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DEVELOPMENT OF THE CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN LIFELONG EDUCATION
Sch. M. Mirzakhmatova
I. V. Makukhina
The article deals with the development of the cultural and educational environment organized with the help of an integrated course.
Key words: cultural and educational environment, socialization, integrated course.
Issues of reforming the education system, correcting its methodological component, and searching for effective educational technologies, taking into account the level of the development of culture, have become very important recently. The fact is that modern education models do not correspond to general trends and the logic of the development of culture. We can say that today there is no relevant education system that could match the current stage of cultural development. At present, traditional educational concepts and appropriate organizational structures lose their effectiveness and ability to act as public institutions of adaptation, socialization and personal development.
In the social and pedagogical context, personal development is a multistep process of inclusion of a human being into society and cultural life, i.e., in social and cultural institutions, the environment, and various cultural activities that promote socialization, enculturation and personal fulfillment of a person. However, the possibilities of culture in promoting the process of a person’s self-development within the education systems are not fully used. The reason is in false understanding of the self-sufficiency of the educational process, as well as in the traditional interpretation of culture as a set of rigidly fixed social standards (values, norms, and ways of life) that shape the potential content of individual consciousness from the outside, and pre-determine the boundaries of this content. Such a position results in opposition of the process of consumption of cultural values, on the one hand, and the process of their creation, inculturation and selfimplementation, on the other hand.
The importance of the use of the multicultural principle of improving the educational environment is determined by the most acute problems of today’s school, the logic of development of historical and pedagogical knowledge, and specific features of the social and cultural situation, as well as the socializing and self-implementation potential of cultural activities. Culture, as a historically given universal set of crystallized, creative possibilities of humanity, as a set of ways, results and possibilities of creative activity, seen from the historical perspective as a form of creation and maximum expression of a human nature, is seen as one of the most important resources to improve the system of education, to optimize the conditions of socialization, and self-identity of a person. The idea of unity and complementarity of education and culture, the interpretation of education as a form of translation of culture and implementation of its creative potential, and culture, in turn, as an essential condition of personality development and improvement of the
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educational process, are considered to be the most important philosophical and methodological conditions for adjustment of educational models. Education in this regard is seen as a social and cultural system, providing for cultural continuity (translation of cultural norms, values, and ideas) and the development of a human personality as a way to prepare a person for successful existence in society and culture.
The formation of the cultural and educational environment in school education, in our opinion, is the most effective form of implementation of the creative and educational potential of culture. As for the organizational aspect, the cultural and educational environment means a variety of institutional (system of education, leisure), social and spiritual factors and conditions that directly surround a child in the process of learning. Subjects of the social and cultural environment are very interested in improving the educational process. Society creates an educational system to involve each member of society in cultural activities: (a) to inculturate an individual and ensure a high level of spirituality (through the process of education); (b) for the purpose of mastering socio-cultural norms and practices, and in all forms of social consciousness (science, politics, law, the arts, etc. through the process of learning); (c) to grow capabilities as a basis for successful social and cultural activities (through the process of development).
The importance of development of the cultural and educational environment is determined by the fact that it is fundamental for a child, and determines the child’s values, norms, ideals, and success in future professional and personal formation. The school is the most important subject of cultural and educational environment, and it must become an initiator in the development and improvement of the cultural and educational environment, since it has significant educational and cultural potential. Among other institutions of socialization in today’s life, the school has a dominant position. During the 9 years a child regularly attends secondary school, the child is included in the educational process, in the daily lives of other children, in matters common for schoolchildren and teachers, and gets involved in the general atmosphere of the school. For this reason, a school is not only educational, but also a fostering institution, or better to say, educational and fostering institution, as it not only has a positive influence on the process of personal development of a child, but also becomes a tool and a factor of this influence. The purpose of the school educational system is not only to form a system of values consistent with national traditions and experience, an adequate attitude of a human being to the world and other people, using educational capabilities of different subjects, but also to involve students in various fields of social and cultural activities.
The cultural and educational environment is a social and cultural environment (artistic, historical, social, psychological, spiritual and moral) that provides for the integrated development of a person by organizing various activities: cognitive, value-orientation, communication, transforming and creating. The formation of the cultural and educational environment in school education, in our opinion, can be supported by development and introduction in school practical activities of the integrated course “We and Culture” from elementary school up to the 9th form. This course includes areas of knowledge from cultural studies, language and literature, history and other fields of knowledge that contribute to the
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development of a cultural and educational environment. The main objectives of this integrated course are: (a) to promote a person’s comprehensive development by means of involvement of a person in different types of social and cultural activities; (b) creating conditions for optimal development of a student’s personality according to his/her individual differences and age; (c) to organize spiritual and moral education based on traditions of national culture; (d) to develop students' sustainable behaviors; (e) to develop a unified system of values; (f) to develop a moral, humane climate in the learning environment; (g) the aestheticization of the cultural and educational environment, etc.
During the development of such a course, it is necessary to identify the factors and conditions that contribute to the formation of the cultural and educational environment, content, forms of organization, and methods and techniques for working with students, and various types of social and cultural activities of students.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translastions Bureas
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