1.1. Essence of education

The central category in pedagogy, which is defined as the science of education, is the concept of education. In the literal sense of "education" - feeding, child nutrition. It is believed that this term was introduced into science by the Russian enlightener of the mid-18th century. II Betsky, whose activity was aimed at creating a new breed of people through education.

Being a complex sociocultural phenomenon, education is the object of study of a number of humanities, each of which analyzes its aspect of this phenomenon:

• philosophy explores the cognitive, axiological, sociopolitical, moral and aesthetic attitude of a person to the world, that is, reveals the ontological and epistemological foundations of education; formulates the most general ideas about higher goals and values ​​of education, in accordance with which its specific means are determined;

• sociology studies the social problems of personal development, that is, it reveals the peculiarities of the social order that society gives to the education system in the form of state documents; determines the regional and socio-cultural characteristics of education; explores the relationship between elemental social influences and purposeful impact on a person in the process of socialization and education;

• ethnography considers the specifics of education of the peoples of the world in the context of historical development and modernity; reveals the normative canon of a person existing in different nations (morality) and its influence on upbringing; explores the nature of the manifestation of parental feelings, roles and relationships;

• Economics determines the role of education in the growth of the efficiency of social production; identifies the financial and material and technical resources necessary to create an optimal infrastructure of the educational system;

• Jurisprudence deals with the legal forms of organization and functioning of education, legal norms regulating the status, rights and obligations of the state, its institutions and citizens in the field of education;

• biology, physiology and genetics explore the hereditary characteristics of development that affect the process and results of education;

• psychology reveals individual, age and group characteristics of the development and behavior of people, creating objective and subjective prerequisites for conducting the process of education;

• general pedagogy explores the essence of education, its place in the structure of the holistic pedagogical process, patterns, trends and development prospects; develops the theory and methodology of the educational process; defines its principles, content, forms and methods of implementation.

The central and one of the most ancient problems in the interdisciplinary study of education is the definition of its essence, because in different historical periods the society has characterized this category, based on its social attitudes and current tasks. Most often, upbringing was considered as managing the process of forming a personality or its individual qualities in accordance with the needs of society. However, today in pedagogical science it is difficult to find a concept that has so many different definitions. The variety of interpretations of the concept of “education” is related to what aspect of this phenomenon - social or pedagogical - seems to the researcher to be the most significant.

If we consider upbringing as a social phenomenon, it should be defined as a complex and contradictory socio-historical process of the entry of the younger generation into the life of society, which results in the cultural and historical continuity of generations.

Education as a social phenomenon is characterized by a number of main features expressing its essence:

- it is an eternal, necessary and common phenomenon, which appeared together with human society and exists as long as the society itself lives;

- upbringing arose from the practical need to familiarize the younger generation with the conditions of life of the society;

- at each stage of development of a society, education according to its purpose, content and forms is of a specific historical nature, determined by the nature and organization of the life activity of a given society;

- upbringing of the younger generations is carried out at the expense of their mastering of social experience in the process of communication and activity;

- as adults are aware of their educational relationships with children and set certain goals to develop certain qualities in children, their relationships become more and more pedagogically focused.

Thus, upbringing as a social phenomenon is an objectively existing and implemented in accordance with specific historical conditions the way of preparing the younger generation for full-fledged life activity in society. At the present stage, upbringing as a social phenomenon is most often viewed as a synonym for the concept of “socialization”, which refers to the integration of a person into a system of social relations, into various types of social communities (group, institution, organization), as the subject assimilating elements of culture, social norms and values on the basis of which personality qualities are formed.

Education as a pedagogical phenomenon is a purposeful, systematically organized process, implemented by specially trained people (teachers) in various types of educational institutions and focused on the development of personality norms and rules of behavior adopted in society. In this sense, education is closely related to a number of psychological and pedagogical concepts, the main ones being the following:

• formation - a process aimed at certain changes in a person (the appearance of physical and personal neoplasms) and leading to a complete result;

• development - the process of the progressive movement of a person, which is determined by internal (physiological, mental, hereditary and biological) contradictions and external (environmental, socio-cultural, etc.) factors;

• self - development - the activity of the subject to create himself, his “I”, including any activity of the subject, carried out consciously or subconsciously, directly or indirectly, and leading to progressive changes in mental and physical functions; improving talents and abilities;

• self-education - the conscious activity of the subject, running in parallel with education, implemented under its influence and aimed at developing personality-significant qualities and improving lifestyles through the development of spiritual values, traditions and customs that are the benchmark for the individual.

Education as a pedagogical phenomenon cannot change the inherited physical data, the innate type of nervous activity, the state of geographic, social, domestic or other environments. But it can have a formative effect on development through special training and exercises (playing sports, promoting health, improving the processes of arousal and inhibition, i.e., flexibility and mobility of nervous processes), make adjustments to the stability of natural hereditary characteristics. Only under the influence of scientifically grounded education and the creation of appropriate conditions, taking into account the peculiarities of the child’s nervous system, ensuring the development of all its organs, taking into account its potential and incorporating into the relevant activities, individual natural inclinations can develop into abilities.

Certain attributes are inherent in upbringing as a pedagogical phenomenon.

1. Upbringing is characterized by purposefulness of influences on the pupil. This means that it always has the goal of achieving a certain result, which is determined by the positive changes that take place in the personality of the pupil. There is no aimless education (education in general).

2. Education has a humanistic orientation, which determines the nature of the impact of the teacher on the pupil. The purpose of this impact is to stimulate positive changes in his personality (development of spiritual and moral values, the formation of basic cultures, etc.).

3. The most important sign of education is the interaction of the teacher and the student, which is expressed in the activity of the child himself in the process of education and determines his subject position.

4. Education as a pedagogical phenomenon is a process that involves specific qualitative and quantitative changes in personalities with which the teacher interacts. Proceeding from this, education as a pedagogical phenomenon is usually called the educational process, which means a planned, long-term, specially organized life activity of children in an educational institution.

The educational process has the following functions: a) diagnostics of natural inclinations, theoretical development and practical creation of conditions for their manifestation and development; b) the organization of educational activities of children; c) the use of positive factors in the development of child's personality traits; d) selection of the content of education, means and conditions of the social environment; e) impact on social conditions, elimination and transformation (if possible) of negative environmental influences on an emerging personality; e) the formation of special abilities that provide the application of the child's forces in various areas of educational, cognitive and socially useful activities.

Thus, the relationship between the concepts of “education as a social phenomenon” and “education as a pedagogical phenomenon” is as follows: education as a pedagogical phenomenon (educational process) is an integral part (pedagogical component) of education as a social phenomenon (socialization), encompassing the sphere called controlled socialization.