Modification of working conditions of teaching staff of higher education institutions: Legal aspects

Abstract

Introduction. Working conditions of the teaching staff of higher education institutions are not static, as they reflect the changes taking place in the outside world. The increase in the role of informatization, the acceleration of the information flow, the changing of the information field, the introduction of scientometric indicators, the recognition of the impact of stress in the workplace on the health of an employee – all this accompanies the work of the teaching staff. The analysis of these phenomena makes it possible to single out three large groups of working conditions for the teaching staff of higher education institution, which today are undergoing changes, to identify the prerequisites for their occurrence and to formulate their consequences for the entire educational process. The purpose of the study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the working conditions of higher education teachers, which are currently undergoing changes. Methods and methodology. The work used the methodology of a comprehensive study, including methods of document analysis, comparative analysis, secondary use of sociological, economic and medical data. The results of the study show that the digitalization of vocational education, including higher education, is carried out in different conditions than the digitalization of schools, which leads to the emergence of a new paradigm of interaction between higher education teachers and students. As a result of research, the absence of a centralized acquisition of skills in the use of digital technologies by teachers was confirmed: 45% of respondents carry out advanced training on their own, 41% – using online platforms, 31% – ask for help from colleagues in their educational institution, 30% – exchange experience with colleagues from others vocational institutions. In the absence of legislative regulation of the issue of mastering new digital competencies by the teaching staff of higher education institutions, the ways of solving this issue are proposed. The results of the research revealed that meeting the scientific productivity requirements for the teaching staff is one of the main sources of stress in the workplace (40% of respondents). It is concluded that in order to achieve quality indicators in the field of scientific activity, in order to prevent opportunistic behavior of the teaching staff, higher education institutions need to develop tools of internal motivation. The authors believe that an integrated approach to regulating the emotional burnout of teachers could also be applied in relation to minimizing the risks of professional burnout, that is, to adopt acts of legal regulation at the federal and local levels in order to prevent professional burnout.