In the modern world of rapid change the formation of a personality capable to truly establish him/herself in economic and political domains is growing to be an acute necessity. The development of skills to navigate expediently and accurately in the system of social and economic relations and act in accordance with one’s own interests within the law, without violating the rights of others is a high priority task for education. Therefore, the study of regulatory law norms and active legal training of the younger generation has become imperative for the integration of the individual into Kazakh society.
In his message to the people of Kazakhstan «Strategy» Kazakhstan-2050 – «a new policy for the established state» – the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev highlights that «we should not tolerate even the smallest offenses, bullying and lack of culture due to the fact that these disturb public peace and lower the quality of life. The sense of both disorder and permissiveness conduces to the breeding ground for more serious crimes. Lack of tolerance for minor offenses constitutes an important step in strengthening public security and in fighting against crime» [1].
At the present stage of social development there are socio-economic, cultural and value changes that affect the outlook of secondary students. The absence of clear moral and legal guidelines, active social position and moral responsibility gives space to youth to assert themselves in society by illegal means, including crime. In light of this, responsibility for violation of legislation covers a variety of legal sanctions to use.
The problem of juvenile delinquency in Kazakhstan remains one of the most pressing social issues. The main goal of legal training is educating citizens living in a democratic society, in possession of legal knowledge and ability to think critically and analyze systematically as well as a desire to participate in political life of the country, respecting human rights.
Teaching students the conscious law-abiding behavior and respect for legislation and human rights acts as a guarantee of a high level of lawfulness and order in the state. Moreover, it preserves civil peace, interethnic harmony and political stability of the state.
Children enter their first class of primary school with certain knowledge of their own habits, needs and responsibilities since the foundations of moral and legal education are laid and shaped in the family. A child understands his/her “rights and obligations” as a member of the family through the prism of representations: desired and proper, acceptable and inappropriate, potential and forbidden.
Conception of a man as the pivotal value of society and the notion of a state, its symbols as well as rights and duties of its citizens are formed in primary school age. In elementary school students are introduced to the rules of conduct and the culture of communication with classmates and adults. A primary pupil is not seen as an object of legal activity, for whom everything is decided by adults, but as a subject with his/her own interests and views.
High school students study the norms of individual branches of law (family, civil, administrative, criminal) and learn to apply their rights and responsibilities. It is important that students are not only exposed to information but also play out specific situations that put them in a position to choose appropriate behaviors.
Adolescent behavior is influenced by different factors, such as biological, psychological, social, educational and others. In the age range from 11-13 to 15-11 there emerges a desire for independence, freedom, a sense of their own maturity and a need for its recognition by others.
Preventive maintenance should be held for school children to foster moral and legal conduct, interpretation of situations where deviant behavior can cause harm to another person or damage to society. Awareness and recognition of the fact that the law has provisions for socially dangerous acts can serve as an important factor in preventing their occurrence. Hence, if students study legal information that matches their age features, then progressive development of moral and legal position, which results in the legal behavior, takes place.
Certain styles of family relations can provoke deviant behavior: conflicting relationships among family members, parents’ antisocial behavior (negligent attitude to work, drunkenness) and parents’ indifference to children. Different types of overprotection such as parental excessive concern, restriction of independence, constant superimposition of prohibitions and restrictions, the desire to subjugate the will of a child or indulgence to the child’s needs and permissiveness in some cases lead to infantilism and hang-ups while in others they trigger offenses under the influence of motives and desires of the consumer nature.
Deviant behavior passes certain stages in its development. In the early school years, it can manifest itself in the form of emotional instability, disobedience, rudeness, lack of discipline, stubbornness, self-will, non-recognition of the authority of parents and systematic violations of human behavior of schoolchildren. As they get older, behavioral problems may exacerbate and progress, turning from minor character flaws into consistent negative quality traits and adverse forms of behavior.
Several stages of deviant behavior are distinguished:
– actions that cause disapproval or censure of others (teachers, parents and etc.) (disobedience, occasional violations of discipline, cases of pugnacity, rudeness);
– morally negative actions and behavior (lying, pretense, conflict, hostility), adopt a systematic or habitual character;
– behavior that carries the seeds of criminal behavior (minor offenses, disorderly conduct, extortion, violation of moral norms and rules of conduct in public places, drinking and other behaviors that do not pose a serious danger to the public).
Deviant behavior is often equated with delinquent behavior, but these terms ought to be distinguished as not all behavior which deviates from the standard and well-established rules can be classified as delinquent. Delinquent behavior (from English, Delinquency – offense) is anti-social behavior, which manifests itself in violation of existing norms stipulated by legal acts [2]. Thus, recognition of deviant behavior as delinquent is always associated with the actions of the state through its agencies authorized to adopt rules of law enshrining this or that act as an offense in accordance with legislation.
The process of preventing and overcoming deviations in the behavior of schoolchildren is the basis of a preventive educational system and plays an integral role in preventing deformations of the person.
According to G.S.Malunova and N.A.Kushnareva, prevention and overcoming of deviant behavior can be defined as focused and organized socio-pedagogical process of influences and interactions of teachers, parents and students, geared toward eradication of various deviations in their behavior [3].
By prevention and overcoming of deviations in behavior V.P.Filippova understands early detection of existing and forecast of possible manifestations of deviant behavior as well as a specially-organized activity of primary school teachers so that these deviations do not stand a chance to occur [4].
The success of a teacher in preventing and overcoming deviant behavior of pupils will depend on the following conditions:
– implementation of individual and differentiated approach to pupils;
– creation of educative medium in educational, informative and other activities of students;
– timely provision of psychological, social, legal and medical assistance to children;
– organization of extracurricular activities on the formation of the legal culture of students;
– creation of a data bank of students who find themselves in a difficult situation and families at social risk;
– interoperability in the «teacher – student – parent» system;
– improvement of pedagogical culture of parents.
Responsibility in preventing and overcoming deviant behavior of pupils rests not only on teachers but also on school psychologists, social teachers and parents. Schools set guidelines that define actions, decisions and choices of targets as well as foster respect for the laws of the land and a belief in the necessity to abide by them.