CONCEPTUAL GROUNDS FOR FORMATION OF ECOLOGICAL SELF-AWARENESS OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Environmental education and upbringing in higher education is a constituent part of the entire environmental education system. At the same time, formation of ecological self-awareness among the university students has not been the subject of special psychological and pedagogical study. Ecological self-awareness is a necessary condition and management component of any conscious human activity. It has the same structure as individual self-consciousness. However, it contains a qualitatively new content which is aimed at the establishment, regulation and support of the bond between “I” and “the environment”. Based on generalized definition of the “ecological self-awareness” concepts represented in the scientific literature the authors have given their own interpretation. Formation of ecological self-awareness at young age is directly associated with environmental education and the process of vocational training. The research substantiates the concept of building the educational process content at a university aimed at establishment and consolidation of a system of ecological value orientations of university students. Conceptual grounds for value determination of students’ ecological self-awareness are developed on the methodological, theoretical and technological levels.