The theory of personal choice in pedagogical activity
The purpose of the article is to present in general a new pedagogical theory named "the theory of personal choice in pedagogical activities" ("the theory of personal choice") being developed by the author of the article. The following statements serve as a starting point for the theory. The possibility of solving any pedagogical problem is determined by the quality of pedagogical activities. The quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of pedagogical activities depend on his/her personal choices. The pedagogical activity is an endless chain of interconnected and interdependent choices necessary to be done by an educator, both consciously and unconsciously. The typological characteristics of the personal choices of an educator might be described by different parameters-foundations (awareness, rational degree, the measure of implementation, regulation compliance, attitude to experience, etc.) The complex of such descriptions makes it possible to present relatively full picture of professional personality of an educator in any sphere of pedagogical activities. To characterize the theory of personal choice the author describes not only theoretical provisions, but also methodological substantiations: praxeology, professiology, the theory of making decisions, the risk theory, scholarly papers, appealing to philosophic and general scientific notions such as freedom, creativity, possibility and necessity, and others. The following functions of the theory such as explanatory, synthetic, methodological, prognostic, practical ones are revealed. Some of the working theories and problems to explore and the primary results of the search for typological parameters of personal choices of educators are presented. This article offers an invitation for researchers to start discussions and cooperation work in further development of the theory.