The image of a modern teacher and student in the minds of first-year students – prospective educators: the results of an empirical study

The changing environment of schools and education systems call for changes in the type of teachers and their personal and professional characteristics. The generation of students is changing its parameters too. How does the teacher of today appear to their students? How do schoolchildren see each other? We tried to get answers to these questions by using the projective method «Pishu-Risuyu» for the first-year undergraduates majoring in education at Vyatka State University. This article aims to share the results of this projective method with the pedagogical community to create an image of a modern school teacher and student. The scientific novelty of the article lies in molding the “image” of a school teacher on the basis of empirical data “from students”, taking into account their individual and personal characteristics, in particular, the modality of information output. The study revealed that the “image” of a modern teacher is composed of the following characteristics: a creative, intelligent, patient, responsible person who complies with the norms of pedagogical ethics (tactful), who understands their students; b) the “image” of a modern student consists of the following parameters: inquisitive, active, creative and imaginative, proficient in IT technologies, attentive, but dependent on gadgets, cunning, and therefore lazy, but self-developing, diligent, hardworking, responsible, communicative and independent in behavior representative of the “Z” generation. Research methods: the projective method «Pishu/Risuyu» («I Write and Draw») is the main tool for collecting empirical database; ranking, methods of qualitative data processing, construction of graphic objects, analysis, synthesis, modeling (images of teacher and student), and interpretative method are all part of the process. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the confirmation / denial of some characteristic features of a modern teacher and secondary school student, identifying the transformation of ideas about the main and priority characteristics of a teacher and student, which can serve as some factual basis for confirming / clarifying generational theory. The practical significance of the article is determined by the creation of the “images” of the teacher and student, which can be taken as some guidelines for the development of personal qualities of these subjects. The obtained data can be utilized in the development of teaching strategies at universities and in the implementation of additional vocational education programs for certified teachers.