The Personality of an Employee-Patriot of the Internal Affairs Bodies and its Scientific and Pedagogical Interpretation

Mangasarova Lyudmila Anatolevna Mgr. at the Department of Psychology, Pedagogics and Personnel Management of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia 125130, Russia, g. Moscow, per. 5-I novopodmoskovnyi, 1, kv. 1504 lumima@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The current demand for manifestations of patriotism by Russian citizens, including employees of the internal affairs bodies, actualizes the problem of "personality and patriotism", encourages the search for modern ways to solve it, necessitates the disclosure of the essential characteristics of the personality of an employee of the internal affairs bodies – a patriot. For the purpose of studying and scientific and pedagogical interpretation of the personal characteristics of an employee of the internal affairs bodies as a patriot, we organized and conducted a theoretical and empirical study in several stages:

1) the first stage is a theoretical and theoretical analysis of the pedagogical works of Russian scientists on the problem of research;

2) the second stage – empirical – conducting an empirical study and computer-statistical processing of the results obtained;

3) the third stage – generalizing – the development of a theoretical model and the definition of significant personal characteristics of an employee of the internal affairs bodies – a patriot.

The theoretical analysis of the works of Russian scientists on the problem of research has shown that in the pedagogical concepts of patriotic education there are different interpretations of the concept of "patriotism". Thus, in the Pedagogical Encyclopedic Dictionary, patriotism is interpreted as "love for the fatherland, for the native land, for one's cultural environment" ^[16]. In the works of V. A. Sukhomlinsky ^[12;13], A. S. Makarenko ^[8], V. Ya. Stoyunin ^[10], K. D. Ushinsky ^{[14; 15]}, patriotism was interpreted as a means of preserving cultural traditions and historical heritage of Russia. They considered citizenship to be the main quality of a patriot's personality, that is, "the moral quality of a person that determines the conscious and active fulfillment of civic duties and duty to the state, society, and the people; reasonable use of their civil rights, strict observance and respect for the laws of the country" ^[4].

 In his book "Motherland in the heart" V. A. Sukhomlinsky notes that "the feeling of love for the Motherland is one of the deepest and most complex feelings of a person, in which love for his people, for his native nature, for his native village and city organically combine, merge with the ardent desire to give his strength in the name of great ideals" ^[12]. Sukhomlinsky connects patriotism with a sense of duty to society, a sense of personal responsibility: "A sense of duty is the voice of conscience, it is a deeply personal attitude of a person to his society, people" ^[13].

A. S. Makarenko considered the primary task of teachers to educate young people in the skills and abilities to live by the interests of the people, since the vital sphere of patriotism is voluminous and is often not limited to heroism. He pointed out that "patriotism manifests itself not only in heroic deeds; from a true patriot, not only a "heroic outburst" is required, but also long, painful, pressing work, often even very hard, uninteresting, dirty." That is, A. S. Makarenko saw social work as the main criterion of patriotic beliefs. He wrote: "To educate a Soviet patriot means to educate a comprehensively developed personality, actively and consciously fighting for the strengthening of the power of the Motherland" ^[7].

K. D. Ushinsky noted the deep educational potential of patriotism: "As there is no person without self-love, so there is no person without love for the Fatherland, and this love gives education the right key to a person's heart and a powerful support for combating his bad natural, personal, family and ancestral inclinations" ^[15].

According to S. L. Rubinstein ^[9], the essence of personality is not freedom from social values, but the ability to take a position in relation to them. Due to the fact that the establishment of social and cultural values for an individual is the only way to its self–realization in society, the personality of an employee of the internal affairs bodies is interested not only in individual professional formation, but also in the development of society and its values. The social activity of the police officer is manifested in the environment where he lives and acts – the state, society, Homeland. Patriotism can be interpreted as a moral position expressed in love for the Motherland, pride in its successes and achievements, respect for its historical past, cultural traditions, defending the interests of the country even at the cost of their own lives.

 Analyzing the scientific views of V. V. Serikov ^[11], it can be concluded that the main qualities of a patriot's personality include not only citizenship, but also professionalism, cultural, spiritual and socio-moral qualities. The cultural and spiritual qualities of a patriot are understood as a set of personality qualities focused on the search for moral absolutes, possessing enduring human values, showing creativity, as well as following the norms of morality, ethics, aesthetic culture, having mastered the system of knowledge and ideological ideas inherent in a particular cultural and historical community or humanity as a whole ^{[1, 4]}. The socio-moral qualities of a patriot are a set of socially significant personality qualities formed, represented in the humanistic values of kindness, due, justice, decency, empathy, expressed in the daily actions of a person in society and focused on actions for the benefit of others ^{[1, 4]}.

According to V. V. Serikov, patriotism is expressed in a critical attitude to the existing social injustice, in the desire to give their strength for its elimination and the welfare of the Fatherland, and the feeling of patriotism expresses a person's belonging to a particular culture, without which he cannot take place as a person. The researcher notes that "patriotism is a spiritual sphere of a person, which involves going beyond the individual into the social, becoming familiar with higher values. Patriotism is a universal form of responsibility, and thus a criterion of personal development" ^[11]. It can be concluded that patriotism as a manifestation of spirituality is "a product of individual self-determination of a person" ^[11], therefore it responds least to mass and collective forms of education, to the control of the pupil. In this regard, the formation of an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs as a patriot requires the creation of special conditions for a personal-developing educational environment.

The formation of patriotism among the police officers, as well as any other subjects, mostly refers to the initial stages of human socialization, when the initial image of the world – environment, traditions, culture - is formed. Over time, the patriotic feeling reflected in the original image of the socio-cultural environment is transformed into a conviction when, during the performance of official duties, a police officer shows consciousness, interest in bringing benefits to the Motherland, applies different options for solving professional tasks. The employee of the Department of Internal Affairs has "ascent from the image of a small Homeland, the closest kindred and friendly environment to a holistic subjective "collective" image of the Fatherland, in which one's own well-being is inseparable from the good of the Motherland" ^[11]. V. V. Serikov also notes that the objective historical space and time of the Fatherland are transformed into subjective time and space of the individual, in the events of her own life ^[11]. The patriotism of the employee is manifested in the awareness of the irreplaceability of the Motherland and encourages the fulfillment of professional duty, cultural and creative development of the individual.

An equally important feature of the personality of an employee of the internal affairs bodies as a patriot is his spiritual culture, upbringing, expressed in the constant presence of a "self–forming principle", presented in the form of experiences, carrying in himself "his own standard - I am possible, I am due" ^[11]. V. V. Serikov notes that patriotic education is aimed at to become a citizen of the Fatherland in general, and not a carrier of some ideological program. The moral norm being mastered at the same time – love for the Motherland – is not an instruction, but a kind of life principle designed for creative application. This is a norm that is developed by the employee himself, becoming his own life norm, an internal standard of life ^[11].

To foster patriotism, it is necessary to create a dialogical environment for an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs, saturated with active creative activity; situations of experience, lead him to moral conclusions, encourage him to accept the cultural values of the Fatherland. The personality of an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs as a patriot can be considered formed if he embodies the desired qualities in his actions ^[11]. V. V. Serikov notes that ideas about patriotism differ in a variety of concepts, believes that there are as many of them as educators. Patriotism, in his opinion, is formed by the environment, teachers, their understanding of the significance of the national, ways of actualizing patriotic experience ^[11].

I. A. Kushnarenko and A. H. Kurashinova the main qualities of the personality of an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs as a patriot include citizenship, professionalism and socio-moral qualities. According to I. A. Kushnarenko, in the process of forming the moral and patriotic orientation of the personality of an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs, carried out in the form of discussion and self-assessment, it is necessary to actualize responsibility, freedom, honor and duty, respect for oneself and others, as well as self-esteem, to ensure knowledge of legal norms and performance of official duties" ^[5]. A. H. Kurashinova considers a patriot – an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs – as an effective, active and competent professional with developed personal and moral qualities, social and civic position; a noble person with a sense of national pride, acting on the basis of conscience, duty and civic responsibility. An employee with a sense of patriotism must be fair, incorruptible, successful in professional activities, and respect national symbols ^[2].

 An effective system of patriotic education of police officers is able to form their loyalty to the Oath, honest and conscientious service to the Fatherland and the Law, readiness to adequately perform operational and service tasks ^[3]. According to G. P. Lebedev, patriotic education of police officers is aimed at the formation and development of a person with a sense of national dignity, capable of successfully performing civil and professional duties in peacetime and wartime ^[6]. 

Based on the theoretical analysis of the works of Russian scientists, four groups of the main personality qualities of a patriot police officer can be distinguished: citizenship, professionalism, cultural, spiritual and socio-moral qualities. In order to confirm the results of the theoretical analysis, we conducted an empirical study on the basis of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation with a focus group of 95 certified employees: 86 adjuncts of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 3 cadets of the Barnaul Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 3 cadets of the Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and 3 cadets of the Kaliningrad branch of the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Russia. Among the respondents there were 63 men and 32 women of different age groups (average age 28 years). The study was conducted in real time using modern information and communication multimedia technology - the online designer "Wooclap", which allowed to immediately observe the process of systematization of the results during the online broadcast. The study used a brainstorming method and a survey method. The brainstorming session "Patriotism in the modern sense" was a method of rapid discussion of problems based on stimulating the creativity of participants offering as many solutions as possible, and included three phases.

The first phase of brainstorming was devoted to the problem statement. Respondents used offline and online voting to select the most relevant issue for discussion. Of the two topics presented to choose from: "Patriot personality: basic qualities" and "Digital environment for the development of patriotism", 85 respondents chose the problem of determining the basic qualities of a patriot personality, 10 respondents expressed a desire to discuss the question "What digital capabilities (services, applications, ICT tools) should be provided for the formation of a digital environment for the development of patriotism?". Thus, the decision of the majority of respondents for further discussion identified the problem "The personality of a patriot: the main qualities" with the formulation of an open question: "What are the main qualities that characterize the personality of a patriot?".

The second phase of "Idea generation" was determined by a number of conditions: in an online format, each respondent was given the opportunity to give only one (most appropriate) answer using a short wording (up to 30 characters). All ideas that were not criticized and evaluated were recorded in real time. Each of the 95 respondents sent the name of one of the main qualities characterizing the personality of a patriot in an online format. All the qualities selected by the respondents were displayed on the screen, which were grouped by color and size in the order of increasing responses received.

In the third phase of the brainstorming "Systematization and improvement of ideas", each respondent online selected the answers of other respondents that were presented on the screen and characterized the patriot – an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs. All responses were sorted in real time and, in order of increasing the number of responses received, were formed into a "graphic cloud" of the main qualities characterizing the personality of a patriot – an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs (Fig. 1).

 Figure 1. The main qualities that characterize the personality of an employee of the Department of Internal Affairs – a patriot.

The brainstorming session "Patriotism in the modern sense" allowed:

- to find out the opinion of respondents about the necessity and relevance of discussing the problem of the content of the main qualities of a patriot's personality;

- to identify the main qualities that characterize the personality of a patriot, namely: loyalty, loyalty and love for the Motherland; duty, honor and protection of the Fatherland; respect and gratitude to one's kind; pride in one's country; honesty, justice and conscientiousness; wisdom and awareness; integrity and responsibility; faith and self-sacrifice; active citizenship and trust in the authorities;

- to identify the most important qualities that characterize the personality of a patriot police officer: devotion and love for the Motherland; protection and respect for the Fatherland; duty, honor; wisdom and awareness; honesty, justice and conscientiousness; integrity and responsibility; faith and self–sacrifice; active citizenship; pride in their country.

Based on the results obtained in the empirical study, it can be concluded that the participants of the brainstorming session, following the scientists, attributed citizenship, socio-moral and cultural-spiritual qualities to the main qualities of the patriot's personality. At the same time, professionalism as an integral personality trait of an employee of the internal affairs bodies as a patriot was not noted by the respondents.

Summarizing the results of the analysis, the following conclusion can be drawn: the personality of an employee of the internal affairs bodies as a patriot is formed in the process of his value self–determination, creating his own standard - "I am possible, I am due", free choice of the most significant, enduring values of the well-being of society and the state.  Patriotism characterizes the highest level of personal development and manifests itself in its active self-realization for the benefit of the Fatherland.  

The main results of a comprehensive theoretical and practical research for us were: a) identification of the main personality qualities of an employee of the internal affairs bodies – a patriot, the formation of which must be diagnosed in the pedagogical process of patriotic education; b) determination of the main means of such education – the educational environment, the conditions of which allow the formation of reflexive and creative experience of the individual.

Summing up the research work carried out, we note that the essential qualities of the personality of a patriot police officer are:

1) citizenship (loyalty, loyalty and love for the Motherland; duty, honor and protection of the Fatherland; civic responsibility; respect and gratitude to one's family and Fatherland; pride in one's country; active citizenship and trust in the authorities; sense of national dignity; national pride; respect for national symbols; awareness of the irreplaceability of the Motherland; defending the interests of the country);

2) professionalism (loyalty to the Oath, honest and conscientious service to the Law; willingness to adequately and successfully perform operational tasks; efficiency, competence; integrity; knowledge of law; personal responsibility);

3) cultural and spiritual qualities (spiritual culture; faith; upbringing; creative development; knowledge of the historical past and present of the country, native language and literature; observance of cultural traditions);

4) social and moral qualities (honesty, justice and conscientiousness; wisdom and awareness; integrity and responsibility; self-sacrifice; nobility; respect for oneself and others; self-esteem; freedom; social work; social activity; critical attitude to social injustice and its elimination).