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DEVELOPING ECONOMIC COMPETENCIES AS A MEANS FOR SELF-REALIZATION OF GRADUATES IN THE NEW ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
M. G. Sergeeva
The problem discussed in this study requires that clear theoretical and methodological approaches to building a system for developing economic competencies in graduates be defined and its structural and functional components, factors and a set of pedagogical conditions for its implementation be identified.
The purpose of building a system for developing economic competencies in graduates is to develop economic knowledge and skills, economically meaningful personal qualities, needs, interests, motives, value orientations and economic competency in graduates' behavior and activity. The key goals of the system include: developing its components associated with the development of culture of economic thinking; developing the basic level of economic knowledge required by students for orientation and social adaptation in the context of the changes that take place in Russian society and for vocational guidance; developing practical skills in making responsible economic decisions; developing in students an ability for self-development, self-education, initiative, commitment and independence in decision-making.
Works by V.S. Bezrukova, V.P. Bespalko, A.N. Dakhin, G.A. Lebedeva, V.M. Monakhov, A.A. Orlov, V.A. Shtof, I.O. Yakovleva and a few other authors about simulations in pedagogical research enabled us to make a conclusion that a model should include such components that have immediate and unambiguous influence on the quality of students' learning activity and its structure should provide an opportunity for controlling the student's achievements at all stages of developing economic competencies. At the same time, the model should be open and allow active intervention aiming to make timely adjustments.
We have developed a model of developing economic competencies in graduates consisting of the following interrelated modules: (a) the social mandate module, which represents an order of society for preparing students for efficient activities adequate to the modern economy; (b) the task-oriented module involves developing in students economic competencies comprised of a combination of knowledge and skills; (c) the informative module encompasses the following levels: the theoretical level: the occupation-oriented content of economic disciplines and integration
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of economic and specialized disciplines; developing skills in discourse, dialogue, business negotiations, self-guided work, working with scientific texts, etc.; the level of an academic subject: a Simulation Firm hands-on course comprised of several thematic sections aimed to develop economic competencies by using relevant content; the level of training material: a system of problem-based learning tasks, a set of exercises, tasks and open-ended tasks, which help to develop economic competencies; (d) the design and organization module includes studying economic disciplines and simulation-based training methods, which will help the future specialists to make optimal managerial decisions in different operational and economic situations; using integrated economic tasks in arrangement of students' self-guided work; developing in students personal responsibility for operational and economic performance; activity-based training, etc.; (e) the module of procedures and activities encompasses teacher’s activities, such as organizing learning and exploratory activities, developing problem situations, creating the cooperation atmosphere and organizing reflective work, and student’s activities, such as making critical judgments, making and substantiating decisions and developing creative projects; (f) the result-oriented module involves achieving an economically competent graduate defined by the degree of economic competence (optimal, allowable, critical) and criteria of economic competence (motivation, cognitive activity, reflective evaluation).
The main characteristics of the system of developing economic competencies include the following: cohesiveness and integrality that ensure relationship and interaction between the structural and functional components; dynamism; technological effectiveness; and flexibility. The educational process in the framework of the developed system is distinguished by flexibility, variability and mobility, which enables it to quickly respond not only to economic changes in society, but also to the requirements of society to the level of specialist attainment. Special attention was paid to the development of student's personality, the use of diverse methods and forms of training, variability of technology, the task-oriented nature of pedagogical effects, and timely coordination and adjustment of the educational process.
It should be noted that efficiency of any system depends on the conditions, under which it operates. We have identified the following conditions: the development of positive motivations of graduate's personality on the basis of the system of values within the economic education system; the development of economic knowledge in the
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framework of the Simulation Firm hands-on course; the use of the creative tasks in the educational process aiming to develop economic thinking in students and involve them in different practice-oriented activities. The proposed set of pedagogical conditions is necessary for developing economic competencies in graduates, because it is consistent with the use of the possibilities of the systemic pragmatist and personality-centered approaches, reflects the specifics of this process and helps to regulate it. The logic of the study and analysis of the results of the development of economic competencies in graduates enable us to apply a three-level evaluation scale as follows:
the critical level has the following characteristics: the motivation for training and professional activity is moderate; the amount of students’ knowledge, abilities and skills does not correspond to the system requirements; the students’ cognitive interests are not sufficiently developed; the students do not regard their future professional activities as a personal and social value; the methods of self-regulation of behavior and activity are applied on a situational basis; the students solve professional tasks by a reproductive method;
the allowable level has the following characteristics: the motivation for training and professional activity is sufficient; the amount and quality of students' knowledge and skills are in general in line with the requirements of the state educational standard; the students' cognitive interests are developed; the students regard their future professional activity as a personal and social value; the students show a capacity for self-regulation of behavior and activity, but their ability to solve professional tasks at the level of innovations and creativity is not sufficiently developed;
the optimal level has the following characteristics: the motivation for training and professional activity is high; the amount and quality of student's knowledge and skills are in line with the requirements of the state educational standard; the students’ cognitive abilities are developed; the students have a distinct attitude to their future professional activity, which is regarded as a personal and social value; the students have the ability for self-regulation of behaviour and activity and solve professional tasks at the level of innovations and creativity.
An experimental work has shown that developing economic competencies in graduates is a long, complex and integral process. In order to ensure greater productivity of this process, we find it necessary to ensure that professional training consists of three stages as follows:
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the values-oriented stage aims to develop in students an attitude to future professional activity as a personal and social value, so that they realize the significance of developing personal qualities typical of a competitive specialist and a need for professional and personal growth;
the cognitive activity-oriented stage aims to ensure that students master the necessary amount of knowledge and skills that are required by a specialist, as well as to develop in them abilities to solve professional tasks at the level of innovations and creativity;
the introspective transformation-oriented stage aims to ensure that students self-regulate their behavior and activity, realize and evaluate their learning and professional actions, actualize their personal qualities that reflect competitiveness, as well as to develop in them the abilities to design their professional development.
A succession of the training stages is based on the idea of developing a student's personality as an actor of learning and professional activity in the context of professional training.
This article includes the material of a research carried out with the use of the grant provided by Russian Foundation for Humanities.
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