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THE NEED FOR MODERNIZATION IN THE CONTINUOUS EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION SYSTEM
G.S. Syzdykova
The article author analyzes the reasons for poor implementation of the key trends in the modernization (reform) of education in Kazakhstan. The major reason is the fact that the decisions adopted do not change the bases of the traditional education paradigm. The author proves that the ideas of lifelong education, a competence-based approach, and updated syllabus may serve as a methodological basis for the development of a new type of education.
Key words: Information society, modernization of education, lifelong education, competence-based approach, updated model of the learning process.
Decades of education modernizations have not resulted in the expected changes for the better; the problem of nonconformity of education at all levels to the international norms is evident. The key reason lies in the fact that seminal changes introduced in the reform process leave the systemic basis of the traditional educational paradigm intact, so that expected improvement of its quality does not take place.
Kazakhstan has set a course for modernization... The Nazarbayev Network of Intellectual Schools functioning in Kazakhstan at present sets an example of the innovative approach, incorporating advanced ideas and having all the characteristics of a new educational paradigm. Those ideas "knock at the doors" of educational institutions of all levels striving to become universal.
What are the causes of the crisis of the education system? The core of this problem is the controversy between the role and place of education in industrial society that "armed" a person with fundamental knowledge "for a lifetime", and permanent development connected with the need for learning "throughout one's life" within the framework of continuous education and the self-education system. While the traditional model of education is based on fixed rules, where knowledge acts as the final objective of education (i.e. it is retrospective), a person living in a changing society has to rely on him- or herself in the future, and be able to obtain knowledge and put this knowledge into practice in real-life situations.
The knowledge-centered model manifests itself most vividly in those test examinations where examinees are only required to be able to memorize a multitude of dates, facts, events, formulas, etc. A vivid example of such an approach is the unified national testing performed in our country. Here the ability to speculate, compare, and assess obtained information, as well as to find necessary information in reference literature and to interpret it with regard to prevailing concepts and ideas, and to substantiate one's point of view, is not required, and therefore, viewed as surplus and unnecessary. In real life, no professional can remember the entire amount of information that he or she studied. The main thing is to know where it can be found if need be, and how should it be applied in the most efficient manner for solving the tasks at hand. That is just the goal of modernized education [2].
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It is evident that technological and information changes in the world and in the development of various spheres of human activity occur so rapidly that today good education that has been received once cannot guarantee the efficiency of further work without systematic and continuous personal improvement and development. In the traditional model of education, an obedient and can-do student who fulfilled all the tasks set by a teacher on time and followed the proposed instructions and rules without asking why was considered a good student. The current life mode brings initiative rather than "can-do" spirit to the forefront, because initiative is a better guarantee of success in life, flexibility and preparedness to solving problems of various kinds. It is also evident that initiative must be not just supported but also purposefully, consequently shaped because self-dependence and responsibility for the result of one's own decisions are links in the same chain, and efforts made by school and family in that direction should be coordinated more thoroughly. It is shown in one of the values of contemporary education content: from knowledge to competences [3]. A student must be involved in the process of hard and diverse work in the process of learning and acquiring skills needed for understanding the material. Teachers must set tasks requiring students to reflect, analyze and take stock of what they study and how. Learning to promote cooperation is important. Independent and collective studies become the most important goals of educational policy.
John Grillos, a well-known American businessperson, said that the strength of the knowledge obtained in various fields did not worry him much because that knowledge undergoes changes annually, and sometimes become obsolete before students can master them. The businessman gives higher priority to young people getting their first jobs, to be able to study on their own, to work with data, to obtain and improve new knowledge and skills in various spheres, and to acquire new professions, because this is what that they will have to do throughout their walking lives [4].
Thus, the "world without borders", dynamic changes in socio-economic life, and the complexity and diversity of the social order require fast modernization of educational policy at all levels. It is time for all stakeholders to unite in creating a real social partnership that will make it possible to obtain a synergetic effect of joint efforts and interaction. The world is entering a new era, the information one, whereby information, technologies and innovations become the most mobile and liquid products. Creating them is a privilege of the leading countries, and the implementation of technologies and expertise in certain products gradually becomes the lot of underdogs, of the developing countries. The new generation must be prepared for efficient existence in a new world, get appropriate education, and the opportunity to improve one’s knowledge and capabilities throughout one’s life. Contemporary integration is impossible without integration that fosters overcoming of fragmentarity in studies, enhancing interdisciplinary links and rational organization of the teaching material. The content of education can be modernized and education technologies can improve in the spirit of integration in order to shape creative, rather than reproductive thinking in students. The conceptual core of such thinking is independence, great dynamism, a critical attitude, the ability to fall outside the known limits, and wide coverage of the matters under consideration.
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Thus, the problem of continuous education that can only be solved based on a modernized educational paradigm focused on the transition from knowledge-based to person-creating pedagogics remains topical.
Bibliography
1. Государственная программа развития образования Республики Казахстан на 20112020 годы. (Указ Президента Республики Казахстан от 07.12.2010 г. № 1118).
2. Государственный общеобязательный стандарт среднего образования (Постановление Правительства Республики Казахстан от 23 августа 2012 г. № 1080).
3. Проведение маркетинговых исследований в сфере образования. А.Емельянова, Россия, Невинномысск: Невинномысский институт экономики, управления и права, freewoman_836@mail.ru
4. Шамшидинова К. От образовательной политики к практике и исследованию.-Педагогический диалог, № 4, 2014. С. 12-13.
5. Образование через всю жизнь. Непрерывное образование в интересах устойчивого развития. Вып. 12. - Ч. 3. Астана-Санкт-Петербург, 2014. С. 136-139.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translastions Bureas
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