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LIFELONG EDUCATION
AS A FACTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
OF SOCIAL TRUST
Е. V. Astakhova
The international educational environment is a relatively new concept. Although it is not an academic definition, we find it possible to understand it as a combination of all educational and training institutions, scientific and pedagogical centers, governmental and public organizations working in the area of education in various countries, geopolitical regions and internationally, their mutual influence and interaction in the context of quick internalization of different areas of public life. Globalization has become the newest stage of internalization (although it should be noted that there are differing opinions in the existing publications) [1, p. 3]: the international economy is developing as an integral body, the international division of labor becomes deeper, and cultural ties become more intensive. Difficult and contradictory globalization processes are also reflected in the area of education.
Perhaps globalization is the most fundamental challenge which the education system has ever faced during its long history. In fact this challenge is probably more serious than the challenges launched against the middle age university of the humanism era by the technological revolution and revolutionary Europe, further industrialization, urbanization and secularization of life of society, and, probably, more serious than the challenge of totalitarianism that emerged in our century. The process of globalization places in question the viability of today’s organization of the system of higher education based on the university. Globalization affects universities in at least three ways: a close connection with solving the task of distributing national cultures; secondly, processes of standardization of education under the influence of today’s information communication technologies and the emergence of global research cultures and networks; thirdly, limited resources of the budgets of well-developed countries, on which the majority of applicants to the university depend due to the activity of global markets.[1, p. 5]. The emergence of the “lifelong learning” (LLL) educational model became one of the answers to the challenges of globalization, as well as of a relevant transformation of practical work in education.
Special works cover the increasing interest to the problem of development of lifelong education. The historiography of this issue became its quick and dynamic development. At the initial state, of course, the main publications were concentrated in specialized editions1. At first, general articles appeared with different viewpoints with regard to the theoretical aspects of lifelong education and its applied component parts [2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7, etc.].
Lifelong education model is a peculiar and very important step on the way to development of new educational institutions of society. So far, it is difficult to tell definitely what they will be like, which reasonably reinforces the importance of
1 «Вища ocBiTa Укра'ши», «Вища школа», «Bulletin of the higher school», «Higher education in Russia», «Higher education in Europe», «Шлях освгги», «OcBiTa i управляя», etc.
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experimental and research activity. This general theory of the question may be illustrated with the help of a demonstrative example through the practice of development and implementation of the lifelong education model in the Kharkov Region (Ukraine). In practical life such a model started to be implemented for the first time by the National Ukrainian Academy (hereinafter NUA). NUA received the status of the experimental site of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in the area of elaboration of the lifelong humanitarian education module in 1997.
The idea of development of social trust as a key component of the social capital was laid down as a basis of functioning of the NUA model already at the stage of its foundation. In a general sense (and later these concepts were specified in the “Concept of Development of NUA until 2010” and supplementary programs) it was planned to build the process of education based on development of the principles of trust in governmental institutions, government, and society through the development of trust in one’s family, educational institution, and city. NUA developed different educational and training programs, and created a system of measures facilitating development of an active and aware person. Of course, the specific features of each age were taken into consideration, because the complex of measures implemented based on practice of the LLL model covers the age categories from 1.5 up to 80 years old. Special attention is paid to contacts with parents, because building social trust is not possible without interaction with the family. Contacts with parents, in the most general sense, are built for attracting families to the school (and sometimes, junior higher educational establishments students) and competent families for solving the issue of the full-fledged educational process in different forms - “courses of upgrade of competences of parents”.
The next component of the social trust and accumulation of social capital is corporation of teachers. Cardinal transformation of the educational system teaching staff are taking place, which, on the one hand, can be explained by the process of globalization and informational support, and on the other hand, by active implementation of the LLL system. Nevertheless, the support of loyalty of teachers to the concept implemented at NUA, and the wish to be actively involved in achieving the targets set are the most important tasks. Apart from teachers and parents, special attention is paid to building contacts and developing constructive interaction with graduates, employers and the business society in general for the purpose of solving the tasks of development of the social trust, set by the scientific and research complex. This direction is, again, implemented through building a system of ongoing contacts (through the Guardianship Board, Association of Graduates, through different programs and projects). Here geometrical integration is more important than arithmetical integration. Only using such an approach is it possible to develop cardinally new educational practical activities specific to the Kharkov University of Humanities “National Ukrainian Academy”. Furthermore, the higher level of development of the social capital of graduates of NUA is also an argument in favor of such a statement. Of course, measures of social capital are quite arguable and do not have generally accepted approaches, at least not nowadays. However, such categories of “measurement” as trust, respect, readiness to render assistance, tolerance, a higher level of social activity, and as a
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consequence, higher adaptability to changes - in general - make it possible to fix the availability/lack of social capital and level of its development.
In the most general sense, it is expedient to demonstrate with the help of which mechanisms the process of development of social capital at NUA takes place, as one of the options of practical implementation of LLL model. At an educational institution, at the level of subjective perception of the task, the system of civil and patriotic education is developed, the implementation of which is quite difficult in the conditions of life in Ukraine. One more supporting point of the mechanism of implementation of the mission and concept of NUA is the creation and development of the cultural and educational environment, support of corporate culture based on the foundations of academic ethics. In the same line -implementation of principles of partnership pedagogy and development of selfgovernance of students. There are organizations of schoolchildren’s and students’ self-governance at NUA, trade union organization of students, many clubs (business club, political club, club of cinema amateurs, sports club, European club, etc.) that encourage “absorption” of social activity and its use in development of the social trust.
The educational complex creates maximum opportunities for development of a person, development of different competences and full-fledged self-realization at all stages of development of the LLC model. For this purpose, apart from the above-mentioned club activities, conditions are created for students for participation in the movement of volunteers and camp leaders, scientific and research activities, and summer exchanges of students with foreign countries. Large-scale socially important projects are being implemented (such as construction of the first monument in Kharkov “Flame of Knowledge”, the first chapel for students named after Saint Tatiana, building of the Avenue of Memory dedicated to victory in World War II, etc.). The scientific society of students, Association of Young Scientists, several public unions (union of professors, library workers, council of the museum of history of NUA, the artistic council, etc., and centers (for study of the history of Ukraine, Russian culture, German culture, etc.) take an active part in support of this quite a diversified system. The Laboratory of Career Planning plays an important role in support of functioning of the complex.
A basic level of social trust and its continuous preservation and strengthening are very important for the purpose of supporting the functioning of such a comprehensive complex consisting of different institutions. Solving such a difficult task means continuously overcoming objective obstacles. The list of such obstacles and peculiar “institutional traps” could occupy several pages. We find it expedient to mention only one obstacle, the scale and depth of which could considerably decrease the level (if not destroy it totally) of the efficiency of development of social trust in the system of higher education. We mean the “mass character” of the higher school. It is almost impossible to implement the approaches used - as one of the options - in the described “Kharkov precedent” in the context of the “mass character” of higher education, because mass character is adverse to the principles of an individual approach. It does not give a possibility to implement dialogue-based forms of interaction, on which all educational culture is practically based. If a student is deprived of the opportunity for a dialogue, he/she loses real access to know-how, and it is not possible to prepare him/her for
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innovative activities. Most importantly, if we look at the situation in the context of LLC model, it is not possible to ensure individualization of the educational trajectory.
The chain of contradictions may be easily traced further on. However, the complexity of the task does not mean that it needs not to be solved at all. It means that in the current context the target of development of social trust needs to be solved by not only using permanent changes and limited resources, but also in the format of a continuous decrease in time allocated for making the relevant decision.
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Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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