EPISTEMIC REFLECTION OF MASTER’S STUDENTS IN THE FIELD OF TRAINING “PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL EDUCATION”: THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

In the current context of the transformation of higher education and professional activities of specialists in the psychological and pedagogical fields, epistemic reflection (the ability of a worker to recognize and critically evaluate the boundaries, origin, and validity of their beliefs and their system of poly-scientific knowledge) is becoming a key meta-competence that determines the level of professionalism of a future specialist. The article substantiates the position on epistemic reflection as a core component of the epistemic culture of an educational psychologist; the dynamics of epistemic reflection of master’s students (future educational psychologists) in the context of the current digital and cognitive transformation of the university environment are examined. The author substantiates the transition from classical reflection to epistemic reflection as a tool for verifying sources of knowledge and overcoming cognitive distortions; reveals the dialectical relationship between individual cognitive strategies and sociocultural standards of scientific knowledge. The author identifies four basic components of the structure of an educational psychologist’s epistemic reflection (ontological, praxeological, axiological, and critical-evaluative) and describes their interactions during the professional development of a master’s student. The work emphasizes that without a developed epistemic reflection, educational psychologists risk becoming a translator of outdated dogmas, incapable of adapting to the world of Big Data and AI technologies.