Event Education In Personal And Professional Development Of Specialist Of The Future

Personal and professional development becomes the basis of lifelong education.

The Atlas of new professions, developed by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, contains not only the list of the professions of the future, but also the required competences, both professional and general (“hard” and “soft”). In medicine, for example, the list of demanded professions of the future includes: IT-physician, architect of medical equipment, bioethicist, genetic consultant, specialist in clinical bioinformatics, medical marketer, molecular nutritionist, operator of medical robots, IT-geneticist, specialist in cyberprosthetics, specialist in crystallography, designer of medical institutions environment, expert in personalized medicine, consultant on healthy ageing, network physician. At the same time, in the scientific literature and in university practice there is no systematic analysis of both the general skills in the professions of the future and methodology for their formation. It remains to rely on self-conscious work of students acquiring such skills, which is possible only if the students are aware of the content of general skills and are involved in the process of personal and professional development while getting higher professional education.

Event education as a means of involving students into personal and professional development activity.

The problem of personal and professional development of a specialist is multifactorial and is covered in the scientific literature from different points of view: in terms of psychology (Brandtstädter, 1998; Carver & Scheier, 2011; Lee, 2002; Niemiec, Ryan, & Deci, 2010), and pedagogics - environmental approach, development of procedural characteristics of personal self-development (Kulikova, 2003), the model of personal and professional self-development of future specialists (Garanina, Andronova, Lashmaykina, Maltseva, & Polyakov, 2017). The formation of a student's professional-subjective position is of great value as it is the basis of the professional - subjective position of a specialist. So, it is considered as the starting point of personal and professional development.

Despite the significant number of ways to involve the students into self-development activities (Garanina & Maltseva, 2016; Manushin & Dobryakov, 2017; Noskova, Pavlova, Yakovleva, & Sharova, 2014; Serhieienkova & Kaniuka, 2017; Razinkina et al., 2018), the researchers have not studied such pedagogical technology as the use of event education in the context of continuous personal and professional development, that determines the relevance and value of this work. Obviously, training of a specialist of the future should utilize advanced principles and technology of education of the future (Gashkova, Berezovskaya, & Shipunova, 2017; Bylieva, Lobatyuk, & Rubtsova, 2018). British researchers followed by pedagogues of other countries consider event education among ten leading principles of education of the future. Event education is increasingly included in the practice of training at higher professional educational establishments, but the emphasis is usually made on the perspectives of this educational technology in development of general, cultural and professional competencies, and is not considered as a resource for involving students into personal and professional development activity (Artyukhina, Velikanova, & Velikanov, 2017; Smolyaninova & Bezizvestnykh, 2017).

The role of event education in the transformation of contemporary system of vocational education into the education of the future

Pedagogical reality demonstrates the problem of discrepancy between the theoretical understanding of event education and its utilizing in professional training of future specialists.

Classification of educational events and awareness of their potential for the development of personality as well as general and professional skills of the specialists of the future will contribute to the modernizing of the educational system. It will cover not only training of teachers, doctors and architects, but will also affect the entire sphere of vocational training.

The problem of event education implementation in the field of vocational training implies determination of levels and necessary changes that should be made in each of them

To transform the educational system in response to the challenges of time, it is important to be aware of the current state of vocational education of students and specialists, to understand the sufficient role of event education, as well as the necessity of teaching staff training for implementation of innovative changes in education.

In theoretical terms, it is important to create a methodological basis of event education as a tool for personal and professional development of the specialist of the future

The structuring of event education into levels and taking into account the potentiality of each of them in personal and professional development prove to be a basic component of event education methodology.

In practical terms, event education should be implemented in educational process with emphasis on personal and professional development

The current state of professional education, the requirements of Federal state educational standards, professional standards and demanded competences of the specialists of the future professions should be taken into account while organizing the educational process in the context of event education. It is also necessary

• to identify the specifics of event education and personal-professional development, depending on the speciality type and the discipline taught;

• to provide training (vocational training, advanced training, professional retraining) of teachers capable of designing and implementing event-based education.

The analysis of available literature on the issue and practical experience allowed us to determine the objectives of the study.

To study the structure of the event education, its levels and types of educational events

• To define and characterize the concept of “educational event” and to classify the events on different grounds.

• To reveal the levels of event education and its current state with the example of Volgograd universities.

• To evaluate the perspectives of educational events in terms of personal and professional development of the specialist of the future.

To generalize the pedagogical experience and to substantiate the strategies of event educations in the training of students, postgraduates and teaching staff members as well as in the courses of continuing training and professional retraining

The stated tasks of the research into the problems of event education in vocational training of the specialists of the future were solved by joined efforts of the teaching staff members of the Volgograd State Medical University and Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University.

Event education in higher professional training: classification of educational events and levels of organization

The term "event education" conventionally refers to pedagogical technology, which is based on the use of educational events that are important in the life of an individual and a group of students. These events occur naturally in a society with the participation of real people and are characterized by a specific focus and local character of the impact on consciousness, emotional sphere and behavior.

This technology of professional training of specialists, along with a bright event in the life of students combines emotional arousal, moral shock, joy of participation in a valuable and interesting activity, self-confidence, focus on the further development of personal and professional potential and awareness of the perspectives of their profession. All the mentioned can have a powerful impact on education and personal development. The transition of vocational education to a new paradigm – a personal one, which replaced the knowledge-oriented paradigm, highlights the leading goal of education: the development of the student's personality. It refers not only to undergraduate or postgraduate students but also to those taking continuing training courses (as teaching staff members, for example). According to the research data of a well-known pedagogue and psychologist Slobodchikov, the event appears as something that has a power to develop, with the result of the development being presented in some form or level of individual collective subjectivity. So, the event environment is considered to be a necessary situation of human development (Slobodchikov, 2005).

The researchers consider the educational event as a completed act of activity - from motive to result, and the "story" about this act "to itself" and "to another" (Asmolov & Levit, 2007), as a practice of understanding and acceptance. Basing on the approach to the educational event as a pedagogical category, Lobanov gives the following definition: "an educational event is a specially organized unique pedagogical fact, limited by the educational situation, but not strictly determined by it which takes the educational process beyond the boundaries of the ordinary" (Lobanov, 2015, p.33). Following Kovaleva and Zhilina (2010), we considered the educational event as a transformation understood by a person as significant for his education and actively included in the inter-event relations.

The classification of educational events may be based on different grounds:

• formal and informal educational events;

depending on the degree of the students’ involvement into the event: participation in organizing activity, participation in conducting the event, participation in organizing and conducting, presence only (passive). For example, in the excursion “memorable places of Volgograd” as an educational event, students can make a script, conduct the excursion or to be a sightseer.

depending on the place where the educational event is organized: at the Department, University or teaching hospital, etc. For medical students an educational event may occur in any medical or healthcare institution, for future teachers - in kindergarten or school. Besides, it may be another University or public organization (for example, the Association of therapists, etc.), in the urban environment (park, theater, stadium), etc.

depending on the main objectives of the event – educational, social, scientific, etc. The content of the event may be focused on education (as a lecture of a prominent specialist or a master-class), social life (culture or sport event, leisure-time activities) or personal and professional development (intellectual games, implementation of social projects).

depending on the functional aspect of the educational event - on the priority formation of: research competencies (scientific and practical conference, webinar, lecture of an outstanding scientist, master class, contest, etc.), communication competencies (educational forum, festival, holiday, and quest), and professional competencies. As an example of educational events aimed at developing professional competences, future doctors may be involved in healthcare education of the population with a task to make a report on prevention of diseases or to conduct classes in recreational gymnastics for citizens in the fresh air. Future teachers may be given a task to provide an educational consultation or training with parents.

depending on the content of the educational event. The educational content of the event can be taken from the educational program of vocational training or may exceed the program as in outstripping education. The content may be problem-cognitive, informational, resourceful, and profession-oriented.

Educational events should also be divided into a number of levels - international, all-Russian, regional and interuniversity scale, and the events of the University and Department levels.

Analysis of event education in medical and socio-pedagogical universities of Volgograd shows that the maximum number of students participates in event education at the University, interuniversity and regional level.

What opportunities are provided by educational events for personal and professional development, development of professional skills inherent in the professions of the future? As it is presented in the Table 01 , only cross-sectoral competition, that is, only one general skill in the professions of the future can’t develop in event education. The development of two more skills - project management and resource-saving production – can be provided mainly at the level of the University educational event. The remaining seven skills can be developed in the course of event education at all the levels.

Experience in event education organizing with an emphasis on personal and professional development of the student

In the event education designing and organizing it is not the number of events that matters but their significance and personal value for each student. The variety of types of educational events determine the features of their design, taking into account the professional field of training and the specifics of the discipline taught. The analysis of pedagogical experience allowed us to identify common features inherent in the design and organization of an educational event as a personality developing event regardless of its type and level.

Goal-setting and motivation. Designing an educational event requires thoughtful goal-setting, and accounting for organizational, methodological and educational component. First of all it is necessary to determine the level and scale of educational event we design - whether it's an educational event of the regional, interuniversity, University, faculty, or a student group level. Then, the subject of the future educational event should be chosen. Effectiveness of the event education in personal and professional development of the specialist of the future depends on a number of factors. First of all, while designing educational events at the stage of goal setting it is crucial to determine not only the specific objectives and the types of competencies to form and improve, but also general skills (both hard and soft) of the professions of the future that can be developed in the participants of the event. The second factor influencing the effectiveness of event education at the stage of projecting is the principle of double goal-setting that should be utilized. The student follows the principle of double goal setting if, along with the didactic goal, he independently determines which personal and professionally significant qualities will be developed in the process of educational events. These valuable qualities will compose the basis for professional and subjective position and further personal and professional self-improvement. But unlike didactic goals, the aims of personal growth of each student are not discussed. Individual goal-setting strengthens the student's self-confidence, which contributes to the success of training and increases motivation gradually raising it to the level of self-motivation. It also helps to perform self-control in achieving goals.

The preparatory stage of the educational event requires the participation of students. To participate effectively, students should be aware of the subject, the essence of the event and their personal role in its construction. One of significant tasks to be solved in the process of preparation is to find out the educational needs of students, their expectations from the educational event. Moreover, the preparation of students for the event is double-sided. It is didactic which assumes such tasks as to search for relevant information using various sources and to develop an action plan. But also the students’ participation should be creative. For example, it may involve developing an intellectual game scenario, or a type of training or choosing a venue for the event, etc. Judging from our experience, the more students are involved in different types of communication and take the initiative and participate actively at the stage of preparation, the more interesting is the event itself.

Event education provides the opportunity to implement another principle of the education of the future – Meta learning (Learning to learn). As British scientists argue, Meta learning as an educational event shows a medium (or average) potential, and this principle implies self-reflection of a student about his learning. It means learning to learn, to pave the personal educational route rationally, to set adequate goals and successfully achieve them.

Any educational event is completed with a stage of reflection in the form of a free discussion at the end of it or in the form of homework – an essay with the mandatory elements. The mentioned elements may include a number of issues a student should dwell on: whether my expectations have come true, my likes and dislikes, positive and negative experience, things that could be done better, things I’ve learnt, personal goals that were achieved.

In the essays and free discussions students note the advantages of event-based education – openness, freedom of choice, volunteerism, departure from everyday life, the opportunity to take the initiative, to show their creativity, to join the professional community, to acquire its traditions and values, to feel commitment and to become a valuable member of the team.

In the training of postgraduate students and in the courses of continuing training for the university teaching staff members, the event education is implemented as a routine element for the improvement of general psychological and pedagogical skills. It may be organized as participation in intercollegiate, interuniversity and regional methodical and scientific conferences and seminars. The aim is to provide an opportunity to evaluate the benefits of event education for personal and professional development taking into account the specifics of the speciality. An obligatory component of the teaching practice is designing and holding the educational event. Professional development has a direct impact on the effectiveness of teachers’ performance (Yoo, 2016). Consequently, training of teaching staff members in designing and organizing event education fuels their personal and professional development and increases professional excellence.