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LIFELONG PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AS AN INNOVATIVE MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND AS A NECESSARY PRECONDITION FOR THE INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY AND THE SOCIETY
N. А. Semeshko
The system of lifelong professional education includes several stages: general education, professional training, postgraduate studies and advanced professional training. The Tyumen State Academy of Culture, Arts and Social Technologies works in this area. During the five years of its activities, the Academy has turned into a multi-layer complex working according to the programs of additional education of children, higher, and postgraduate professional education in the field of culture, arts and social affairs. Its activities are focused on lifelong education and represent quite a complex organizational and economic mechanism of interaction, focused on the development of skills and knowledge of students encouraging the fruitful development of their professional level. The organization of activities of an educational institution is based on lifelong multi-stage professional preparation of specialists.
In the case of multi-stage lifelong professional preparation, the process of education is based on principles of cyclicality, when each stage is a relatively independent complete cycle inside the integral system of education. The first stage in our higher educational establishment is represented by the School of Arts, where, in view of the merge, not only college teachers, but also professors and teachers of the Academy are working. In view of the above, it becomes more prestigious to study in this school, stricter selection of future students is implemented, and competition increases. Children with clear career goals more often come to study at the school. A big advantage lies in the fact that a teacher may have a class consisting of students of all three levels of education, which is a good example of succession of generations, and which makes junior schoolchildren follow the example of the adults. The future reserve of applicants is shaped during the period of study at the children’s school of arts, which is a guarantee of high quality selection of future students of the college. College classes give students an opportunity to receive a profession, and after graduation, to make a choice: whether to start working or continue their education at a higher level. As a result, a student acquires certain knowledge and skills in the special cycle disciplines, each time achieving a higher level of competence.
Succession always implies that the senior (higher) stage will take into account knowledge and skills that have been acquired at the previous (lower) stage, and not vice versa. In this movement along the stages of musical education from the bottom upwards, it is assumed that not all students can achieve the higher level. This is quite natural, because the professional development of each student is individual, and one’s capabilities can be realized in different ways. It depends of the inherent talent and skills of teachers, and the readiness of a student for self-
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implementation. After finishing college, graduates successfully become teachers in music schools. They are well-prepared for their professional activities as artists, managers of creative teams at professional and self-regulating concert organizations, clubs and studios, and can work as teachers at the schools of arts for children and other advanced education institutions. For those who have a solid base of secondary-level education, there is a real chance to continue their education at a higher level of the academy.
Whereas movement of a student from one level of education to another one may result in uncertainty and difficulties related to the process of his/her adaptation and motivation, it is not quite so simple to arouse the interest of a student in receiving an education at the next, higher level. This task is becoming even more difficult, due to the fact that graduates of vocational secondary education institutions think that they have gained the full knowledge and skills set in their field of activities. That is why it is very important to maintain the interest of students in receiving education, developing their professional knowledge and skills, and developing their techniques and maintain certain level [2, p. 5]. Direct interest in new creative ideas, and participation in competitions or projects can be the examples; students should understand the outstanding features and importance of the received knowledge, and should drive for self-affirmation among their school mates. Students with such grades as “good” and “excellent” have a chance to take part in the competitions at different levels at the expense of the academy, and to attend the workshop sessions of famous professors of the leading higher educational institutions of Russia. Based on the results of the educational, concert, and competition activities, the most successful candidates are nominated to receive an award in the form of a scholarship granted by the Governor of the Tyumen Region, or a scholarship of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation. In the course of study, the positive attitude of a teacher, his/her professional responsibility and adequate self-evaluation, are some of the most important characteristics of creative self-realization [1, p. 18].
After graduation from the academy, graduates have a chance to enter postgraduate school, and be involved in scientific and pedagogical activities.
Thus, on the basis of the Tyumen State Academy of Culture, Arts and Social Technologies a regional multi-level educational complex has been developed in such fields as culture and arts, which consists of six educational institutions; the college of arts, the school of arts for children, and the center of advanced professional training. Integration of the initial and secondary-level education of specialists with a sole specialized higher educational institution of the region took place.
Considerable experience in reforming of the structure and process of education, which in many aspects is unique to the educational establishments of the industry, has been gained, as well as experience of the development of relations between the organizations working in the field of culture and the governmental authorities. Time has shown that the multi-level educational complex, in the context of modernization of professional training and reforming of such industries as culture and arts, is exactly the form which most fully and efficiently makes it possible to solve many important issues.
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References
1. Белкин А.С. Профессиографический мониторинг подготовки специалиста в системе высшего педагогического образования [Текст] / А.С. Белкин, С.Н. Силина. - Шадринск, 1999. - Вып.4.
2. Герман В. Кадровик. Кадровый менеджмент [Текст] / В. Герман. - Томск, 2009, № 7. Отчетные материалы о выполнении проекта «Многоуровневое профессиональное образование на химико-технологическом факультете Томского политехнического университета».
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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