Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2013 number 3

In the article, which is based on N. Luhmann’s approach, the factors are studied of formation of the communication space of the education system. The communication space is considered as a complete and systemic formation, which is manifested in the dynamic process as the connection of states and has external and internal resources of its own development. To study the internal structure of this social phenomenon, there are used the structural and functional analysis and the activity approach, which is applied to exploring the social phenomena. According to the results of a pilot survey on the basis of a methodology due to N. Zbigniew and J. Podguretsky, there have been obtained evidence of a correlation between the type of family, educational level of parents, the presence of brothers and sisters in the family and the level of development of communication skills of students, which are determined on the basis of testing the following personality characteristics: ease in establishing contacts, empathy, resistance to external stimuli, the ability to transform (flexibility in communication), sensitivity to evaluation of the external characteristics of the interlocutor and the own ones, self-centeredness, openness, simplicity of communication. All these are reflected in an interval-type variable that determines the level of development of communication skills of the individual and the quality of the communication activity in general. There has been also revealed the interrelation between the level of development of communication skills of the students and their professional choice. The study has concluded that the identified relationships can serve as a basis for adjusting the methods of teaching students on the basis of a detailed analysis of the factors, which conditioned their education and upbringing prior to entering the university.