Solovieva, Yu.V.

Introduction. The learning process has always been one of the essential objects of psychological study, according to Activity Theory. Davidov (citation needed) has proposed differentiation between the general term of non-specific learning as any kind of social experience and the specific learning resulting from guiding and organized learning. Talizina (2018, 2019) has proposed a notion of organization of the process of learning according to Activity Theory, in particular, concerning the psychological notion of action formation by stages. This proposal might be understood straightforwardly for consideration of the process of teaching and learning according to Activity Theory.

The goal. This article aims to discuss the necessity of continuing the psychological study of the educational process as a dialectic and complex relation between the organization of the learning process and the results of this process as achievement in a child’s development.

Findings and proposals. This article offers a revision of the notion of organization of the learning process with original proposals. We propose two sub-periods or two methodological possibilities as the organization of the learning process. Firstly, initial primary school (first three grades of primary school), and further grades of primary school (second three grades of primary school), according to Davidov’s (citation needed) psychological notion of the school-age and learning as a leading activity of child’s development.

Conclusions. This article concludes that activity theory as a general theory with a variety of particular concepts, such as psychological age, leading activity and formation of mental actions are useful for positive solution of current problems which exist in education systems in different countries. 

Relevance. This paper analyzes the professional motives of teachers working at primary schools from the perspective of Activity Theory, considering that the teachers' motives are relevant for organizing the teaching-learning process.

Goals. This study aimed to analyze the professional motives of primary school teachers and their relationship with the teaching-learning process.

Methods and sample collection. Three sixth grade teachers participated in semi-structured interviews to analyze their motives and their impact on the teaching-learning process based on: a) teachers and b) school context and the interactions related to the teaching-learning process. The analysis of the motivational sphere was conducted utilizing the Activity Theory paradigm and the Cultural-Historical approach, researching the motives that underlay the teaching-learning process. The interviews were analyzed using the typology of motives proposed by Talizina (2019), according to specific indicators.

Results. We offer a classification of teachers’ motives regarding the teaching-learning process. These motives are distributed heterogeneously across our proposed indicators; some motives are similar for each teacher, and other motives exhibit great disparity. Also, we observed great differences between the profile of motives across two teachers, one working at a private school and the other working at a public school.

Conclusions. The findings suggest the existence of internal positive motives in the teacher’s professional activity.

The 1st of June, usually a joyful day dedicated to the protection of children by UNESCO, was a sad day this year. On this day in 2021 Professor Pentti Hakkarainen passed away. Pentti was a prominent psychologist and methodologist of activity theory and cultural-historical approach. Starting with the translation of Leontiev's book “Activity, Consciousness, and Personality” (1977) into Finnish, he continued to penetrate into the depths of activity and cultural-historical theory during his scientific career.