Culture of a mathematics teacher: structure and derivative formations

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence and structure of the concept of “a mathematics teache’s culture” based on the analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature on the research problem. The main research methods are analysis of scientific sources, systematization of data, generalization of pedagogical experience on the investigated problem; observation, comparison, analysis of the obtained results. In the results of the study, various approaches to defining the concepts of “culture” and “personal culture” were analyzed. An analysis of scientific sources was carried out in order to reveal the essence of the mathematics teacher’s culture, its structure and derivative formations. It is suggested that the culture of a mathematics teacher should be understood as the level of personality development of a teacher serving – a subject of social activity, which is focused on the education of students and the teaching of subjects in the field of mathematical education. The main components of the phenomenon of the culture of a mathematics teacher are defined, including professional, pedagogical, psychological, intellectual, mathematical, informational and general culture of a specialist. Attention was drawn to the main purpose of general culture: to unite all types of a mathematics teacher’s culture into a single formation. It is noted that each of the listed characteristics of a specialist’s personality has a general and a special part. An example of the successful practice of implementing a culturological approach in the organization of teacher training is given – the use in the educational process of the author’s course “Professional culture of a mathematics teacher”, the purpose of which is to increase the level of professional and general culture of mathematics teachers, and develop their professional and cultural competences.

The conclusions indicate that an integral approach to defining the culture of a mathematics teacher is the most favorable for establishing relationships and interdependencies between its structural components, as well as further scientific research regarding the spread of a culturological approach in matters of improving the qualifications of mathematics teachers is considered relevant today.