Spiritual and moral education of preschool children

When to start developing the moral qualities of a person

There is an opinion that a person’s character is formed before the age of 5 - the rest of the time it can only be adjusted. Yes, the foundation of personality is laid in early childhood, but under the influence of the immediate environment, a person’s moral qualities can undergo changes throughout his life. Another statement: how well a child is raised depends on his future fate, the opportunity to find his place in life, and the ability to become happy.

By the age of 5, a child, as a rule, is already able to evaluate his actions, separate good behavior from bad, and control his emotions.

A child will not be able to develop the necessary moral qualities and behavioral skills without the direct participation of significant adults in this process. That is, the child must be taught all this, just like counting or tying shoelaces. The closest people to preschool children, as a rule, are parents and teachers.

Spiritual and moral education of preschool children - Teplova A.B. / Educators of Russia

Spiritual and moral development and education of preschool children. article on the topic

Nakonechnaya T.V.,

MBDOU d/s combined type No. 65, Belgorod

teacher

Spiritual and moral development and education of preschool children.

“Reasonable education requires that already at a very early age, even before children become well aware of themselves, the desire for everything that is good, true, beautiful and noble is instilled in them; It is as if they instinctively must at this time get used to moral life. When in people who are accustomed to do good in this way, self-awareness will subsequently open up and they will fulfill their duty, like educated people, out of their own conviction, out of love, out of free disposition, still in this early habits will serve as the foundation on which vital knowledge of morality and nobility.”

N. A. Dobrolyubov.

“The ultimate goal of reasonable education of children is the gradual formation in the child of a clear understanding of the things of the world around him. Then the result of understanding should be the elevation of the good instincts of a child’s nature into a conscious striving for the ideals of goodness and truth and, finally, the gradual formation of a firm and free will.”

N.I. Pirogov

Today our society is experiencing a crisis. In its scale, it is comparable to the spiritual crisis of the Time of Troubles in Russia. The political and socio-economic changes taking place in the country today have had a serious impact on all aspects of people’s lives and activities. New attitudes and values have formed in society, unusual criteria for assessing phenomena have appeared, and spiritual needs are being crowded out. Eternal values: Goodness, Truth and Beauty are gradually relegated to the background. In fact, there is a loss of significance of such life values as citizenship, patriotism, family, love, friendship; weakening of the educational function of the family.

The greatest danger facing our society today is not the collapse of the economy, not the change of the political system, but the destruction of the individual. Nowadays, material values dominate over spiritual ones, so children have distorted ideas about kindness, mercy, generosity, justice, citizenship and patriotism. Children are distinguished by emotional, volitional and spiritual immaturity. The destruction of the family institution continues. Forms of collective activity are gradually being lost. One of the problems of modern education is that the historical continuity of generations is not respected in the process of education. Children are deprived of the opportunity to follow the example of people who lived in the past; they do not know how people solved their problems, what happened to those who went against the highest values, and to those who were able to change their lives, setting us a shining example. The attempts made to date to educate a spiritual and moral personality show that the weakest place in this activity is the family. The spiritual and moral reserve left to us by our ancestors, preserved by our families, is practically exhausted.

Appealing to the experience of Orthodox pedagogy at the present time, when there is a search for the spiritual revival of Russia, is especially relevant, since society and the state are in dire need of educational models that provide spiritual and moral components in the content of education.

The issue of spiritual and moral education of children is one of the key problems facing every parent, society and the state as a whole.

A negative situation has developed in society regarding the issue of spiritual and moral education of the younger generation. The reasons for this situation were: the lack of clear positive life guidelines for the younger generation, a sharp deterioration in the moral situation in society, a decline in cultural and leisure work with children and youth; a sharp decline in the physical fitness of young people, lack of patriotic education, targeted comprehensive youth, family state policy, state policy in the interests of children; abrupt, unthought-out changes in the educational system, washing away many years of positive experience of domestic pedagogy, focused on the formation of a moral, comprehensively developed personality. All this is happening against the backdrop of propaganda of debauchery, pornography, cruelty and violence, unprecedented for Russia, aimed at children, and aggressive advertising of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. This leads to the formation of bad habits in children.

Childhood is always turned to the future with hope, no matter how merciless the present may be. Children, as a rule, wait for adults to show them the path that will determine their life. We all leave the land of childhood for a greater life, filled with joy and suffering, moments of happiness and sorrow. The ability to enjoy life and the ability to courageously endure difficulties is laid down in early childhood. Children are sensitive and receptive to everything that surrounds them, and they have a lot to achieve. To become kind to people, you need to learn to understand others, show empathy, honestly admit your mistakes, be hardworking, be amazed at the beauty of the surrounding nature, and treat it with care. Of course, it is difficult to list all the moral qualities of a person in the future society, but the main thing is that these qualities must be developed today. We really want our children to have a happy childhood.

Children's feelings develop most intensively in preschool childhood. They can manifest themselves in the child’s attitude towards himself, and in relation to other people, to the team, to the surrounding reality, and to art. Working with preschool children, our kindergarten teachers concluded that it is systematic work on moral education that allows children to develop such feelings and qualities as love for their mother and their family, respect for elders, love and interest in their hometown, and a desire to help. to people. That is why in our teaching activities we focus on the moral education of preschoolers.

Spiritual and moral education and development of the younger generation is one of the most complex and pressing problems today, which must be solved by teachers, parents, and caring people. It is spiritual and moral education that will ensure the integrity and flexibility of the educational influences of adults on children in various situations of their communication, as well as the communication of children with each other. It involves the formation in a child of a holistic attitude to life, ensuring the sustainable and harmonious development of the child’s personality.

Currently, no matter how sad it may sound, material values dominate over spiritual ones, so children have distorted ideas about kindness, mercy, generosity, justice, citizenship and patriotism. The high level of child crime is caused by a general increase in the aggressiveness and cruelty of the social environment.

Our teachers build the educational process taking into account the level of moral, spiritual and social development of children. There are several areas of work with children:

– Spiritual and educational

1. Thematic classes on the topics: “My family”, “Lessons of morality”, “Russia is my homeland”, etc.);

2. Project activities (“Feed the birds in winter”, “Belgorod - you are my homeland!”);

3. Conversations with children (“Be always polite”, “Your good deeds”, “Good and evil”, etc.);

4. Reading and analysis of fiction;

5.Looking at illustrations;

6.Listening to audio recordings;

7. Children's games (activity games, dramatization games, role-playing games).

In joint activities with the teacher, children learn to fairly evaluate the actions of their peers and adults, learn to understand what is possible and what is not, etc. Literary material is indispensable in spiritual and moral education, since it is easier for children to evaluate the behavior and actions of others than their own. Games are a school for the development of moral feelings and humane relationships with peers.

– Cultural and educational

1. Entertainment (“Seasons”, “Maslenitsa”, “Farewell to Winter”, “Day of Goodness”;

2. Holidays “International Bird Day”, “Earth Day”, “Mother’s Day”, etc.);

3. Artistic and productive activity;

4.Targeted walks.

All these activities help children learn the rules of a culture of behavior, cause emotional and aesthetic experiences, which are very important for creating a favorable climate and the general spiritual and moral education of a preschooler.

– Moral and labor

1. All types of labor;

2. Productive activity.

The work of a preschool child is small and uncomplicated. However, it is necessary for the development of his personality. Forming a good attitude towards nature involves not so much the accumulation of knowledge about nature, but rather the cultivation of love for it.

During artistic and productive activities, children try to convey in their works the beauty of nature and their love for it.

An important direction in the work on spiritual and moral education is cooperation with parents.

The foundations of spiritual and moral education are laid in a child from birth. Preschool age is the most emotional and receptive period of childhood, the most fertile for the formation of spiritual and moral foundations. Our kindergarten teachers believe that this golden time should not be missed, because childhood leaves an imprint on a person’s entire life. If we turn to how a child was raised in Orthodox Russia, we will see that everything moral in upbringing came from home, from family. From time immemorial, the education of a child’s good character and the development of his ability to live a virtuous life was determined by the way of life of the mother and father. Many parents simply do not know that it is in preschool age that social norms, moral requirements and behavioral models are learned through imitation.

Preschool age is a period of active knowledge of the world and human relationships, the formation of the foundations of the personality of a future citizen. Moral and social norms are learned relatively easily in childhood. We, teachers, must turn to the soul of the child. Education of the soul - for the future adult - is the creation of the basis of spiritual and moral values. The basis of spiritual and moral education is the culture of the family, society and educational institution - the environment in which development and formation takes place, in which the child lives. Culture is a system of values enshrined in traditions. It is necessary for the search for higher values and for satisfying spiritual needs. Rituals and holidays are a mysterious and amazing phenomenon of folk culture. It is necessary to “return” the national memory and reverent attitude towards traditions, ancient holidays, folklore, arts and crafts, artistic crafts, in which our ancestors passed on their life and spiritual experience to us. In the modern world, beautiful sayings and Old Church Slavonic words have long been forgotten and are not used in colloquial speech; sayings, proverbs, nursery rhymes, and chants, which the Russian language is rich in, are extremely rarely used. The task of the teacher is to combine education and training through the study of the traditions of Russian culture, to provide children with the opportunity to get acquainted with the cultural heritage of our ancestors.

“We see that the small tree bends comfortably to every side, and where it bends it grows. So is the little child. If he learns goodness in his youth, he will be good throughout his life. If he learns evil, he will be angry all his life; for the rest of life depends on education, like the fruit on a seed.”

Holy Tikhon Zadonsky.

Bibliography:

1. Arkhangelsky, L. M. Integrated approach to the theory and practice of moral education / L. M. Arkhangelsky - M.: Znanie, 1983.

2. Vinogradova, A. M. Education of moral feelings in older preschoolers / A. M. Vinogradova - M.: Education, 1989.

3. Ostrovskaya, L.F. Conversations with parents about the moral education of a preschooler / L.F. Ostrovskaya - M.: Education, 1987.

4. Petrakova, T. I. Spiritual foundations of moral education / T. I. Petrakova - M., 1997.

5. Journal Spiritual and Moral Education 2008

Stages of child moral development

Parents, educators and peers play a critical role in the development of spiritual and moral qualities, which at their core are a set of rules and expectations that determine behavior. At different stages of their development, children have different values, different points of view, and many connections that influence their moral development.

Stage of punishment and submission. In the early stages of moral development, children are driven by the desire to avoid punishment and satisfy their needs through obedience to rules and simple choices between right and wrong.
Stage of justice and equality. At this stage of development, children become selfish; they strive to satisfy their needs before others. Very rarely do children meet the needs of others.
Stage of expectations and rules. With experience and help from adults, children progress to the next stage of moral development, where individual morality is shaped by interpersonal norms and the expectations of others (such as peers, teachers, and parents).
Law and order stage. At this stage of development, behavior is characterized by obedience to the law, respect for persons in authority, and adherence to social rules and norms.
Social contract stage. Outside of traditional ideas, appropriate behavior is based on social norms, rules and laws. However, care must be taken to ensure that individual values are not violated and that fairness is maintained.
Stage of universal and ethical principles. Although behavior is often governed by rules, laws, and expectations, there are exceptional circumstances where independent judgment and moral reasoning may trump conventional norms in the decision-making process.

Tasks of moral education of preschool children

The spiritual and moral education of preschool children is based on several important “pillars”:

a life principle built on goodness, the absence of sinfulness and evil;
humane attitude towards friends and strangers;
development of cultural skills;
growth and harmonious development of the child as an individual.

Each of the principles involves specific work with the baby. So, in the first case, good fairy tales or Orthodox parables that children can understand, in which good certainly triumphs over evil, will help convey the necessary information.

Unobtrusive conversations, stories and examples from life will teach you to treat others humanely.

You can cultivate a craving for cultural values by first visiting nature museums with your child, and then galleries and exhibitions. If you don’t have the necessary knowledge yourself, you can take a guide who, taking into account your age, will tell you about the exhibits in an interesting and fascinating way.

Moral education of children using Russian folk tales and Soviet animation

Methodological development on the topic “Spiritual and moral education of preschool children”

Spiritual and moral education of preschool children

“Like a small tree that barely rose above the ground.

A caring gardener strengthens the roots, from the power of which

depends on the life of the plant for several decades.

Likewise, a teacher should take care of his children’s education.

feelings of boundless love for the Motherland."

V. A. Sukhomlinsky

Spiritual and moral education is one of the pressing problems that must be solved today by everyone involved with children. What we put into the child’s soul now will manifest itself later and become his future life.

You should lay the foundations of morality and cultivate moral values from early childhood, when your character and attitude towards the world and people around you are formed.

Preschool age is an active period in learning about the world of human relations, forming the foundations of the personality of the future child - a worthy citizen of his homeland. In childhood, moral and social norms of behavior in society are learned. Since the child’s soul begins to learn the basics of spiritual and moral values. The basis of spiritual and moral education as the beginning of the formation of a new personality is the value culture of the family, where the child receives the first knowledge about life in society. The preschool educational institution is only a connecting link - in which the further development and formation of the child as an independent full-fledged citizen occurs. After all, the culture of everyday life itself is a system of values that covers all traditions and customs. Children need to expand their horizons in worldview in order to search for the highest values and meet the spiritual needs of society as a whole.

The spiritual and moral education of the younger generation is one of the most difficult problems today. Not only teachers, but also parents should be involved in raising children. Moral education, integrity and flexibility of educational processes in various social situations in the communication of children between peers and adults will depend on them. It involves the formation in a child of a holistic perception of his attitude towards life in the society of other people, ensuring his further sustainable and harmonious development as a full-fledged independent personality.

Currently, many material values dominate over spiritual values, and therefore children have distorted images of kindness, mercy, generosity, justice, civic responsibility and patriotism. Because of this, growing up, many children stop thinking about spiritual development. As a result, the level of child crime increases, because there is an increase in aggressiveness and cruelty in the social environment of our powerful society.

Purpose

in spiritual and moral education - is the formation in the child’s soul of a sense of involvement in the heritage of the past and present, because the basis of human culture is the spiritual principle.

Tasks:

formation of the foundations of spiritual and moral value orientations in preschool children;
familiarization with elementary generally accepted norms and rules of relationships with peers and adults (including moral ones);
creating effective conditions for the formation of spirituality and morality in preschool children;
education, respect and love for your family, home, kindergarten,

small Motherland, respectful attitude towards the state (society).

A child gets his entire initial understanding of the relationships between adults by observing the relationships of the people around him in his family. He monitors their behavior, their attitude towards him, towards his actions. All this becomes the initial educational program for children in the manner of his behavior. According to this model, he begins to build relationships with other people. The development of many feelings in a child will depend on the means and methods in his upbringing, on the social conditions in which he lives.

Social conditions are:

his position in the family and in the preschool educational institution;
the diverse range of his interests and joint affairs in which he participates;
his cognitive interest in the people around him.

It cannot be said that the issue of morality in our country is being resolved successfully. Often, not only children, but also their parents face a number of problems, such as:

lack of positive ideals for the younger generation;
degradation of the moral environment;
reducing the amount of cultural and leisure work with children;
lack of effective mechanisms for developing a healthy lifestyle among the younger generation;
lack of culture of behavior and speech (as demonstrated by the media in their materials);
the presence of a huge amount of negative content in the media (cruelty, extremism, aggression, etc.).

All of these problems listed above do not have a positive impact on the development of the child’s personality, but only interfere with the assimilation of true values, having realized which the child turns his gaze to the future with faith and hope. A young soul is not able to find the right life guidelines on its own. It is we, parents and teachers, who can show the child the right path to true goodness, creation, and light. The future of growing children depends on how timely and skillfully we do this.

It is during the preschool period that children’s moral feelings begin to form, which are important for the development of further children’s relationships. And the task of developing the spiritual and moral sphere at this stage is solved more successfully, the more humane the adults themselves become, the kinder and fairer they begin to treat children. Thus, they serve as a clear example - a role model, exactly from whom one should take an example.

Based on all of the above, it is possible to determine the main further spiritual values that need to be formed in preschoolers, these are:

patriotism;
citizenship;
self-esteem;
mercy;
justice;
confidence;
the desire for world peace;
desire for knowledge;
the value of family, creativity and work.

Teachers believe that preschoolers will easily be able to perceive information from the outside, because children believe in the truth of everything that happens, and are also very spontaneous in their behavior. These features have a positive impact on their success in teaching and raising children. After all, it is best to lay moral foundations in preschool age.

Forms and methods of spiritual and moral education

When organizing the process of educating spiritual and moral qualities in children, teachers can use a wide variety of forms of work, such as:

museum visits and excursions;
collective role-playing games;
publication of group wall newspapers in preschool educational institutions;
development of various projects;
educational work with parents, preschool employees and many others. etc.

Good initial knowledge for children brings the pedagogical effect of “modeling situations using mnemonic diagrams,” when children are asked to engage in logical thinking, find a way out of the proposed situation, and propose a solution to a further problem. When working with preschoolers, the development of their culture of communication with each other is of great importance: this teaches them a humane attitude towards each other, trust among themselves, and mutual understanding.

When educating morality, it is effective to use a system-activity pedagogical approach. It can be used when reading fiction (fairy tales, poems, stories) together and analyzing them from different points of view. Since the study of literature contributes to the basic forms of education of spirituality. Where a mandatory element is the reflection of children with the help of leading questions from the teacher, discussion of what they read.

Younger preschoolers are very fond of Russian folk tales, which contain everything: ideas about good and evil, truth, courage, hard work, and loyalty. These are their favorite fairy tales: “Turnip”, “Kolobok”, “Zayushkina’s hut”, “Winter hut of animals”, “Sister Fox and the Gray Wolf” and many others. System of images, attractive and instructive for children, clear idea, moral, expressive and understandable language.

In the era of antiquity, in literary images the key words were concepts such as:

"Russian land";
"native side";
"mother Earth".

Love for the Motherland, readiness to defend the Fatherland were the main ideas of many proverbs and sayings:

“From your native land - die, don’t leave”
“One’s own land is sweet even in sorrow”
“The native land is the mother, the foreign land is the stepmother,” etc.

Epics about Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich instilled pride in their native land and contributed to the formation of patriotic consciousness in children.

It is not for nothing that the struggle between good and evil is based on the ethical and pedagogical concept of Nestor’s “Tale of Bygone Years”. Goodness is identified with patriotism and morality, the desire for the prosperity of one’s native country. Literary heroes such as:

Vladimir Svyatoslavovich,
Yaroslav the Wise,
Vladimir Monomakh,
Mstislav the Great.

And according to D.S. Likhachev, the ideal image of a “warrior” was the embodiment of love for the Fatherland. By learning all this, older preschoolers begin to form a spiritual, moral and patriotic consciousness, which will continue its further development in elementary school.

It is increasingly becoming necessary to “return” the national memory and reverent attitude towards traditions, ancient holidays, folklore, arts and crafts, and artistic crafts of one’s people. In which they passed on to us their life and spiritual experience, way of life and traditions. In the modern world, beautiful sayings and ancient words have long been forgotten and are not used in colloquial speech; we also forget our national language. Sayings, proverbs, nursery rhymes, and chants, with which the Chuvash and Russian languages were rich, are very rarely used in our language. At this stage, the teacher’s task is to connect, educate and educate preschoolers through studying the traditions of Chuvash and Russian culture, and also provide children with the opportunity to get acquainted with the cultural heritage of their historical people. Within the framework of preschool education, various activities can be carried out, such as:

“National holidays”, where children gather and a conversation is held - a discussion about who did what on holidays, where they were, whether they are happy to see each other again. We begin our acquaintance with the history of our holiday by looking at archival illustrations. In the preschool mini-museum, children get acquainted with the life of the village people, see ancient objects that were used by fellow villagers in past centuries at festive events.

“Organization of a mini-museum in a group room,” where children, together with the teacher, begin to design an exhibition of joint works dedicated to the cultural heritage of their Motherland, small Motherland.

In addition, events are held to bring children together. Duties, joint work of children and adults, as well as collective work that creates problematic situations and requires their solution. For example: when selecting new material for a mini-museum, you can give the task to color your drawings dedicated to any event in the same way, while having different sets of pencils for a subgroup of children. Children must solve this situation without the help of a teacher, by agreeing and yielding to each other. In this way and method, friendships begin to form. In the groups of our preschool educational institution, children of different ages are brought up, this also leaves an imprint on the relationships between children in the group. Older children help the younger ones, and the younger ones gain experience from the older ones and take positive examples from them.

By introducing children to the history and traditions of your people, you can organize the folk holidays “Akatuy” and “Maslenitsa”. Children will be able to take part in the preparation and conduct of the holidays with great interest, while remembering ancient proverbs, chants, teases and sayings.

Continuing this topic, in art classes it is necessary to introduce children to Russian folk crafts. Conduct a series of classes to get acquainted with Dymkovo toys, Gorodets, Khokhloma and Zhostovo paintings, Kargopol and Filimonov toys.

In the work on spiritual and moral education, it is necessary to involve parents in the life of the preschool educational institution, and conduct pedagogical education with them through:

consultations - “The right to life of children and adults”, “How to deal with children’s whims and stubbornness at a young age”, “Cultivating politeness in children”.
conversations - “Do you know your child?”, “How to spend the holidays with children?”, “Why do we love children?”
parent meetings - “Moral standards of education in the everyday life of preschoolers”, “The role of the family in raising a preschool child”, “How to raise a patriot?”
use of an information stand, folders - moving “How to communicate with a child”, “Our family traditions”, “Bad habits in children”.

It is also necessary to involve parents in preschool holidays - events:

For Defender of the Fatherland Day, create an album “Our Dads. We are proud of them";
For “March 8” and “Mother’s Day”, organize a photo exhibition “Together with mother, together with grandmother”;
You can invite parents to the group for interesting meetings - conversations where parents can talk about their professions and hobbies;
Participation of parents in excursions, leisure activities, holidays, competitions.

Thus, such a relationship with parents evokes strong emotions, empathy, and pride in children, and parents develop an interest and desire to participate with their children in various group and preschool activities.

Spiritual and moral education should be comprehensive, permeate all types of activities of a preschooler, cover areas of the educational process, and be carried out in everyday life and in special classes to become familiar with the outside world. The presence of such classes is an indispensable condition for full-fledged spiritual and moral education carried out in the pedagogical system. The work of developing the spiritual and moral principles in children is complex, multifaceted and never ends. We hope that tender feelings will grow in children's souls and our children will grow up to be kind and smart, good citizens of their native country.

How to cultivate spiritual and moral qualities, examples and recommendations

Personal example

It is known that the best method of education is personal example. Any words lose their meaning if they are not used in practice. No matter how much parents and educators talk about good behavior, respect for others and a humane attitude towards nature, if adults do not do what they talk about, then all the talk will be in vain.

For example, if dad declares that one must love animals, but he kicks away a stray kitten, then this is unlikely to be a worthy example to follow. If a mother communicates with her neighbor in the most kind way, but gives unflattering assessments behind her back, then her daughter is more likely to learn a lesson in hypocrisy and double-mindedness than a sincere attitude towards loved ones.

Moral education of preschoolers is not an easy task, and in order for your child to grow up to be a worthy person, he must copy your appropriate behavior.

Ability to share

It is extremely difficult for small children to understand why he should give, even temporarily, his favorite toy to a boy in the sandbox. The child still has no idea what generosity is, what greed is, and you shouldn’t reprimand him for it. You need to simply and unobtrusively tell how great it is when you can please another person - then you yourself will be happier, how great it is when you love not only receiving gifts, but also giving them.

A little later, the topic of “know how to share” can be expanded. Children learn that they can share not only objects, toys, and treats, but also a warm attitude, a good mood, and a smile. It is appropriate to recall the wonderful song about a smile from the cartoon.

Caring for others

It is also easier and more effective to cultivate such moral qualities as kindness and responsiveness through personal example. When children see that mom and dad love not only them, but also a disabled neighbor on the playground, that they are not capable of offending not only a person, but any living creature either by word or action, you can be sure that the kids will absorb into themselves this behavior.

At an early age, the spiritual and moral education of children through fairy tales is of invaluable importance. In particular, K.D.’s fairy tales vividly teach us to take care of others. Ushinsky “Know how to wait”, Russian folk song about a cockerel, a chicken and a bean seed, etc.

We learn the main ethical standards of a kindergartener

When already preparing your child for his first visit to kindergarten, you can teach a small but clear lesson on the topic “moral education of preschool children.”

It is possible that the child will have to face the fact that other guys are fighting.

We need to explain to him that it is absolutely forbidden to offend other people, and especially beat them.

This first “no” leads to the second, which indirectly continues the first:

You cannot spoil, tear, or break books or toys. They were made by people. Human labor was spent on them. By spoiling a thing, you will offend a person and disrespect his work.
The little man must remember the third “no” for the rest of his life: taking someone else’s property without permission is theft.

These three “don’ts” ultimately turn into an undeniable truth: you cannot grow up to be a good person if you violate them.

The concept and features of spiritual and moral development in a preschool institution

Constantly changing political, social and economic conditions are the dominant factor, the influence of which determines the transfer of the interests of society and the whole state to the interests of the individual. The educational paradigm is undergoing significant changes, its content, goals and objectives are being thoroughly rethought, new processes and phenomena are emerging and firmly established. One of the dominant processes in the modern world can be called the process of spiritual and moral development and education, both in general education and in preschool institutions. [1]

It is education that reflects the modern sociocultural situation in the country. At the moment, the fundamental principle of educational organizations is “the humanistic nature of education, the priority of universal human values, human life and health, the free development of the individual, combining professional competence with civic responsibility, education of citizenship and love for the Motherland.”

One of the most important problems of modern society and the state in general is the issue of spiritual and moral education of children. The occurrence of this situation is due to several reasons:

The younger generation does not have the right positive life guidelines and examples of moral behavior;

Decline in the field of cultural and leisure activities with children and youth;

Propaganda by the media of cruelty and violence, advertising of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products further complicates the situation: material values are gradually replacing spiritual and moral ones, children’s desires are based on selfish principles and are determined by narrow personal needs, due to which children develop bad habits and disrespect for the older generation and the complete absence of any moral and ethical guidelines.

One of the main tasks of educational institutions is to prepare a fully formed, harmoniously developed personality who is able to analyze events occurring within society and the surrounding world and carry out their activities in accordance with the requirements and interests of the people around them and the norms of society. [2.12]

The goal of spiritual and moral education in a preschool institution is to enrich the child with spiritual and moral concepts and values, to develop his self-awareness and moral and ethical qualities.

The tasks of spiritual and moral education are as follows:

- to cultivate the moral qualities of the child’s personality,

- facilitate the child’s mastery of basic social roles, moral and ethical standards;

- have a positive impact on the formation of the moral, ethical, spiritual and moral qualities of the child, through the establishment of positive interpersonal relationships.

‒ to cultivate in every child hard work, respect for human rights and freedoms, love for the surrounding nature, Motherland, family;

- to introduce children to the cultural traditions of their people, universal values in a multinational state.

Raising a comprehensively developed and harmoniously formed personality, a necessary component of which is the spiritual and moral aspect, is the most important task in the development of modern society. According to leading experts, one of the newest stages of spiritual and moral education within a preschool institution is its integration into the child’s everyday life, into all types of educational and play activities and preschool education programs.

The younger age of a child is the basis for the formation and education of personal qualities and internal attitudes, the development of mental and physical strength, the acquisition and consolidation of knowledge about the world around us, the formation of moral and ethical skills and habits. The preschool age of a child is characterized by the active receipt, accumulation and use of moral experience. Preschool age is also the starting point of moral self-determination and the formation of self-awareness.

Constant systematic influence on the spiritual and moral side of a child’s personality is a fundamental link in the upbringing of a full-fledged member of society.

Spiritual and moral education in a preschool institution is one of the main aspects that influences the formation of skills for adequate interaction of a person with the world around him. This is, first of all, the general physical and mental health of the child, his intellectual potential and emotional state, ethical and aesthetic education, the formation of a worldview and self-determination as a part of society, family orientation.

Spiritual and moral development is a purposeful process of interaction between teachers and students, the main task of which is the formation of a harmonious and comprehensively developed personality, the development of its value-semantic sphere, through the communication of spiritual and moral values and social attitudes. The concept of “spiritual and moral values” includes a set of values that are dominant within the framework of relations between people, in the family, in society, norms and principles based on the criteria of good and evil, lies and truth. [3, 140]

Spiritual and moral development is inherently a rather complex, multifaceted process. It is an integral part of every person’s life in all its contradictions and completeness, part of the family, society, history, culture and humanity in general.

The content of the spiritual and moral development of a child’s personality lies in the consistent and systematic expansion of the value-semantic sphere of the personality under the influence of the processes of learning, upbringing and socialization.

“Spiritual and moral education” is understood as a process of positive influence on the moral aspects of a person’s personality:

- education of spiritual and moral feelings and moral and ethical attitudes;

- formation of moral character;

- the emergence and development of a moral position;

- manifestation of moral behavior within the family, society and the state as a whole.

The basis for the spiritual and moral development of a preschool child is, first of all, the family. One of the main tasks of a preschool educational institution is continuous cooperation with the family as part of the implementation of the learning process and moral education of students. The main task of this interaction is to study and analyze relationships in the family, prevent and resolve emerging conflicts.

The key link that determines the direction of the spiritual and moral development and upbringing of a child is the family. The modern concept of continuous interaction between the family unit and the educational institution is that parents are obliged to bear responsibility for raising the child, and the task of social institutions is to help and support within the framework of the educational process. That is why the education of spiritual and moral feelings in children must be carried out in close connection with parents and public organizations.

Literature:

Petrakova T. I. Spiritual and moral education in a secondary school: categories, content, criteria [Electronic resource] - Access mode: https://www.verav.ru/common/mpublic.php?num=18.
Solovtsova I. A. “The laws of human spiritual life as the basis of spiritual education”, I. A. Solovtsova “Problems of spiritual education”: Humanitarian-holistic approach: Materials of the “round table”, October 20, 2005 / Comp. I. A. Solovtsova; edited by N. M. Borytko. - Volgograd: Shopping Center “OPTIM”, 2006.
Spiritual, moral and civic education of preschool children / Compiled by: Anikina T. M., Stepanova G. V., Terentyeva N. P. M.: TC “Perspective”, 2012.-248 p.

Moral education in kindergarten

Preschool institutions, without a doubt, along with parents, play an important role in the spiritual and moral development of children.

Classes in kindergarten include not only the acquisition of any knowledge in theory, but also its application in practice. Children from a young age get used to discipline, learn to distinguish between play time, when they can make noise and relax, and school time, when they should be quiet and listen carefully to the teacher.

The experience of some of them is interesting, when educators actively involve the families of their pets in spiritual and moral education in preschool educational institutions. In some places there are so-called schools for young parents, with the help of which educational walks in the immediate surroundings are carried out. Children, together with adults in particular, learn what their native land is, how it should be loved and taken care of.

When such general parent-child events take place, fathers and mothers get the opportunity to see their child as if from the outside, in a situation unfamiliar to them, and see whether it is worth paying special attention to something in the home educational process.