CC BY
29
LIFELONG EDUCATION AND MENTAL HEALTH -THE MILESTONES OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT DEDICATED TO INNOVATIONS IN THE SPHERE OF EDUCATION OF THE AGED
V. A. Rozanov, T. E. Rejtarova S. A. Soldatova, J. S. Malceva N. A. Lobanov, D. Wasserman A. V. Dubko
The paper describes the main milestones and achievements of the international project “From the Baltic to the Black Sea - life-long learning and mental health promotion”. The project unites several universities and non-governmental organizations from the Russian Federation, Sweden and Ukraine. The main goal of the project is to support education for seniors by involvement of young teachers on the basis of knowledge about mental health and cognitive capacity.
Key words: mental health, life-long learning, innovation technologies, young teachers, third-age students, international project.
In 2012, the international project “From the Baltic to the Black Sea - lifelong education and mental health promotion” was launched. The project partners are several universities of the Russian Federation, Sweden and Ukraine1. The project is financed by the Swedish Institute. Originally, the main idea of the project was creation of conditions for preservation and improvement of mental health of broad population strata by advancing educational products for senior age groups with participation of young teachers and coaches.
Mental health is a complex interdisciplinary notion, to a great extent culturally stipulated, and understood by different professionals (medicine, psychology sociology) differently. This concept took its rise approximately in the 1950s, when a mere medical model of human health (absence of diseases) was replaced with a new outlook, defining health as a state which is something more than a mere absence of diseases or disabilities. The concept of mental health is related to a great extent to positive psychology, urging not to concentrate on difficulties and pathologies, but refer on a person’s strong points.
The social views on mental health are frequently superficial and are mostly associated with the medical aspect of the problem. However, it is a broad notion including such factors as autonomy, self-actualization and orientation toward the future, ability to tackle problems, a clear perception of reality, the ability to withstand stresses, adaptability, as well as the ability to love, work and play, and is a key notion in the modern world full of stresses and conflicts. Therefore, demand
1 Одесский национальный университет имени И. И. Мечникова, общественная организация «Экологическое здоровье человека» (Украина, Одесса); Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского (Россия, Симферополь); Автономная некоммерческая организация социальной адаптации пожилых «Серебряный возраст» (Россия, Санкт-Петербург); НИИ социально-экономических и педагогических проблем непрерывного образования Ленинградского государственного университета имени А. С. Пушкина (Россия, Санкт-Петербург); Каролинский институт (Швеция, Стокгольм).
420
for information on mental health and the ways to achieve it (healthy food, physical and intellectual activity, relaxation, emotional relief, training one’s cognitive abilities, optimistic mood) is very high.
The project made a unique effort to solve several problems with one stroke:
(1) to tell as many young and aged people about the concept of mental health as possible, provide the young and senior generations with knowledge and tools for preservation and augmentation of mental welfare, cognitive and emotional capital;
(2) encourage the interest both in the higher education system and in the social service system for the education of the aged as an efficient tool of maintaining mental welfare and cognitive efficiency of the senior generation; (3) involve as many young people as possible in the system of education for the aged, teach the basics of interactive pedagogy to young educationalists, social workers, and creative artists, and help them establish innovative courses of their own for aged people; (4) improve the mutual understanding between generations, overcome the generation gap, stimulate an active social position, volunteerism, and provide opportunities for the personal growth of the project participants.
In order to solve such ambitious tasks, an educational technology was selected the essence of which was as follows: all the interested young teachers and coaches are to attend a structured 2-month education course (a cycle of training seminars) with subsequent development of an educational product of their own (course, training or workshops) and its public defense. The teaching was done by the representatives of partner universities and friendly organizations, while the examination board was composed of potential consumers of the innovative educational products, 3rd-age students, representatives of volunteer organizations, and aged people interested in participation in such educational programs and workshops. In all cases, the top condition was achievement of the highest level of teaching, novelty, high expertise of teaching staff, and participation of internationally acknowledged experts.
At the planning stage, the most important thing was the development of the seminar syllabus, its content and objects. The initial understanding was that the syllabus most contain three knowledge blocks, namely: (1) the mental health problem in the modern world and its importance for different generations; (2) 3rd age pedagogy and contemporary methods of interactive education; (3) general knowledge aimed at more profound understanding of biological, psychological and social problems of the aged. These general guidelines were further elaborated so that the topic and the content of each lecture or practical class correspond to the modern level of knowledge both on mental health problems and their complex biopsycho-social nature, and the newest notions on ageing, behavioral evolution in the modern digitized environment, active longevity prospects, and the significance of positive psychological concepts and brain training technologies in this respect.
A separate issue is pedagogical innovations; young teachers and enthusiasts have tried to master the techniques of interactive pedagogy, the ability to motivate audience and themselves, and understand the role of psychological moments of interaction with the senior students. Among the unquestionable innovations were the active methods (cases, business games, brainstorms, individual and team projects) and training technologies for teaching senior persons.
421
Speaking of the direct stages of project implementation, the following should be mentioned. After the strategic planning stage conducted as a special seminar in Odessa, the main implementation directions for the project were determined. We faced two problems: how to attract and interest youths, and what content to offer to our participant in order to, first, maintain this interest and, second, achieve the formulated aims and objectives. In attracting young teachers, the major role was played by partner universities, but soon it turned out that a broader approach is necessary. In the log run, we established wider contacts with government agencies, in particular, with social services, and informal associations, public organizations and volunteer groups. It was in this segment that numerous enthusiasts were recruited, fascinated with the idea of help for the aged, who made up the greater part of the grateful audience. Universities also contributed by providing post-graduate students, enthusiastic young teachers, and recent graduates. The participation of young university teachers in the program allows hoping that our ideas under favourable conditions will find their development in classical universities.
In this aspect, the acquaintance with traditions of senior education in Sweden was very useful. In Sweden, this type of education is provided partly by social organizations, and partly by commercial 3rd age universities functioning mostly as chat rooms. They are supported in part by membership fees and payments for certain courses (the amounts being quite moderate), as well as by sponsor support (by trade unions, public organizations, political parties, government and philanthropists). Eventually, these universities solve their problems by involving the most active part of the senior generation, interestingly, mostly without any advertizing. New participants are attracted by disseminating the information among friends and acquaintances of those already involved in the educational process. It should be noted that our project’s idea of special attention to mental health problems proved to be novel for Swedish 3rd-age universities and was received with interest and attention.
This idea was voiced at various conferences and forums dedicated to education and mental health, among them the 12th International Conference “Lifelong education: continuous education for stable development”, held on 30th May - 1st June 2014 in Saint Petersburg by the A. S. Pushkin Leningrad State University; the conference on mental health in Stockholm, organized by the Swedish National Prevention Centre with the Karolinska Institute; and the conference in Odessa on the mental health of generations.
All the knowledge and experience acquired by the teachers during the visits, meetings and conferences, discussion of project plans and implementation tools were fruitful. The results of the work performed in Odessa, Simferopol and Saint Petersburg come down to several obvious achievements. First of all, an international team of teachers and coaches has been formed, and a unique training course for young educationalists has been developed, which has unquestionable prospects for its wider implementation. International contacts have been established, the experience of senior education in partner countries studied, and the idea of maintaining mental health of the aged has found its further development.
422
However, the most important result was that after a competitive selection, 112 young people have gone through a training course and developed and defended their own educational projects. Thus, in all three cities (Odessa, Simferopol, and Saint Petersburg) the basis for innovative development of third-age education has been created. At present the problem faced is the prospects of the practical implementation of the obtained results in the sphere of lifelong education and activation of local initiatives in this sphere. The urgent problem is the geographical extension of the application of the project technologies, providing for the involvement of and interaction with governmental agencies, business community and public organizations.
In general, the project has achieved its objectives, and the accumulated experience will be a valuable resource helping to solve the problems facing modern society with its demographic and intergenerational problems, characteristic for the era of digital information technologies.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translastions Bureas
423
