3.1. The concept of the educational system

The educational process, which is a dynamic system, is aimed primarily at the social development of man. To effectively solve this problem, it is necessary that the educational process be carried out holistically, which in practice is realized through the creation of an educational system.

The educational system as a pedagogical phenomenon has been intensively studied by science since the early 1970s. Today, an integral concept of the educational system has been created, among whose authors L. I. Novikov, V. A. Karakovsky, AM Sidorkina, N. L. Selivanov and others should be mentioned. In their research, the educational system is considered as an integral social-pedagogical organism functioning conditions of interaction of the main components of education (subjects, goals, content and methods of activity, relationships) and possessing such integrative characteristics as the lifestyle of the team, its psychological climate (L. I. Novikova).

The educational system has a complex structure in which the following components are distinguished: 1) goals expressed in the initial concept (that is, a set of ideas for which it is created); 2) activities that ensure the implementation of this concept; 3) stakeholders (its organizers and participants); 4) relations born in activities and communication and integrating the subjects into a certain community; 5) the environment of the system, mastered by its constituent entities; 6) management, ensuring the integration of components into an integral system and promoting the development of this system.

The subjects of the modern (humanistic) educational system are not only teachers, but also the children themselves. This is one of its main differences from the authoritarian system, where the child serves primarily as an object of education. Both teachers and children specify their goals, transfer them to the rank of practical tasks and implement them in the process of joint activities. Because of this, the most important condition for the effectiveness of the system is the association of children and adults into a collective, which is the core of the humanistic educational system.

In order for educational activity to be a system-forming one, it must be collaborative, creative, personally meaningful, and have a humanistic character. It is these factors that primarily determine the educational potential of the system. An activity becomes a backbone, if its organizations need all subjects of pedagogical activity and if it links up educational and extracurricular work into a holistic educational process. This means that the creation of an educational system, in fact, is a process of harmonizing the educational and extracurricular activities of schoolchildren.

Any humanistic educational system is an open system, that is, the environment plays an important role in its formation, functioning and development - not only as an influencing factor, but also as a component of the system itself (to the extent that this environment is developed).

The educational system is not set from above, but is created by the efforts of all subjects of pedagogical activity; therefore, it is not a frozen but constantly evolving phenomenon. The process of development of the educational system is contradictory and non-linear: there are ups and downs, as well as quite long periods of stability, and it is characterized by regressive phenomena, when the system seems to be reversing, losing its positive gains.

The source of the development of the educational system is primarily the resolution of the contradiction between its increasing orderliness (integration process) and the tendency to increase the independence of various elements (the disintegration process). Integration is expressed in team cohesion, in establishing stable interpersonal relations, standardization of situations, etc., disintegration - in violation of stability, increase in individual and group differences, the emergence of situations contrary to accepted norms and values, etc.

The contradictions between integration and disintegration of the development of the educational system are concretized in the contradictions between the system and the individual. Integration processes create favorable conditions for social adaptation; on the contrary, disintegration phenomena in the system contribute to the alienation between the child and the teacher.

The main criterion of the functioning of the educational system is the development of the child’s personality. In this regard, the management of the educational system includes primarily the management of the interaction of the system and the individual, the process of their mutual influence. This requires finding ways to optimally incorporate the personality (of the child and the teacher) into the processes of goal-setting, joint creative activity, and the improvement of interpersonal and group relationships that arise in a team.