Scientific Worldview As A Basis For Foreign Cadets Of Military Institutions Adaptation

Abstract

A large number of foreign citizens receive education in higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, including in the military. Such students face various difficulties, including socio-cultural differences, language barrier, differences in the level of training before entering a higher educational institution, etc. These differences are most noticeable in the initial courses; therefore, the success of training directly depends on how quickly they get used to new living conditions in a foreign country. This article discusses the issues of adaptation of foreign cadets in the process of training in higher military educational institutions of the Russian Federation. The review and analysis of the main problems of adaptation of foreign cadets is made. The concept of scientific worldview, its characteristics, functions, as well as the influence of the formed scientific worldview on the adaptation process are considered. The results of a written survey of foreign cadets undergoing training in the military organizations of the Russian Federation, about their opinion on the importance of the scientific worldview for adaptation in the learning process and in everyday life, are presented. The results and conclusions obtained in the study can be used for a deeper understanding of the essence of adaptation, which will speed up this process.

Keywords: Foreign cadets, adaptation, worldview, military education

Introduction

The current trend in the development of educational services is the integration and organization of constructive interaction between educational systems in different countries. In this regard, the issues of training in institutions of higher education of citizens from other states are becoming especially relevant (Pavlina, 2021). Educational organizations of the system of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation are no exception - the number of foreign cadets receiving specialized education in various military specialties in them is constantly increasing. As of 2018, in five years the number of foreign servicemen who signed training contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence increased by 13%. It should be noted here that the training of foreign cadets in educational institutions of Russia has a stable historical tradition. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the present, the process of training foreign citizens in the country's military educational institutions has not stopped for a day.

Problem Statement

Of particular interest is the modern period, which is usually counted from 1991 to the present. Despite the great methodological work carried out by the leadership of military training organizations, this work has a number of significant shortcomings, among which the following can be noted: the time allotted for the assimilation of educational material sometimes does not take into account the cognitive capabilities that foreign cadets have at the initial stage of training; there are practically no didactic materials for foreign students and teaching staff, work programs and thematic plans of disciplines do not always take into account the specifics of the basic education of foreign students. The objective reasons for these problems are constantly changing educational standards, a bureaucratic approach to amending the work programs of disciplines, and the high employment of the teaching staff.

Another problem of teaching foreign cadets is the issues of their successful adaptation to the content and requirements of the educational process. Poor knowledge of the language in which training is conducted, weak accommodation of the methodological base, a different organization of the entire learning process and independent work, difficulties at the level of internal attitudes in accepting new living conditions are the main reasons for difficulties in teaching military specialties by citizens of other states (Guryanchik & Makeeva, 2018; Voskrekasenko & Buchneva, 2013).

Research into the peculiarities of adaptation of foreign cadets to the training system in military educational institutions of the Russian Federation is carried out in a contradictory context. On the one hand, the problem of personality adaptation to a new social and cultural environment has been analyzed within the framework of a fairly large number of domestic studies (Buchneva, 2016; Smirnova, 2014). On the other hand, the influence that a foreign student's own cultural attitudes have on the adaptation process and the serious changes caused by these circumstances at the level of personal identity remain poorly studied. It is the lack of special applied research on the organization, content and implementation of the educational process in a military higher educational institution in relation to foreign cadets that leads to numerous problems in the learning process (Ishmuhametovs et al., 2020).

The status of a foreign student as a subject of the educational process is determined by a number of factors. These include religious consciousness; difficulties in communication that prevent an individual from coming into contact with members of a new team (language factor); peculiarities of thinking, motivation, personality traits and business qualities (social factor); material factor (Berezhnova et al., 2019; Nazarova & Zelenskaya, 2019). All these factors determine the main problematic aspect, due to the status of a foreign cadet, the special social state of a foreign cadet, which arises in connection with his long stay in another social environment.

The assimilation of new knowledge necessary for the future military specialty and the professional competence of foreign cadets are closely related to the process of their adaptation in a new society (Puzanova & Larina, 2021). This adaptation is very difficult due to the fact that absolutely the entire educational process is not carried out in the native language for a foreign student, all terminology is significantly different from that adopted in the homeland of a foreign student (Guryanchik & Makeeva, 2018). As an example, we can say that even the multiplication table and the rules of mathematics in different countries of the world have a different form. This leads to the fact that a foreign serviceman studying is forced to spend most of his study time on translating from a non-native language into his mother tongue and transforming the meaning, which seriously complicates the process of mastering knowledge in any discipline and makes it more time-consuming.

Research Questions

During the study, the following issues were considered:

• What factors influence the adaptation process of foreign cadets when studying in Russian higher military educational institutions?
• What is the scientific worldview and what are its functions?
• What is the role of the scientific worldview in the adaptation process of foreign cadets?

Purpose of the Study

Obviously, a foreign student is objectively faced with the impossibility of effectively and efficiently assimilating the educational material. In this regard, it is of particular interest to study various factors, in particular, the scientific worldview, on the adaptation process of cadets of foreign states studying in Russian military educational institutions. The aim of the study is to determine the degree of influence of the scientific worldview on the success of this process.

Research Methods

In the course of the study, an analysis of modern studies devoted to the problem of adaptation of students was carried out. A written survey of foreign cadets of military universities of the Russian Federation was carried out, followed by a statistical analysis of the results.

Findings

Based on the foregoing, the scientific worldview in the system of professional adaptation of cadets of military universities determines the key prerequisite for personal self-development, the formation and improvement of professional skills through the constructive use of cognitive potential.

The scientific worldview is designed to ensure the solution of various problems arising in the future professional activities of cadets, in particular, to help foreign cadets adapt in a new society. In other words, it is the scientific outlook that makes it possible to "fine tune" the professional knowledge of a future military specialist to the requirements of practice in the difficult conditions of the modern world.

The practical implementation of this "fine tuning" directly depends on the level formed within the walls of a military university of the scientific worldview of cadets. At the same time, we will consider the deep assimilation of knowledge and confidence in their truth as a key indicator; the manifestation of correct experiences when defending their views and beliefs in controversial situations; independence in decision making.

It seems that the level of scientific worldview is in direct proportion to its severity. In this sense, it is true that the worldview of modern youth has a number of features due to the fact that young people are carriers of a new subculture with its conflicting ideals and values. They are more informed, it is easier to master new professions, but their scientific views are intertwined with immature everyday concepts and ideas. This leads to the fact that during the adaptation of a foreign student, it is necessary to constantly monitor the influence of the scientific worldview on this process, taking into account the individual characteristics of this age group, to predict the development of the situation and to correctly build the training system, guided by modern teaching methods and technologies in the context of individual disciplines (Shevchenko et al., 2017).

In order to assess how much knowledge of the fundamentals of the scientific worldview helps in the adaptation of foreign cadets, a written survey was conducted among cadets from different countries who are receiving education in the military organizations of the Russian Federation. The cadets were asked to evaluate on a 5-point scale (from 1 to 5 points) how much knowledge of the foundations of the scientific worldview helps them to successfully adapt in various fields of activity. The text of the questionnaire is presented in Table 1. The survey involved 30 first- and second-year cadets, of whom 50% were girls, 50% were boys.

The survey showed that, according to foreign cadets, the scientific worldview has the most significant influence on the process of adaptation in teaching and communication with the teaching staff. More than 80% of foreign cadets rated this influence at 5 points (it helps significantly), while for the rest of the positions, the cadets rated the influence of the scientific worldview as less significant. The least influence, according to foreign cadets, the scientific worldview has on the process of everyday adaptation (the significance of its influence was noted by less than 10% of the respondents).

Conclusion

High-quality training of foreign cadets is impossible without their successful adaptation to new living conditions in another country. Knowing the problems of the adaptation process, as well as the various factors influencing this process, it is possible to successfully influence it, shortening the adaptation time and minimizing the negative consequences for the educational process of long-term adaptation. As this study has shown, one of the factors for the successful adaptation of cadets from foreign countries is the formed scientific worldview, which allows to correctly perceive and comprehend the facts and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Thus, it can be considered that the issues of adaptation of foreign cadets can be solved on the basis of ensuring the implementation of a complex of socio-psychological, military-service and pedagogical adaptation conditions proper in the context of the formation of a scientific worldview.

References

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