him in the highest value. Humanistic orientation is an expression of humanism and humanity – the basic characteristics of a specialist, on which professional competence is built (Shubina & Sharshov, 2011).

Aristotle for the first time identified several types of emotions, dividing feelings and affects according to the degree of their influence on behavior. Feelings, from his point of view, can be realized by the mind and therefore do not necessarily affect behavior, giving our rational actions only some emotional context. At the same time, positive feelings help to perform certain actions, while negative ones, on the contrary, interfere.

The fact that associations are associated with feelings of pleasure and displeasure allows them to be used in the formation of socially approved forms of behavior.

Unlike feelings, affects, as the most powerful and pronounced types of emotions, are not amenable to rational comprehension, and therefore it is very difficult to fight them. The affect, according to Aristotle, always leads to spontaneous behavior or to a change in the previously planned action, so the consequences of affect can be the most destructive for a person.

Aristotle calls affects: cravings, anger, fear, courage, anger, joy, love, hate, longing, envy, pity – in general, all that is accompanied by pleasure or suffering3). Affect is a passive state, caused in a person by some kind of influence, arises without intention and deliberation, previous decisions change under its influence. Affect is accompanied by bodily changes. Psychological characteristics reveal the condition in which this affect occurs, who or what becomes its object. Aristotle made an insightful description of the individual affects. For example, fear is described as follows. “Fear (fobos) is a kind of unpleasant sensation or embarrassment that arises from the idea of an impending evil that can destroy us or cause us trouble: people are not afraid of all evils; for example, they are not afraid to be unjust or lazy, but only those who can cause suffering, greatly upset or destroy, and moreover, in cases where these disasters do not threaten from afar, but are so close that they seem inevitable4).”

Affects, according to Aristotle, in themselves are neither virtues nor vices.

A person is judged by his deeds, and the affect assesses the manner of behavior: “neither the virtues nor the vices are not the essence of passion, because passion we do not honor nor good or bad, the virtues and vices of worship, and also because of the passion we deserve neither praise nor condemnation — praise for the fear and blame for the anger at all but for some. But for the virtues and vices we are worthy of praise and condemnation. In addition, we are angry and afraid not intentionally (απροαιρετοi), on the contrary, virtues are a kind of conscious choice (προαιρεσιi), or, at least, they assume it. And finally, in connection with passions they speak of the movements of the soul, and in connection with virtues and vices — not of movements, but of certain inclinations. Therefore, virtue is not the ability, because we do not consider neither virtuous nor vicious for the ability to do something to experience, and we are not praised for it and not condemn. In addition, the ability is in us by nature, and virtuous or vicious by nature we are not”5)

Carrying out social and pedagogical activity, the social teacher has to possess the personal and moral orientation which represents a specific type of professional activity directed on social protection of the personality as the highest value, on maintenance and strengthening of its moral, mental and physical health, versatile development6).

The most important characteristic of the personality of a social teacher, which fully determines the effectiveness of his activities, is its “humanistic potential” and value orientation, which determines the personal meaning of professional activity, the reflection of the actual attitude of the individual to the objects for which his activities are deployed7).

We believe that the characterization of the personality of a social pedagogue is unthinkable without a virtuous quality, since this quality is the basic one in social and pedagogical work.

Aristotle also said that “…none of the moral virtues is innate to us by nature, for all that is natural cannot be accustomed (ετηιδζειν) to anything. Therefore, virtues exist in us not by nature and not contrary to nature, but to acquire them for us naturally, and thanks to training (δια του ετηουi) we improve in them”8) .

Aristotle defines virtue as follows: “virtue is not a passion and ability, it would appear that the foundations”9),. Therefore, these foundations can and should be improved.

Also in “Nicomachus Ethics”, in book II, according to the method, or rather, about the art to seek and find a middle ground. This middle for each of us has its own. Therefore, virtue is a voluntary choice based on the correct judgment of the course of action that depends on us. This means that virtue stems from practical wisdom (fronesis), which a prudent person makes the norm of life. Although the purpose of virtue is a happy medium, but it is in itself – perfection.: “I call the middle of the thing that is equidistant from both edges, and this [middle] is one and the same for all. I call the middle in relation to us what is not excessive and not enough, and this middle is not one and is not the same for all10)”.

Deeply immersed in the nature of virtue, Aristotle explores its two manifestations: courage and moderation. Courage is the Golden mean between cowardice and desperation. Moderation is “the middle of enjoyment”.

Man, according to Aristotle, should always strive to adhere to the Golden mean: “…to misbehave in different ways (for evil, as figuratively expressed by the Pythagoreans, belongs to the unlimited, and the benefit — specific), meanwhile, to do the right thing only one – the only way (no wonder the first easy and the second difficult, because it is easy to miss, hard to hit the target). This, therefore, is the reason that the excess and the lack of inherent depravity (κακια), and the possession of middle – of virtue. The best people are simple, but the Vice is complex”11).

Determining the personal characteristics of a social pedagogue, it is important to remember that he works in the field of “man-man”, which implies the ability to function successfully in the system of interpersonal relations. Consequently, the formation and development of personal quality, according to Aristotle, the possession of the middle – a virtue for a social pedagogue is, as noted in the monograph Fatykhova A. L. 12), such social and psychological qualities as the ability to understand people (the ability to quickly and correctly assess the psychological characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, to penetrate into their thoughts, to capture feelings, moods, distribute responsibilities and tasks, taking into account their interests, capabilities and mental States); moral and communicative qualities (sensitivity, goodwill, justice, ability to notice in people positive and not to fix attention on shortcomings of the child, simplicity and availability, tact, sociability, etc.).

No less important characteristic of the personality of a social teacher in relation to the formation of emotional intelligence is the concept of empathy. This is the desire for empathy, understanding of another person on the basis of penetration into his feelings, emotions, state, which as a result will contribute to a more productive interaction in our case, a social teacher and a student, leveling cultural and other differences and finding compromise solutions in achieving educational goals.

As noted by Irina Koleva, in the monograph “Ethno-psychological models of educational interaction”, one of the criteria of quality of work of the teacher in the multicultural environment, in the course of training and education : “uses pedagogical techniques for the development of intercultural competence of students: for the formation of reflexive attitudes and abilities to empathy” An interesting point of view is the model of intercultural education as a methodology of ethnosocial pedagogical research. The study confirms that emotional intimacy is one of the main challenges in solving problems in education that are caused by ethnic, religious or racial differences (Koleva, 2012).

Human emotions can be both assistants, contributing to the success of life, and the worst enemies, failing grandiose plans and dreams. Therefore, the inability to cope with envy, pushes people to crime, inability to overcome your fear before you start promising things, deprives a person of the possible laurels of the winner, and the inability to cope with his jealousy, can leave a person without love and offspring. Emotions that get out of control – the main plot of many epics, dramas and tragedies, novels and theatrical productions, showing how weak the human mind is in front of the ocean of passions, raging and rising from the depths of his soul. Aristotle considered the suppression of affects neither possible, nor normal, nor desirable from the point of view of morality. Without them, heroic deeds and enjoyment of art are impossible. In the lower bodily pleasures one must observe moderation, the middle. In all other cases there must be proportionality of affect to its cause.

Analysis of existing studies on the content of training of social pedagogue in universities shows that they are focused more on the content of professional competence of social pedagogue, i.e. on the study of the knowledge and skills that are necessary for the implementation of social and pedagogical activities. But in modern society, a popular social worker, possessing not only the necessary professional knowledge and skills, but personality and being able to provide a solution to socio-pedagogical problems. All the above allows us to conclude that the presence (formation and development) of the characterized moral and humanistic qualities of a social teacher will allow him to successfully carry out social and pedagogical activities.

In conclusion, we note that in the “Nicomachean ethics” Aristotle put forward an interesting moral theory: the theory of the Golden mean. This moral concept is very popular to this day.

In “Nicomachean ethics” – a philosophical study of virtue, character and good life – Aristotle set himself the task to teach people to manage emotional life with the help of intelligence. In our opinion, this task is one of the key competences in the profession of social pedagogue. In emotions, properly used, lies wisdom: they guide our thinking, determine our values, and help to live in society. But they are not worth anything to distract us from the right path, which too often happens. As it seemed to Aristotle, it is not the emotionality, but the appropriateness of emotions and their expression. The question is how to bring the mind to the emotions – at the same time politeness to our streets and attention, and care in the life of our society. The solution of this question, in social pedagogical activity of the social teacher, is one of the priorities.

The ability to resist the passions and not to give in to impulses, is not consistent with the requirements of the mind, in all centuries were considered as the most important characteristic of wisdom. This, in our opinion, extremely important qualities include moral and humanistic qualities in the professional activity of social pedagogue.

NOTES

1. Aristotle. Nicomache ethics. Electronic resource URL: http://www.civisbook.ru/files/File/Aristotel.Nikomakhova.pdf

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Fatykhova, A.L. & Suleymanova, F.M. (2012). Professionally significant qualities of a social teacher, due to his activities. // International Research Journal. -. №1 (1). pp. 29 – 32. – URL: https://research-journal.org/pedagogy/professionalno-znachimye-kachestva-s/ (appeal date: 04/04/2019.).

7. Ibid.

8. Aristotle. Nicomache ethics. Electronic resource URL: http://www.civisbook.ru/files/File/Aristotel.Nikomakhova.pdf

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Fatyhova, A.L. Theoretical and methodological foundations of the formation of social perceptual competence of teachers. Moscow: Higher School.

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Kuznetsova, K.S. (2010). On the issue of the formation of emotional intelligence. Uchenye zapiski. T. 3. Ser. Psychology. Pedagogy. No. 4 (12) pp.82 – 85.

Andreeva, I.N. (2006). Emotional intelligence: a study of the phenomenon. Questions of psychology. № 3. (pp.78 – 86).

Shubina, S.S. & Sharshov, I.A. (2011). Characteristics of personal and professional qualities of the future social teacher. TSU Bulletin, Issue 12 (104), ISSN 1810 – 0201. Humanitarian sciences. Pedagogy and psychology.

Koleva, I. (2012). Еthno-psychological models of educational interaction. Sofia: Raabe (In Bulgarian).