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LONG-TERM STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATING STUDENTS IN THE SOCIO-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF A HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION
O. V. Plakhotnik A. A. Beznosyuk
The active transition to the market economy encourages higher education teachers to intensify their scientific search and educational work with students in order to prevent the prestige of education and professionalism from declining, and to oppose negative developments among youth. Society faces an urgent challenge to make sure that the higher education system ensures the broad development of aptitudes, talents and abilities of modern students and their individuality in the context of building an educational space where every person is enabled to achieve high standards of social interaction and spiritual self-improvement. Today, there is an urgent need to raise the socio-cultural status of higher education institutions and thereby expand the limits of their democratic influence on modern society. A change in value orientations in Ukraine has led to new research in pedagogy, with ideas of personality-oriented, value-oriented, culturological, legal and other approaches to solving problems and tasks of individual development of students being actively introduced. Continuing education is a socio-historical and personality-related process. Individual paths of continuing education are an inseparable element of the integral socio-historical educational process. This characteristic has for the first time become a focus for the system of education oriented on an individual’s life. Activities of higher education institutions are focused on implementation of the National Education Development Doctrine of Ukraine. This is the basic national document which defines education as a priority of state policy and lays down a strategy and main areas of education development. One of the anticipated outcomes of the implementation of the Doctrine is the quality of education which should be achieved through the individualization of educational programs by tailoring them to individuals’ interests and abilities.
At the same time, there is a rather sharp conflict between the need to create conditions for personality-oriented education of students and their individual development in a socio-cultural environment of higher education institutions in the new social context, and the fact that the latter is not sufficiently ready for such work. Today, school is dominated by the spirit of pragmatism, where the priority is given to applied knowledge and skills rather than to morals. Education becomes immoral. The school is losing its main historical task: to educate a decent man (a husband, son and citizen) and a woman as a mother and homemaker. As is known, education always involves overcoming evil inclinations that impose certain social dangers, such as aggressiveness, immoderate sexual activity, gluttony, sloth, moral failure, acquisitiveness, etc. Overcoming these evils and nurturing virtues involves a struggle, and requires that an individual exert spiritual energy, adhere to strict discipline, and practice on a continuous basis, and that certain efforts be contributed by teachers. To overcome these shortcomings, the educational process in the socio-cultural space of higher education should begin to use innovative technology. As a methodology imperative, there is a need to
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recognize personality-oriented education as a specific method for managing the educational process to create optimal conditions for individual development of students that will be embodied in self-education, self-design and self-development of the personality. The role of the socio-cultural environment of a higher education institution is to create conditions enabling personal growth of every student. This is driven by the need to develop a new generation of educators who will have to possess sources of social and professional activities, high culture and well-developed individual abilities. New generation teachers should be independent, be able to conceptualize and design their own educational activities, educate individuals willing to assume responsibility for decision making, and be able to defend their own position. The personality-oriented approach to educating students is to be built on critical analysis, selection and design of the personally significant content and means of education based on human values and creative selfrealization.
The authors pay attention to this issue due to new requirements to the quality of life and education of modern youth versus the capabilities of implementing a new educational paradigm using traditional educational means; the need to promote the inner motivations for personal self-development and selfimprovement versus the capabilities of traditional educational techniques; as well as the relevance of the personality-oriented approach to education in the modern context versus outdated educational tools for influencing an individual.
The analysis of the problem has revealed its essence. In brief, it is about the need for a substantial upgrade of the existing system of higher education in Ukraine. It is necessary to investigate the issue of personality-based education of university students due to a number of current socio-economic factors which are associated with the development of a creative personality on the one hand, and upgrading the educational system on the other. In order to be effective, a personality-oriented education and individual development of students should particularly provide for certain pedagogical conditions, such as: (a) promoting human values and humane relations; and (b) providing students with the freedom to choose the place, role and extent of their involvement in educational activities, taking into account their interests, self-esteem, skills and capabilities.
Personality-oriented education has been developed on the basis of humanistic principles and best meets the needs of democratic education. The humanistic nature of education is characterized by the priority of human values, life and health, free personal development, fostering a sense of citizenship, working efficiency, respect for human rights and freedoms, and love for nature, motherland and family. The humanistic dimension is focused on man, culture and society as interrelated determinants of education. These characteristics of the humanistic paradigm create preconditions for the emergence of personality-oriented methods of education. The personality-oriented methodology is aimed at bringing students to the highest level of personality-oriented education and individual development. It contains a set of binary methods (persuasion and self-persuasion; correction and self-correction; the method of dilemmas and reflection; social trials and educational situations; etc.), techniques (training, empathy and trust, self-analysis, self-control, self-assessment, self-consciousness; etc.); and educational influences in different forms (theme nights, contests, festivals, debates, meetings with interesting people, etc.).
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The current modernization processes in the system of higher education in Russia are organically integrated into the existing and emerging cultural environment. Who else, if not higher education teachers, researchers and students, will act as generators and translators of cultural potential in the modern world? Higher education should, to a certain extent, complete the human exploration of the cultural field. On the other hand, it should also initiate the implementation of new trends in society to appropriately reflect the most outstanding areas of education of students.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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