Methodological design difficulties spiritual and moral education in modern mathematics education in Russia

Introduction. Comprehension of the methodology of mathematics education from the position of the modern view of education becomes especially demanded, as Russia is currently facing the task of preserving traditional spiritual and moral values. The purpose of this study: to identify and reveal methodological difficulties and errors of designing spiritual and moral education in modern mathematics education, as well as to propose ways to eliminate them. Materials and methods. Comparative analysis, generalization and systematization of scientific ideas of Russian and foreign scientists, allowed to identify differences in the definition of the scope of the category «spiritual and moral values». The study was conducted by the authors for five years (2018- 2023). More than 100 people took part in the experimental work, including students of Bunin Yelets State University, mathematics teachers of higher educational institutions of Voronezh, Elets, Moscow, Orel and other cities of Russia. Results. On the basis of system analysis and experimental work, the reasons for the difficulties in designing education (specifics of the subject of mathematics, differences in the understanding of spiritual and moral values in different civilizations, etc.) were revealed. The greatest divergence of opinions was recorded in the evaluation of the experience of moral education in the Soviet school (46% of respondents were in favor and 48% were against borrowing this experience). At the same time, 82% of respondents agree with the need to form spiritual and moral qualities in schoolchildren in the process of teaching mathematics. Discussion of results and conclusion. Designing spiritual and moral education at present involves a number of methodological errors and difficulties inherited from the Soviet past. The Soviet experience of moral education in the process of teaching mathematics does not meet the requirements of modern Russia, the European experience contradicts national traditions, and the experience of Eastern countries with communitarian consciousness only partially meets the principles of Christian ethics. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of a conceptual model of designing spiritual and moral education, which includes three levels (education of a good person, education of a good citizen, education of a Christian) and allows to partially eliminate the identified methodological difficulties.