SELF-KNOWLEDGE, PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AS A UNIT AND IN LOGICAL CONTINUITY

Abstract

While browsing through recent papers and studies I noticed an increase in the number of articles emphasizing the convergence of personal and professional development. The present paper is focused on a specific facet of this issue, the above mentioned relationship for education specialists. Personal and professional development are two complex and interconnected processes that support and augment each other and that merge in a dynamic, fluid way throughout the career path, into a third process—the professional individuation.

On a different level, one does not need psychology studies to see that many children enter youth already perturbed, unhappy, with irrational fears and unresolved problems with themselves. Later in life, as adults, they grow into hostile, defensive victims, much of these issues stemming from conflicts with their deep inner self, conflicts that emerged in childhood. As such, it is not bold or hazardous to state that self-understanding as a product of self-knowledge should be one of the focus points of the education programs children are subjected to, from kindergarten on.

The place of self-knowledge in psychological life is much too overlooked in manuals and treaties. Self-knowledge means, on the one hand, being aware of, expressing and accepting one's thoughts, feelings, attitudes and values and, on the other hand, accessing the inner freedom of deciding what kind of person one wants to become. The present paper supports that, should we be able to nurture the feeling of personal value, self-competency and social competency in our children, the professional competencies will have a much more solid foundation to develop on.