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OVERCOMING FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY
IN THE PROCESS OF LIFELONG PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION1
T. N. Klochkova
How do we identify a functionally illiterate person? First, let’s provide a definition of a literate person. In various dictionaries "literate” stands for an educated person, skilled and knowledgeable in some area. Literacy is initially understood as the ability to read, write and count. The Russian Dictionary of Synonyms gives the following versions of the word "literacy” (translated from Russian to English. ed): «educated, knowledgeable, experienced, competent, informed and skilled”. What is a literate person like? To be educated means being a diversified person with broad, deep, versatile, accurate and authentic knowledge who is able to think critically and has the ability to understand life, as well as being highly cultured and enlightened.
There are even such notions as "environmental literacy”, "information literacy” and it synonym "information culture”, i.e. the literacy and culture of a person are further defined. The term «literacy» has thus been applied in relation to activity and the term "functional literacy” has been formed. Who can be called functionally literate? Dmitriev's dictionary refers to it as something practical, with a specific use for any object or phenomenon. A functionally literate person can be called educated and trained, and as one who can skillfully apply these skills in practice. Therefore, functional literacy stands for the human ability to apply the skills trained earlier in actual operation, enter into relationships with the external environment and quickly adapt and function in it. In contrast to elementary literacy, which means the ability to read, understand and make simple short texts and perform simple arithmetic actions, functional literacy is an elementary level of knowledge in addition to skills that allow for the normal functioning of an individual in a system of social relations that is considered the minimum necessary for implementation of human life activity in a specific cultural environment.
Functional literacy is manifested in the process of human activity, or rather, when its absence is noticed, it is called functional illiteracy, semiliteracy, or secondary illiteracy. This means a lack of erudition and education, and not just to the simple inability to read and write. The concept of "functional illiteracy” emerged relatively recently, in the early 1980s in some developed countries, and was traditionally regarded as a cultural phenom-
1 The report was prepared as part of scientific research work on the issue “Development of innovation system of lifelong education of governmental and municipal employees in Russia” as part of the realization of the Federal Special Purpose Program "Scientific and pedagogical staff of innovative Russia” for 2009-2013.
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enon. The term “functional illiteracy” applies to any person who has lost reading and writing skills to a great extent, and is not capable of perceiving short and simple texts, as determined by UNESCO experts. Functional illiteracy is not equivalent to the traditional view of literacy. It does not help a person to lead a complete life.. All this is aggravated by the fact that such people are not aware of their functional illiteracy, attributing it to a lack of memory, their own stupidity, and their slow wits. Functional illiteracy can explain man-made disasters. Catastrophes with numerous casualties and devastating consequences can be attributed to untimely unprofessional actions or omissions of an employee. The highest level of functional illiteracy, which is called professional incompetence, has been identified in the scientific literature.
Indeed, people cannot be proficient in everything. But it is necessary to be expert in general spheres. There are different classifications of such spheres of activity. In the scientific literature, this classification is given on various grounds. Following L.A. Zelenov, we will accept the following division of work in key areas of society based on 8 activities divided into social spheres: the economic sphere, the environmental sector, academia, the artistic field, the medical field, the sports field, the educational field, and the managerial sphere.
Literacy is a valuable concept that is closely connected with education, and they have been allied at all stages of historical and scientific development. Modern educational standards include the notion of competence and competency, the first is understood as a person's ability to acquire knowledge, skills in certain areas, the second stands for the authority in a particular area. There is some conceptual confusion in the use of these terms in connection with the translation from English by the word competence, and that is translated as ability and as authority. We see that when it comes to credentials, it is necessary to use the word competency when it comes to the ability of people to do anything, but when we talk about the opportunities that are present in all humans, then you need to talk about competence. Nevertheless, in educational standards there is the concept of key (core) competencies, which it is more likely correct to call competence. Among them we would like to distinguish the following (according to A. V. Khutorskoy): value-semantic competence, general cultural competence training and cognitive competence, informational competence, communicative competence, social and labor competencies, and the competence of personal self-improvement. There is a definite correlation of core competencies with the division of activities in key areas (according to L.A. Zelenov). Since the concept of “literate” and “cultured” are used interchange-
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ably, a functionally illiterate person can therefore not apply culture to these activities, while in professional activities, where they learn to form professional culture specialists, functional literacy may be a measure of the formation of a professional culture. Functionally illiterate people in their professional field are not capable of self-education or professional development. It is only logical to assume that functional literacy is not only a measure of formation, but also the basic condition for the development and formation of a professional culture.
If all the above relate to the concept of competency, functional literacy is a measure of the indicators of the formation of certain competencies required for the profession and the condition of their development and formation.
The formation and development of competences starts in the process of education. Due to the increasing amount of information in the modern world today, knowledge cannot be obtained once and for all. This actualizes the issue of lifelong education. Maximum competence in selected areas is the life-affirming purpose of an individual. Functional literacy is a tool to achieve maximum competence in selected areas of skills training in lifelong education.
The problem of functional illiteracy is furthermore most urgent when it comes to state and municipal civil servants, whose professional activities largely affect the life of the country as a whole and of each of us in particular.
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