Research Article: 2017 Vol: 20 Issue: 3
Lidiya Depsames, Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University (Minin University)
Irina Burova, Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod"
Svetlana Tsyplakova, Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University (Minin University)
Evgeniy Chigarov, Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University (Minin University)
The present study reviews and discusses the general professional values particularly future specialists based on the professorial theory of Belyaeva and professional studies of Klimov. It discovers that the formation of general professional values depends on the prognostic orientation of vocational education, the main directions of scientific and technical progress in the development of society and socio-economic development.
Professional Values, Vocational Education, Technical Progress.
At present, the problem of development of professional values of future specialists acquires a qualitatively new significance due to the fact that the tendency of development of universal human values manifests itself in the system of general and, most importantly, vocational education. Scientific research in this field of knowledge, its direction, course and content, is determined by the attention paid to the development of value orientations. The study of value justification and its scientific confirmation is conducted by profession studies. The present study reviews and discusses the general professional values particularly future specialists based on the professorial theory of Belyaeva and professional studies of Klimov.
According to the researcher Nikandrov (1997), "Universal human values are the values, which are accepted by all people, by their overwhelming majority, by the entire human race". Therefore, it can be concluded that the foundations of profession studies in the context of socio-economic development are important for the development of universal values (Khorasani, Maghazei & Cross, 2015). Objectively, they include labour, profession and professional education. Being the leading activity of man, labour forms specific human values manifesting them in the most significant and vivid ways. As the research has demonstrated, the modern continuous multi-level vocational education and the system of professional values distinguish between the general and specific values.
Such common professional values as labour, professional life, professional activity, professional skills, professional knowledge and abilities, professional adaptability and professional career are identified on the basis of the professional theory of Belyaeva (1978) and professional studies of (Klimov, 1996; Belyaeva, 1978; Klimov, 1996).
The specific professional values include: Organizational and production activities, communicative and socially-influential skills, information and conversion skills; professional peculiarity of attention, sensation, perception, memory, thinking and imagination, professional features of psychophysical qualities (Khorasani, 2014).
An adequate system of professional values is absolutely necessary for the construction of a pedagogical system for the training of specialists, for standardization, integration, differentiation and individualization of vocational training (Markova, 2013). A professional approach requires a constant study and identification of changes in the professional and skills structure of workers and specialists.
Training, retraining and professional development of employees is carried out in the system of vocational training, which contains important transformational functions. It is quite obvious that vocational and educational activities should have an anticipatory character and be predictable. The studies of Belyaeva (1978) identify the goals of prognostication of vocational training in terms of changing the professional and qualification structure of workers in the sphere of material production (Belyaeva, 1978):
1. The study of the development prospects of enterprises, new equipment, technologies and labour organization;
2. Identification of the need in workers of different skill levels by profession, identification of ways to meet these needs in educational institutions;
3. Determination of the needs of young people in vocational education taking into account the changing motives and interests of people;
4. Adaptation of educational programs documentation to the real needs of individuals taking into account regional and national specifics, requests of enterprises;
5. Identification of demand for vocational training;
6. Determination of the general strategy in this area (improvement of vocational training, acquisition of other profession).
The necessity to bring the structure of labour resources in line with the requirements of scientific and technological progress is the main strategic goal, which determines the effectiveness of realization of the identified directions of prognostic orientation of vocational education. The rising of the level of education, technical literacy and professional culture also contribute to the realization of this goal.
The scientific and technical development of society and its impact on professional education is studied in the works of such prominent researchers as (Belyaeva, 1978; Bespalko, 1989; Tsyplakova, 2013). All authors note that scientific and technical transformations cause profound changes not only in the sphere of production, but also in the field of education, in the forms, methods and means of vocational training (Belyaeva, 1978; Bespalko, 1989; Tsyplakova, 2013).
The studies of Belyaeva (1978) distinguish the main fields of the scientific and technical progress of society: Widespread adoption of advanced technologies, automation and mechanization of production, robotization and computerization of production (Belyaeva, 1978). These trends affect qualitative characteristics of the workers’ labour. This is reflected both in the changes in the nature and organization of the production process of competitive workers, in which the elements of creativity are increasingly present and in the changing educational and professional structure of the workforce.
In the development of society the interconnection and interdependence of socio-economic development and the formation of vocational education are very clearly distinguished. Obviously, a qualitative restructuring of the whole structure of the training of workers and specialists is necessary in order to increase the proportion of qualified professionals.
The studies of (Belyaeva, 1978; Clarin, 1989) and other scientists emphasize the importance of people’s involvement not only to professional, but also to spiritual values, to the experience of discovery, knowledge, communication and transformational labour. For this, it is necessary to take into account the influence of the scientific and technical process on the content of labour of workers (Belyaeva, 1978; Clarin, 1989).
These issues are related to the study of labour processes, with ways to optimize production activities. The creation of advanced curricula, the development of optimal forms and methods of vocational guidance and professional selection help solve this problem. The study of labour processes reveals connections and relations between the labour of an individual human being and the labour of the whole society. The results of research of the properties and characteristics of a person are the basis for identifying the modern nature of the changing labour, the development of more advanced forms of the division of labour.
As the study showed, the development strategy in the field of vocational education is aimed both at realizing the common goals and values stated in the Russian educational legislation and at preserving and developing the traditional (for Russia) strengths of vocational education while simultaneously cultivating and developing its new characteristics.
Examining the role of education in the period of formation of new technological structures, Antonyuk (1982) outline the following main features of the educational system (Antonyuk, 1982):
1. Formation of a system of continuous education based on the complementarity of organizational and non-organizational forms of education;
2. Creation of conditions for equal access to higher and secondary special education for all strata of the population through partial state financing, attraction of business funds, provision of loans for education;
3. Democratization of education involving all segments of the population in the educational process through a wide network of diverse schools, courses, secondary and higher educational institutions;
4. The emphasis in education on the development of skills of self-education and development of research qualities;
5. Replacement of traditional methods of teaching with the tools of information technologies based on extensive computerization of the educational process;
6. Transition from the traditional system of recruiting students based on competitive selection to an open mass admission with the following dropout of underperformers;
7. Development of a network of complementary traditional higher and secondary educational institutions and "truncated" highly specialized ones with a shorter term of study;
8. Greater focus of the education system on the needs of modern production, the training of practical engineers;
9. Broad participation of business circles in financing all educational systems;
10. Wide cooperation of universities and large corporations in the development of new technologies and the training of personnel in the newest fields of science and technology.
It is necessary to bring vocational education in line with the state's requirements in terms of its content and quality, which is connected with the development of mechanisms for forecasting the needs of the economy and the social sphere in specialists and workers, identification of trends in the development of the system with respect to the list of professions and specialties, as well as modernization of the content of education.
Along with satisfying the state's needs, the problems associated with providing vocational education with personal orientation are becoming increasingly relevant. It is necessary to significantly strengthen the role of vocational education in satisfying educational needs of individuals; to search for the best ways to diversify education; to develop additional educational services provided by educational institutions; to create conditions for the independent formation by the students of their educational plans by developing an appropriate regulatory framework and providing psychological and pedagogical support; to develop a system of distance learning (Aboimova, 2009).
The present study reviewed and discussed the general professional values particularly future specialists based on the professorial theory of Belyaeva and professional studies of Klimov. Summarizing the results of the research, it can be stated that the following phenomena will be of great importance in vocational education:
1. Further development of vocational institutions in conditions of multilevel continuous professional education;
2. Formation and development of the personality of a competitive worker, specialist;
3. Integration of professions and the content of education, etc.
Accordingly, Belyaeva (1978) identifies the following priority areas of research in the pedagogical science (Belyaeva, 1978):
1. Development of a prognostic model of a specialist in automated and other production fields, the modelling of intensity of educational systems;
2. Development of a scientifically substantiated system for the training of workers and specialists for the servicing of automated production;
3. Professional education of young people.
4. The studies of the prospects of socioeconomic development show that they help determine the emergence of such new trends in pedagogical science as:
5. Economic, professional and pedagogical prognostication of training of the future workers and prognostication of the pedagogical science;
6. Integrative methodology of professional pedagogy;
7. Professional theory, socialization and professionalization of an individual;
8. A theory of continuous vocational education;
9. A theory of processes to achieve the heights of professionalism of activity;
10. A socio-pedagogical theory of personality formation.
Theoretically, the problems related to the content of vocational education, its standardization and continuity of all stages of education are extremely relevant.
Based on the above features, we consider it necessary to outline the following strategic and conceptual areas of professional education:
1. Orientation of education on its humanization;
2. Increasing the role of education in the social, economic, scientific and technological development of society;
3. Development of advanced education;
4. Further development of the educational system from narrow specialization to broad training;
5. Fundamentalism of the general and professional education;
6. Socialization and professionalization of an individual;
7. Formation of the new types of educational institutions and variability of educational programs;
8. Ecological education;
9. Multi-level, continuous professional education of workers and specialists in integrated professions.