Zaretsky Viktor Kirillovich

Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor

General experience: 47 years

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Autobiography

Zaretsky Viktor Kirillovich is the Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Individual and Group Psychotherapy of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University, Moscow, Russia, Professor of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of the Pedagogical Faculty of the West Kazakhstan University named after Makhambet Utemisov, member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Cultural and Historical Activity Research (ISCAR), member of the editorial board of the journal "Counseling psychology and psychotherapy".

Zaretsky Victor Kirillovich was born on January 27, 1953 in Moscow (USSR), from 1970 to 1975 he studied at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov. From 1971 to 1974 he specialized in the Department of Developmental Psychology, doing term papers under the guidance of P.Ya.Galperin and N.N.Nechaev. In 1975 he graduated from the faculty with a degree in Psychology. Psychology teacher”, having defended a diploma on the topic “Comparative analysis of individual and collective solution of creative problems” (under the guidance of P.Ya. Galperin’s student I.N. Semenov). In the thesis, for the first time, the phenomenon of intensification of reflection before insight (sudden discovery of the principle of solving a creative problem) and the phenomenon called “personal looping” were established, which indicates the disorganization of thinking (in recent years, studies of “ruminations”, considered as a violation of thinking).

From 1975 to 1978 he worked as an engineer at the Flight Control Center, performing the functions of a practicing psychologist. At the same time, he continued to study thinking in solving creative problems. One of the practical results of these studies was the creation by V.Ya. Voroshilov of the television program “What? Where? When? ”, Which is still on the first TV channel. Zaretsky V.K. performed the functions of a psychologist-consultant in solving a creative problem (the transmission is patented and has no analogues).

From 1978 to 1985 he worked as a junior researcher in the ergonomics department of the All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics of the USSR State Committee for Science and Technology, then from 1985 to 1992 as the head of the ergonomics department of the same institute, replacing the well-known Soviet and Russian psychologist V.P. Zinchenko. For 14 years of work as the scientific secretary of the publication, he prepared, with a team of 113 authors, the fundamental guide of the CMEA member countries "Ergonomics: principles and recommendations" (published in 1981 and in the second edition in 1983), and was also the deputy head of the All-Union Program " Implementation of ergonomics in the national economy”, the developers and participants of which were specialists from 100 organizations of 35 ministries and departments of the USSR.

In 1984 he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of psychological sciences in the specialty "General psychology" on the topic "Dynamics of the level organization of thinking in solving creative problems." The dissertation monograph won first place at the All-Union Competition for Young Psychologists in 1986 (not published).

From 1992 to 2001 worked as the head of the sector, leading researcher at the Research Institute of Higher Education of the Committee for Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and also part-time head of the laboratory at the Research Institute of Pedagogical Innovations of the Russian Academy of Education. He was a member of the group of authors that won the competition for the best program for the development of general education in Russia.

In 1989, he began to participate in the Organizational-Activity Games (ODI), first as a participant, then as an organizer of reflection and a leader. Criticized ODI, which is reflected in a number of publications, and together with colleagues developed an alternative method of organizing collective problem solving on the basis of ODI, called the project (or reflective-project) seminar. Project workshops aimed at collective problem solving are held in various forms to the present.

From 1996 to 2002, on an initiative basis, he was the author of the project "Summer School for Children with Developmental Disabilities and Learning Difficulties" in the city of Nytva, Perm Territory (then Perm Region). In the summer school of 1998, in the course of helping students with learning difficulties, he began to develop a method of assistance, at the same time called the “reflexive-activity approach to helping students overcome learning difficulties that promotes development” (“RDA”). The Summer School project is also being implemented at the present time at the request of various organizations from other regions of Russia.

From 1996 to the present, he has been working with children and adults with learning difficulties and developmental disabilities. Since 1998, this work has been carried out in the form of providing psychological and pedagogical assistance in overcoming educational difficulties by means of the RDP.

In 2001, he joined the Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical Institute (MGPPI - now the Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University), where he currently works. At MSPPU (MGPPU) he worked as a leading researcher, head of the Center for the Prevention of Antisocial Behavior and Orphanhood, head of the Laboratory for Continuous Education of Children and Youth with Developmental Disabilities and Disabilities, while also teaching at the Faculty of Counseling Psychology (now Counseling and Clinical Psychology). From 2013 to the present - Professor of the Department of Individual and Group Psychotherapy of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology. Supervises term papers, diploma, master's and postgraduate works. Three Ph.D. theses were defended under his guidance and with advisory participation. Conducts a number of training courses, including the author's courses "Introduction to the reflective-activity approach", "Workshop on correctional and developmental education", "Reflexive-activity approach to assisting in overcoming educational difficulties", "Psychological and pedagogical assistance to children with difficulties in teaching, etc. in bachelor's, specialist's and master's programs at the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Clinical and Special Psychology, Department of Cultural and Historical Psychology (UNESCO).

In 2000-2003 He was a consultant for the program "Help to Orphans in Russia", within the framework of which, with his advisory support, several dozen regional projects aimed at solving the problem of orphanhood were developed (work experience is reflected in the collective monograph "Ways to solve the problem of orphanhood in Russia").

From 2004 to the present, he has been the scientific director of the Chess for General Development project, which is being implemented in the city of Satka, Chelyabinsk Region, aimed at introducing chess to elementary school. Within the framework of the project, an original technology for teaching chess in elementary school has been developed. Chess is taught by specially trained school teachers within the framework of the project. Based on the materials of the project, monographs, methodological materials and publications in domestic and foreign journals have been prepared. In 2018, the “Chess Teaching System in Satka” was among the winners of the All-Russian competition organized by the Chess Federation of Russia. In 2022, the Chess for General Development in Primary School project was included in the Top 200 best social projects in Russia at a competition organized by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI). A number of regional leaders showed interest in the project, on whose initiative more than three hundred teachers from the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions were trained in 2022.

Since 2012, V.K. Zaretsky began to cooperate with the Children.msk.ru Foundation, established in 1989 to assist in the treatment of orphans with disabilities, with severe somatic diseases undergoing long-term treatment at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (RDKB). Being a scientific consultant of the Foundation, V.K. organized chess classes under the project "Chess for General Development", advised teachers, psychologists, educators, the head of the Foundation on the organization of children's education. The results of the work are reflected on the website of the Children.msk.ru Foundation and in a number of publications and presentations at webinars.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, he organized on an initiative basis the webinar "Study at Home" in connection with the massive transition to distance learning. The materials of 10 webinars held from April to June 2020 can be found on the website of the Federation of Educational Psychologists of the Russian Federation ( rospsy.ru).

Since 1975, he participated in methodological seminars under the guidance of E.G. Yudin, and then N.G. Alekseev. After the death of N.G. Alekseev (2003), his students created the Academy of Trustees, which twice a year holds Readings in memory of N.G. Alekseev, continuing the tradition of methodological seminars. Being a member of the Academy of Trustees, VK Zaretsky regularly participates in the Readings, making presentations.

From 1993 to 2005 he studied at the Institute of Psychodrama Moreno (Germany), having received a diploma of psychodramatherapist. He participates in the programs of the Institute of Psychodrama and Counseling (director V.V. Semenov) "Cultural-historical sociodrama", "Psychodrama-online", "Psychodrama and design".

Since 2008, he has been a member of the International Society for Cultural and Historical Activity Research (ISCAR), and since 2014, a member of the ISCAR Executive Committee, which brings together specialists from more than 60 countries. He took part in four ISCAR congresses and in the organization of two congresses (2017 Quebec, Canada, 2021 Natal, Brazil).

He has more than 300 published scientific papers, including monographs about the psychology of creativity, ergonomics, developmental psychology. The topic "Reflexive-activity approach to assisting in overcoming educational difficulties" is devoted to a special issue of the journal "Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy" (2013, No. 2 and 2022, No. 4).

46 articles published in MSUPU journals (free access on the portal Psyjournals.ru)

Scientific works

Psychologists on Vysotsky’s Creativity: On the 80th Anniversary of the Poet and Bard // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2018. Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 45–55. doi:10.17759/cpp.2018260104
Modification of the Comfort Strategies Methodology (F.E. Vasylyuk & E.V. Sheryagina) // Cultural-Historical Psychology. 2019. Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 79–92.
The History of the Emergence of the Psychotechnology of Experience Textbook (F.E. Vasylyuk) // Cultural-Historical Psychology. 2019. Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 56–63.
The Current State of Cultural-Historical and Activity-Based Research: International Community Discussions // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2019. Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 178–181.
Multidirectional Model of the Zone of Proximal Development: Analyzing a Child’s Development in Learning Activities // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2019. Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 95–113.
On S.M. Morozov’s History of Psychology Textbook (Moscow, 2019) // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2020. Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 180–183.
Situational-Vector Analysis of Students’ Cognitive-Personal Development in Overcoming Learning Difficulties // Cultural-Historical Psychology. 2020. Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 35–48.
Helping Overcome Learning Difficulties through a Reflexive-Activity Approach in Distance Learning: The Case of Mitya // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2020. Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 120–136.
The Connection Between Knowledge, Development, and Health from a Cultural-Historical Perspective // Cultural-Historical Psychology. 2020. Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 89–106.
The Effectiveness of Parental Support in Overcoming Learning Difficulties from Reflexive-Activity and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Perspectives // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2021. Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 159–179.
Handbook for a Pedagogue-Abilitologist / Scientific Editor L.I. Borovikova. – Novosibirsk: GAUK NSO NGONB, 2021. 238 p.
Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko: Memories and Reflections (Part 2: Memories of a Mentor and Zinchenko as a Keeper of Traditions, Teacher, and Person) // M. Center for Humanitarian Initiatives, 2021. pp. 617–630.
The Origins of the Reflexive-Activity Approach: On the 120th Anniversary of P.Ya. Galperin and the 90th Anniversary of N.G. Alekseev // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2022. No. 4.
Long-Term Diagnostic Research Results on the Chess for General Development Project // Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2022. No. 4.
The Psychology of P.Ya. Galperin and Its Cultural-Historical Analysis (Based on V.I. Oleshkevich’s Book) // Cultural-Historical Psychology. 2022. No. 4.

Professional development

2023 December 13 to 27 “Improving the professional skills of higher school teachers” “Pedagogy and psychology of higher school”; social pedagogy and psychology; legal psychology and practical psychology"80 hours;

2024, From December 13 to 27, «Improving the professional skills of higher school teachers» «Psychological and pedagogical training of future specialists; Methods and methods of teaching psychology at a university; Methods of general psychology research» 80 h;

2024 From May 27 to June 7, «Attracting teachers to the implementation of inclusive education at the university» 80h.