The problem of pedagogical talent in modern foreign psychology

Mazilov Vladimir Aleksandrovich Doctor of Psychology Professor, the department of General and Social Psychology, Yaroslavl State University named after K. D. Ushinsky 150000, Russia, Yaroslavskaya oblast', g. Yaroslavl', ul. Respublikanskaya, 108/1 v.mazilov@yspu.org Other publications by this author

Kostrigin Artem Andreevich PhD in Psychology senior lecturer of the Department of Psychology at Kosygin Russian State University 117997, Russia, g. Moscow, ul. Sadovnicheskaya, 33 artdzen@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Introduction One of the current trends in modern pedagogical psychology and psychology of education is to address the problems of effective implementation of pedagogical activity and training of young specialists-teachers ^{[1; 10; 18]}.

In some psychological and pedagogical approaches, the teacher becomes the center of the educational process as an active subject and a promising link in changing educational conditions in modern society. For example, within the framework of teacher training, the task is set not only to teach him professional knowledge, skills, skills, competencies, but also to identify pedagogical abilities and giftedness, as well as the development of his personality ^{[15; 16; 17]}.

A particular issue in the field of studying pedagogical abilities and giftedness is the phenomenon of pedagogical talent. Without entering into a discussion about the relationship between the concepts of "ability", "talent", "giftedness" and "genius", we note that the most widely accepted definition of talent is the highest level of expression of a person's abilities in a certain activity ^{[7; 8; 22; 23; 24; 25]}. In this paper, the problem of talent will be considered in relation to pedagogical activity.

This issue is relevant for modern educational psychology and psychology of education for a number of reasons. Firstly, among the most important tasks of this branch of psychology is the development of approaches to solving the problem of pedagogical activity and professional pedagogical education ^{[9, pp. 93-108]}. Secondly, currently there is a reorientation of pedagogical psychology from traditional teaching and assimilation of knowledge and norms to the creation of conditions for the mental development and formation of the student's personality in the pedagogical space ^[26]. This research and applied attitude can also be transferred to the professional development of a teacher – it is no longer so much the development of pedagogical technologies that is required of him, as the formation of those views, personality traits, competencies and patterns of behavior with which he would successfully function in changing conditions and solve pedagogical problems of a new type (teaching and development of gifted children, development of methodological support for distance education, preparation of students for the global world and new professions, etc.), and for the preparation process it becomes important to identify capable, gifted, and finally talented students who will become professionals in the future. Thus, for modern pedagogical psychology and the psychology of education, the identification and development of pedagogical talent is an urgent issue.

In the Russian psychological literature, the problem of pedagogical talent is discussed, but it is not central to the training of future specialists. This phenomenon is analyzed in the context of identifying talented students and young professionals for their further development and mastering their professional knowledge and skills ^{[2; 6; 13; 19; 20]}, when drawing up a personal and professional portrait of an effective teacher ^{[4; 14]}, as part of the consideration of organizational aspects of pedagogical activity and the introduction of talent management technology to optimize the work of the teacher ^{[3; 5; 11; 21]}.

The analysis of these works shows that the issue of pedagogical talent does not have a high status of relevance for Russian researchers, there is no conceptual understanding of this phenomenon in the works, the authors often use this term among others, without highlighting its specifics. On the one hand, the current situation indicates a low demand for the development of issues of pedagogical talent in domestic science and practice, on the other hand, it means the lack of theoretical and methodological apparatus for effective understanding of this problem. The latter increases the relevance of the appeal to the research of pedagogical talent in foreign psychology: the consideration of theoretical and empirical works on this issue will facilitate the acquaintance of Russian specialists with the original developments of foreign colleagues and the further use of the results of these studies in the independent development of the problem of pedagogical talent. This is also confirmed by the fact that the research area highlighted above, related to talent management in pedagogical organizations, originates precisely in foreign psychology.

In addition, one of the possible limitations in Russian studies is the prevailing tendency to consider pedagogical talent in relation mainly to a student or a future specialist, which entails the identification of pedagogical talent only at the stage of acquiring professional status, knowledge and skills by students; at the stage of a formed teacher, his talent is not theoretically analyzed. In order to deduce the phenomenon of pedagogical talent from the situation of educational activity (student) and translate it into a professional (professional teacher), it is necessary to single out the phenomenon and the stage of the future teacher as an independent one. This will allow us to talk about the specifics of the development of personality and professional skills not only at the extreme points (the beginning (student) and the end (teacher) of professional development), but also to specifically study the intermediate stages. This issue, in our opinion, is actively discussed in foreign psychology, so the authors can raise questions of personality, pedagogical abilities and talent as specific to teachers and pedagogical activity ^{[12; 16]}.

This paper aims to present and analyze foreign psychological approaches to the study of pedagogical talent. The subject of the study is the problem of pedagogical talent in the works of modern foreign psychologists. A detailed acquaintance with the directions of foreign research will allow us to determine the peculiarities of foreign and Russian understanding of pedagogical talent, to identify aspects of the analysis of the teacher's talent in relation to the problems of the teacher's personality, the implementation of pedagogical activity, the formation of the competencies necessary for modernity in students. The novelty of the research lies in the appeal to the scientific problems of pedagogical talent in foreign psychological literature, which is currently not enough publications are devoted to. This work sets the task of filling this gap in the modern psychological and pedagogical bibliography.

Foreign research on the problem of pedagogical talent can be divided into the following areas: definition, characteristics and role of pedagogical talent in pedagogical activity; identification of pedagogical talent and its features; technologies of management and development of pedagogical talent.

Definition, characteristics and role of pedagogical talent in pedagogical activity In foreign psychological literature, the terms "pedagogical talent", "teacher talent" or "teacher talent management" (teaching talent, teacher talent management) are often used by the authors, which indicates the inclusion of this phenomenon and the characteristics of the teacher in the performance of his professional activity and improving it efficiency.

However, it is important to consider how this term is understood in modern foreign science. P.T. Trung, Q. Liu and D. Quyen defined talent in the activity of a teacher as experiencing a sense of searching and exploring the surrounding world, striving to create something new, having a high level of knowledge in the field in which he teaches, and developed pedagogical skills, as well as studying the interests and aspirations of students to further encourage them to acquire new knowledge ^[43]. K. Elliott identified pedagogical talent as one of the key characteristics in assessing the quality of teaching along with reflection, effective goal setting, professional training, willingness to receive feedback and change their activities ^[32].

It should be noted that this list of assessed qualities of a teacher was compiled by the author on the basis of both theoretical principles and state educational standards, which indicates the interest of public and state educational authorities in identifying pedagogical talent (in this case, the author described the standards of the Australian education system). Thus, pedagogical talent in some countries is considered one of the most important professional qualities.

To a certain extent, foreign studies raise the question of the nature of pedagogical talent and the possibilities of its change and development. C. Dweck described the problem in which often people who believe that they were born to be teachers drop out of teaching in a short time. The author explained this by the presence of a fixed mindset among students, including in themselves, while students with a growth mindset were more motivated in learning activities, mastering professional skills and improving themselves, their abilities, talents, and personal qualities ^[31]. It can be concluded that according to the results of the author's research, pedagogical talent is not an innate characteristic of a person (more precisely, its presence does not necessarily make a person a teacher), but talent can develop with appropriate personal attitudes and motivation, directly in pedagogical activity.

In addition, a classification of pedagogical talent is proposed – individual and collective ^[29]. The latter means that an atmosphere of effective joint activity and awareness of oneself as a single pedagogical team is formed in an educational organization.

If the above studies described pedagogical talent based on the personality, skills and behavior of the teacher himself, then a special problem is the study of students' ideas about the personality of the teacher, including his talent. M. Gentry, S. Steenbergen-Hu and B. Choi studied the assessments of the qualities of talented teachers made by students ^[34]. The students attributed to such qualities the attractiveness of both the personality of the teacher and the educational atmosphere that he creates (appeal); the content and informativeness of training sessions and materials that the teacher presents to students (meaningfulness); the creation by the teacher of an atmosphere and a communicative situation in the classroom, in which students form a sense of self-confidence (self-efficiency); the ability to set difficult tasks for students, which they perceive as a challenge corresponding to their level of knowledge and skills (challenge); assistance to students in making important decisions for them in their academic activities and personal life (choice); the ability to conduct classes so that students experience satisfaction from learning activities (enjoyment); search and selection of educational topics and materials that correspond to the interests of students (interest). There are also studies in which gifted and talented students themselves described the qualities of teachers with whom they are more comfortable working: students chose kindness, care, a sense of humor, the presence of interest in the students themselves (establishing personal relationships), demonstration. passion for pedagogical activity ^[41].

The analysis of these works shows that there is a tendency in foreign studies to single out talented teachers and their talent as specific phenomena, but the development of these concepts is not deep enough.

Identification of pedagogical talent and its features In the process of working with teachers, especially future ones, an important direction is to identify their talent.

In foreign psychology, the identification of talent also applies to established teachers within the framework of talent management technology (which will be discussed in the next section of the article). It seems that the identification of pedagogical talent (both among students and professional teachers) is a special problem, within which it becomes possible to clarify the structure of pedagogical talent, which will complement the research results from the previous section.

M. Ghavidel Bajgiran and K. Nasirpour proposed a model of conditions for identifying talent in a teacher, including various personal and professional characteristics, in the presence of which the presence of talent in a specialist is determined ^[35]. This model includes 5 groups of conditions (or characteristics of a teacher): causal (causal) – intellectual curiosity, strategic thinking, striving to create new cultural products and values; environmental (field) – professional communication, focus on development prospects and the future, willingness to take risks; interventional (influencing) (interventionist) – coaching, self-motivation, flexibility; interactive and stylistic (actions and interations) – strategic leadership, delegation; effective (consequence) – increasing organizational productivity. The identification of most of these personal and professional characteristics will indicate the presence of talent in the teacher; at the same time, creating a situation for the development of these qualities will contribute to the manifestation of talent in specialists.

The work of M.I.M. Hamzah and S. Shamsudin shows other qualities of a teacher, which indicate that he has talent. In addition to the basic (effective teaching skills and deep knowledge in the subject area), the authors note the ability to bring diversity to pedagogical methods, the ability to influence others, the ability to change the prevailing working conditions, the ability to make decisions, the skills of establishing mutual contact with students, communication skills ^[37].

Specific methods of identifying pedagogical talent among students of pedagogical specialties are also proposed. For example, the most effective form of training sessions, during which abilities and talent can manifest themselves, is a group discussion ^[39]. If we talk about a special talent identification program, M. Yahya and D.D. Andayani proved the effectiveness of the scouting program (Talent Scouting Program) used in secondary specialized educational institutions (colleges) Indonesia ^[44]. This program involves carrying out a number of activities with schoolchildren (future students of these colleges), which includes familiarization with the educational process, participation in some training sessions, acquaintance with the professional qualities of a teacher, work on optimizing the administrative structure of the school, media technologies and the library, organizing a school laboratory, improving the environmental conditions of the educational process. These events help students to get acquainted with all types of pedagogical work and show their talents and abilities in order to continue their studies in pedagogical educational institutions in the future.

The considered studies clarify the content of the phenomenon of pedagogical talent and offer specific methods of its detection both among students and young professionals, and among existing teachers.

Technologies of management and development of pedagogical talent After identifying talented young and accomplished specialists, the next important issue is the management and development of pedagogical talent.

Talent management refers to the process in which an organization identifies potential employees who play a leading role and stimulates their development so that they continue to be successful in the future. This approach was formed on the basis of the concept of human resources and brought novelty to management – hiring not ready-made workers, but the selection of young specialists and the development of competencies necessary for the organization for a longer period of their work.

According to some authors, talent management is part of a broader approach of pedagogical management (teacher leadership ^[30]) and is divided into three components – talent identification, talent development and the creation of a talent culture (maintaining the value of talent and creating development opportunities) ^[38]. The latter phenomenon is also denoted by collective pedagogical talent ^[29]. In addition, a full-fledged talent-centered education management system is proposed, which consists in creating conditions for effective collaboration and meeting the social, emotional, personal, economic and professional needs of teachers ^[42].

Other organizational and psychological issues related to talent management are also identified: the use of these technologies in educational organizations increases the organizational commitment of teachers ^[27], affects self-confidence and their work ^[40], is part of the human and professional capital of the organization ^{[29; 40]}, together with the material stimulation of labor attracts talented specialists ^{[28; 36]}, is a reflection of managers' ideas about the intelligence, abilities and talent of teachers ^[33].

These works complement the psychological and pedagogical point of view of organizational and psychological, thus, they offer an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenon of pedagogical talent - at the intersection of pedagogical and organizational psychology, which is confirmed by studies of other phenomena ^{[12; 16]}.

Conclusion The analysis of foreign studies on the problem of pedagogical talent shows that this problem has been sufficiently formed in the foreign research space and has several vectors of study.

At the same time, not fundamental, but applied issues dominate in the understanding of this phenomenon.

The following conclusions can be drawn regarding the modern foreign psychological and pedagogical tradition in the study of pedagogical talent:

- within the structure of the study of pedagogical talent, the main elements of this phenomenon are highlighted (definition, nature, classification, connection with other personal properties), but each of them is represented by a small number of works, which only indicates the beginning of the theoretical consideration of this problem;

- often the content of pedagogical talent is described through other personal properties, the disclosure of this phenomenon occurs as if through synonyms and analogies; there is no analysis of abilities as components of talent, and other cognitive and affective processes on the basis of which talent is formed; the "synonyms" and "analogies" proposed by the authors represent competencies, respectively, one of the the main approaches to understanding pedagogical talent in foreign psychology are competence-based;

- the identification of talent as a personal and professional characteristic of a teacher occurs, among other things, on the basis of the study of ideas (teachers themselves, students, heads of educational organizations); this means that some authors proceed in the definition of this concept from empirical material, especially phenomenological and semantic;

- approaches to identifying pedagogical talent are indirect and consist in determining the presence of other talent-related personality traits, which also indicates insufficient theoretical, methodological and methodological development of this research area; specially created talent identification programs include only events during which the organizers, with the help of expert assessments, determine students who demonstrate signs of the presence of pedagogical talent;- the most developed aspect is the approach to talent management, which reveals the organizational and psychological component of working with talented teachers - creating a favorable organizational and group atmosphere, conducting educational and educational activities, using effective methods of hiring and stimulating teachers;– in a large number of studies, the phenomenon of pedagogical talent is discussed in organizational and in the labor context: the teacher and his personal and professional characteristics (including talent) are considered in connection with the functioning of educational institutions, the regulation of the educational process and the optimization of the teaching staff; this suggests, firstly, that research in this area is often based on practical problems directly related to the work of educational organizations, secondly, on the use of theoretical and methodological approaches and terminology from organizational psychology, labor psychology, management psychology.

When comparing foreign and Russian approaches to the study of pedagogical talent, both similarities and differences can be identified. They have in common the inclusion of this phenomenon in the list of professionally important qualities of a teacher and the recognition of the need to manage and develop talent in organizational and managerial ways. Assessing the differences, it should be noted that foreign pedagogical psychology interacts much more strongly with organizational psychology and labor psychology when understanding the talent of a teacher, and the object of study refers primarily to an established specialist, while Russian pedagogical psychology more often focuses on working with students and young specialists.

The results of the analysis of modern foreign psychological and pedagogical works can be used to formulate topical theoretical and practical problems of pedagogical psychology, as well as to develop new approaches to the research and development of pedagogical talent in modern social, economic and educational conditions.