A Systematic Approach to the Study of Modern Students' Image

Andreeva Elena Vasilevna PhD in Pedagogy Associate professor, Department of Socio-Cultural Service and Tourism, Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, ul. Belinsky, 58 klio_e@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Previously published in Russian in the journal Pedagogy and Education.

The subject of the study. Modern society requires an employee who, in addition to possessing highly professional qualities, has a high level of intelligence and culture, the ability to establish business contacts, take responsibility for the results of their work, and demonstrates confidence, competence, and stress resistance. An employee's positive image becomes an instrument of success and professional growth. In this regard, the appeal of Russian pedagogical science and research practice regarding the concept of image and the conditions and factors of its formation in training and vocational education is justified. Interest in image is actualized by the realities of today, when vocational education becomes part of society's economic system, and the effectiveness of an educational institution is assessed by the state and society not only by the number and quality of trained specialists but also by financial indicators. In the vocational education system, the positive image of the educational institution, teaching staff, and students play a vital role in attracting applicants, financing research, and grants.

The history of pedagogy shows that the image of a person or citizen is formed in the context of society's historical, political, and economic characteristics. Philosophical tradition forms an image necessary for society from the political and historical development point of view at this stage, and the pedagogical tradition embodies this image in a real person. At any stage in the development of society, a moral image is formed: an ideal, a standard, in some cases, and, in other cases, a way of thinking, a person's actions in society, and an image of the world. This process is historically, socially, and psychologically conditioned and occurs in parallel with society's socio-economic development. The concept of image is similar but not identical. Image results from purposeful and conscious activity, whereas the image is formed spontaneously. An image becomes an image when it is designed specifically ^[1]. In our study, we are interested in the image in the context of its formation and development among university students.

The formation of the image of students takes place during the learning process. Learning, in a broad sense, is a process of changing the state of a person as a system, including acquiring new ways of seeing, wanting, and evaluating reality ^[2]. The profession's training is carried out in a vocational education system characterized by complexity, versatility, and integrity. We consider it a social system as it is organized in society. A social system is a complexly organized, ordered whole, including individuals and social communities united by various connections and relationships.

In science, a systematic approach is a method that allows for the analysis of objects that have many interrelated elements, united by a commonality of functions and goals and a unity of management and functioning.

The system researchers (R. Merton, T. Parsons, P. A. Sorokin, etc.) formulated the principles of the approach:

– integrity, which allows us to consider the system simultaneously as a whole and, at the same time, as a subsystem of other systems;

– the presence of many elements arranged based on hierarchical subordination;

– structuring, which allows analyzing the elements of the system and their interrelationships within a specific organizational structure;

– multiplicity, which allows using various cybernetic, economic, and mathematical models to describe individual elements and the system as a whole.

The systematic approach is widely used in the analysis of social systems.

One of the founders of the theory of systems and structural and functional analysis, Talcott Parsons, identified the primary units of the social system, which are:

– an act as part of the process of interaction between actors focused on actors as objects;

– status: a role that determines the placement of an actor in the system relative to other actors;

– an actor as a complex node of statuses and roles;

– a collective existing as an actor and as an object ^{[2, pp. 97–98]}.

According to Parsons ^[3], the system's maintenance and development are due to the presence and satisfaction of the actor's needs implemented in its various subsystems.

The purpose of the study. The above actualized the purpose of the study—based on a systematic approach to determine the place and function of the student's image in the social system of vocational education, to study the process of formation and development of the image of a university student as an independent system, to identify factors affecting the development of the student's image as an element of the social system of vocational education.

Methods and materials of the study. The theoretical basis of our research is Parsons's works on the theory of social systems, structural and functional analysis, and the results of scientific research of domestic and foreign scientists studying the phenomenon of image in an educational institution, society, and the adolescent and youth environment. The empirical basis of the study was the development of a model of the image of a student of a professional educational institution, processing the results of a survey of students of the Northeastern Federal University named after M. K. Ammosov. The study was organized and conducted based on the Department of Socio-Cultural Service and Tourism of the Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation in 2020–2023. The study was attended by students of the "Service" direction of the first and second courses of the 2020 and 2021 admission years.

The results of the study.

Researchers interpret the term "image" quite broadly and sometimes inconsistently. So, dictionaries (philosophical, explanatory, pedagogical) interpret the concept of image as:

– the image of a person, including appearance, manner of behavior, communication, contributing to the impact on others;

– an external image created by the subject to evoke a particular impression, opinion, or attitude from others;

– a set of properties attributed by advertising, propaganda, fashion, prejudice, or tradition to an object to cause certain reactions toward it;

– the purposefully formed image of a person, phenomenon, or object designed to have an emotional and psychological impact on someone for popularization, advertising, etc.;

– a system of roles the subject plays in their life and activities, supplemented by individual characteristics (intelligence, external data, clothing, etc.).

Summarizing these interpretations, we note that the concept of image is associated with both a visual image, external attractiveness, a complex of personality properties and qualities, and with the form of reflection of an individual, group, or organization in people’s minds (purposeful or spontaneous).

We find similar interpretations in one interpretation or another among domestic researchers and in determining the image of students. The image of a young person, a student, is spent as:

– an integral characteristic that includes a set of external and internal socio-psychological, perceptual components of the student's personality (visual, intellectual, status, social perception) ^[4];

– life and professional priorities and values of students, forms of leisure and lifestyle in general ^[5];

– a certain personality trait of young people, a mask, a logo, collectively giving a synergistic effect ^[6];

– an effective tool for the formation of psychological attraction and attractions ^[7];

– an effective means of increasing symbolic capital, identification, self-identification, and self-presentation, including in their future profession ^[8];

– a special set of signs, which is a motivational condition that forms an appropriate attitude and actualizes the need to commit (or not commit) certain actions or deeds ^[9];

– a social phenomenon that performs the function of positioning and motivation for desired responses and systematic image building ^[10].

Thus, we see that the authors distinguish three aspects of the image: personal (in the system theory, these are the qualities of an actor, status roles), social (interaction between actors), and, relatively speaking, resource (tools, technologies to achieve results), which gives reason to interpret the image as a subsystem of the social system of vocational education.

Turning to the theory of systems, we note that the factors that ensure the system's ability to achieve a goal are at the entrance. These are values, useful knowledge, patterns of behavior, appropriate reactions, motivational attitudes, and inclinations. The output is the possibility of socializing motivational inclinations and establishing a standard of competence, which results from qualified actions and an orderly reaction at the level of behavior, mediated by satisfaction from what has been done.

According to Parsons, there is a process between the input and output, which is divided into three phases:

– formation of internal resources; change of motivation, accumulation of knowledge, development of behavior patterns;

– placement of these resources, distribution of activities by ability levels, performance of roles in accordance with this level, training ^{[3, p. 575]};

– the use of hosted resources according to the principle: what should be done, by whom should be done, how should it be done ^{[3, pp.625–639]};

Violating the balance of inputs and outputs between two or more system units manifests a tendency to change, which Parsons calls voltage. One of the ways to reduce the voltage may be to change the system's structure ^[11].

In our opinion, the image of the vocational education system also acts as a mechanism that relieves tension in the system when students who have not decided on the choice of a future profession come to study and have low motivation to study. In this regard, the image of a student under the influence of external and internal conditions can change over time and, as an element of the social system, lead to changes in the system's structure, thereby reducing or increasing tension in it. In other words, a student who entered an educational institution with positive motivation under the influence of unfavorable conditions demonstrates disappointment in their choice, and students with a negative attitude to their future profession, with the correct organization of their training, broadcast a positive attitude to their future profession.

According to the theory of systems, its elements can also act as independent systems. Applying the provisions of structural and functional analysis and the theory of social systems, we considered the student's image an independent system (according to Parsons, the personality system). The entry factors determine which students have individual intellectual and moral traits and qualities that are formed under the influence of the social environment and society as a whole, the attitude towards a person and profession in a particular culture; at the exit, an image of a personality, models of civil and professional behavior are formed.

The relationship between input and output is determined by what happens inside the image system and its structure, which includes the following elements (according to O. F. Potemkina) ^[12]:

– the external component of the image (appearance, manners, gait, speech, gestures, voice, facial expressions, clothes, hairstyle, etc.);

– the internal component of the image (intelligence, way of thinking, professionalism, goals and means, erudition, ideas, interests);

– the procedural component of the image (temperament, forms of communication, energy, emotionality);

– the core of the image (legend, positions, installations).

In this structure of the image, the central place is occupied by personal positions and attitudes of a person, which are instilled by education and upbringing and include, according to V. M. Shepel ^[13], moral values, psychological health, and a set of communication technologies. Natural qualities such as sociability, empathy, reflexivity, and eloquence determine procedural, external, and internal elements. They can develop over time to high characteristics if a person puts some effort into it, or they can begin to degrade without some work on themselves and in the absence of external stimuli. Qualities determined by life and professional experience and developed throughout the professional activity define the core. These are the so-called professionally important qualities that affect the effectiveness of activities. They are both a prerequisite for professional activity and its new formation, as they are improved and transformed during work.

We find confirmation of what has been said by researchers studying the factors influencing the formation of self-esteem and personal and social image of adolescents and young people in different countries. So, Svetlana Kostromina and Natalia Grishina ^[14], in their study, indicate that the integrity of a person is determined by the unity and continuity of their reaction to certain events of external or internal life. Personality as an open self-developing system strives to preserve its integrity, which is in a state of unstable equilibrium (which can be called meta-stability). This process is closely related to the dominant relationships that young people, having come to a new professional education environment, are trying to form in order to preserve the integrity of their personalities. Not everyone can adequately tolerate this: an increase in dominance on the part of fellow students for someone becomes a factor in the development of depression and anxiety ^[15]. At the same time, as researchers of the processes of adaptation of young people point out ^{[16, 17]}, educational practice existing in a particular society introduces young people to the dominant forms of knowledge, while social interaction, the exchange of their own and others' experiences offer new ways of seeing and interpreting events that are broadcast through individuals, and the "author's" position, including through the image.

Based on the theoretical research conducted, we have developed a model of the image of a student of a professional educational institution (Figure 1). This model, in our opinion, demonstrates the essence of the image as an element of the social system of vocational education, which allows the student, on the one hand, to include himself in this system and, on the other hand, to perceive system processes as a condition for changing themself.

Figure 1.

Image model of a student of a professional educational institution (university)

As can be seen from this model, the interaction between the structure elements, due to entry and exit factors, is mobile. This occurs between all the structure elements, guaranteeing a structure change. In other words, the image will develop, adapting to the environment due to changes in its structure, the search for more effective means of forming the "right" image.

Based on this model, we offered students the opportunity to evaluate their images according to the methodology described by M. G. Podoprigora ^[18]. This technique involves students performing a self-assessment of their own image and a mutual assessment of the image by fellow students or friends. Students of the Department of Socio-Cultural Service and Tourism of the Northeastern Federal University, named after M. K. Ammosov, took part in the study. They were asked to evaluate their image by answering 60 questions and statements covering all structural elements of the image and using the proposed key to identify the dominant structural element. The first stage of the study was conducted when the students were first-year students; the second stage was performed when the same students completed their second year. The purpose of the study was to find out whether there are changes in students' images during the learning process, what this process depends on, and whether these processes affect their attitude toward their studies and future profession.

In the first stage of the study, the procedural element was identified as the leading structural element when performing self-assessment in most first-year students. Here, we agree with the already mentioned authors ^[14] that the procedural nature of a personality contributes to the preservation of its stability: young people who have recently graduated from school have a lot of energy and temperament, which begins to open up and compete in a field of competitive like-minded people.

When students were evaluated by their fellow students, most revealed an external component of the image. In our opinion, this is because for students, when perceiving their fellow students, a significant influence is exerted by what, on the one hand, distinguishes them from each other and, on the other hand, unites them—appearance, fashion, manner of behavior. We also found indirect confirmation of this in the study ^[19], which established a link between the formation of identity and appearance (physical characteristics, positive or negative attitude to one's body, acceptance of oneself as one is in reality). Socio-psychological features, character traits, behavior models, and characteristics of the procedural component, as noted in the self-assessment of students' image, are valuable only for themselves, so it is not enough yet.

A comparison of the results of self-assessment and mutual assessment at the first stage of the study showed that only two out of forty-four students had the same results. This fact can be assumed to demonstrate both the integrity of the image and the integrity of the personality of these two students. Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by the status that these students occupied in the group: one turned out to be the head of the group, and the other was a student who successfully combined study and work.

In the second stage, conducted when the same students were finishing their second year, the leading structural components in the self-assessment revealed procedural and internal components, and there were even several cores, which indicates a change in the structure of the image of almost half of the students. During the mutual evaluation, the leading element also revealed an internal component, which confirms the fact of a change in the structure of the image. In the second stage, the discrepancy between self-assessment and mutual assessment results decreased by almost half.

We also correlated with the academic success of the students who took part in the study and found that none of them were expelled by the end of the second year, many received an increased scholarship for social and scientific activities, there were no students who left voluntarily or because of disappointment in their future profession. Starting from the first year, students are involved in research activities, studying in scientific circles in the department "Socio-historical aspects of the development of service activities in Yakutia," "Design in creative industries," "Psychological aspects in the organization of service activities"; summarize the results of their research at the traditional Institute scientific and practical conference "BILIM," then at conferences of the University "Ammosov."

By the second year, many had successfully performed at international and All-Russian scientific events and had been published. The specifics of the educational direction "Service" dictates constant participation in the organization and holding of events at the city and republican level: food festivals, master classes, tourslets, fashion shows, modeling, interaction with the National Association of Restaurateurs, Hoteliers and Tourism "Hospitality Association" of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Trade and Tourism of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), representatives of the business and professional communities. The integration of academic disciplines and project activities is facilitated by the participation of students in the project intensive "From idea to prototype" within the framework of the federal platform "University 2035." A good organizational school is provided by the participation of students in a trade union student organization. The construction of the educational process in the direction of combining theory, practice, scientific, project, and organizational activities allowed each of the students to realize the motive that was leading when entering the university and to form the image that was determined by these motives initially, without entering into gross contradictions with their "I," while allowing them to experience the pleasure of satisfying their needs. The university's educational environment contributed to the changes that took place in the structure of the student image, and this, in general, contributed to the preservation of the integrity of both the image and the personality of students.

Conclusions. The results of the study allowed us to formulate the following conclusions:

Using a systematic approach in studying the student's image allowed us to assert that the students' image is a subsystem of the social system of vocational education and, at the same time, is itself a system.

At the same time, the image acts as a mechanism for preserving the integrity of the student's personality as an actor of the vocational education system and the vocational education system as a whole.

The internal unity of the student's image as a system is due to changes in the structure of the image generated by interaction with the environment of a professional educational institution.