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LIFELONG EDUCATION AS A RESOURCE FOR OVERCOMING PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS ON THE WAY TO A PERSON’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I. V. Devyatovskaya
The relevance of research in the field of lifelong education and education of adults is fully understood in the EU countries nowadays. The Europe 2020 Strategy includes a research project entitled “Lifelong Education in Europe: the Skills Needed to Provide for the Best Types of Employment”. Russia also pays attention to lifelong education of adults. For example, the report of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation “Education and Society: is Russia Ready to Invest into its Future?” emphasizes the relevance of lifelong education as one of the priorities of Russian educational policy as a necessary and increasingly significant element of modern educational systems.1 The idea of the continuity of education, which has been developing actively since the 1970s, emerged as an attempt to overcome the crisis of the world system of education, and as awareness of the inconsistency of the idea that education is received by a person once and for their whole life, as understanding the increasing proportion of the adult population, and the need for these people’s retraining.1
Today, lifelong education is aimed at advancing to satisfy the evolving needs of the society and the individual. It is defined by UNESCO as “unlimited education both in terms of timing of training and in terms of place of training and in terms of methods of training; it combines all the activities and resources in the field of education and is aimed at achieving a harmonious development of potential capabilities of a person and the progress of education of the society”1 2.
Given the trends of modern development, the principles of lifelong education are determined today as follows: humanistic character; democratization of education as integration of formal and informal educational structures of traditional and new types; flexibility of training curricula and programs, alternative approaches to the educational process; special attention to education of women, youth, persons with disabilities; independence and self-governing character of education; and the link of education to an individual’s life, professional and social activity. Education of adults, being an integral part of the educational system, occupies a special place, as it is directed at promoting human development in the period of his/her independent life. The main objective of adult education is to meet individual needs and interests of people during their independent living, to improve their competence, i.e. the ability to improve their own economic, social and cultural conditions of life.
N. Kulyutkin notes that “if in the previous decades the system of advanced training traditionally performed compensatory functions (filling gaps in previous training), as well as adaptive functions (quick adaptation to changes), nowadays
1 See: Образование и общество: готова ли Россия инвестировать в свое будущее? Доклад комиссии Общественной палаты РФ. М.: ВШЭ, 2007.
2 Higer Education in Europe. 1979. Vol. 84. № 4. Р. 66.
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the function of development of a postgraduate student is on top of that.” In the final communique of the meeting of the summit of the Group of Eight, made already in 1999, it was mentioned that the 21st century would be flexible and mobile, and lifelong education would allow a person to live and to work anywhere in the globe. Thus, the leading role of education of adults for their professional development and success in their professional activities was stressed. According to S.G. Vershlovsky, “in the most general sense, education of adults has two major subsystems: the professional one (associated with training and retraining of adults), and the general cultural one (allowing to meet the “non-professional” needs of people as citizens, parents, and personalities)1.
In a changing environment, Russia needs to adjust to the needs and content of education of adults, because the increasing commercialization of education leads to reduction of periods and the rise of pragmatism in educational content. This does not contribute to a person’s creativity and self-actualization. Education of adults should be focused on expanding their general culture, on the development of spiritual and moral potential, on the development of a sense of responsibility for the results and consequences of one’s activities, on the development of professional culture and quality of life.
In the domestic psycho-educational theory, education of adults has traditionally been seen as an accessory that complements previously received basic education. Historically and until recently, it has really performed a compensating, optional function. However, international experience shows that education of adults is becoming one of the leading forms of social activity of a person and a vital area of activity of the society.
An analysis of literature focused on the problem of education of adults has shown that there are some research papers that consider the problem of incompany education of adults (L.L. Gorbunova , E.N. Elizarova, A.E. Maron,
P.Y. Sukhov), problems of advanced adult education (T.G. Braze, L.L. Gorbunova, E.G. Koroleva, L.Y. Monakhova , V.I. Sokolov), adaptive adult education (T.G. Braze, N.V. Vasilyeva, L.L. Gorbunova, L.Y. Monakhova, T.V. Muhlaeva, V.I. Sokolov, etc.), problems of information support of training of adults, etc. These directions are focused on the use of adult education or on personal development of a human being and his/her overall culture, or on compensation of functional illiteracy and development of the required professional skills. The prospective research directions in the field of postgraduate education include those ones that are in line with the concept of holistic development of an adult, as a condition of improvement of quality of his/her life and professional work. Development and education of a human being in the conditions of corporate education, professional training and retraining are subordinated to technique, technology and production. At the same time, the maximal effect and productivity of a worker are possible to be attained only if the entire internal creative potential of an individual is used. Active development of technology and computerization not only requires constant upgrading of a worker’s knowledge, but also, by means of transformation of the external professional environment, creates conditions for change of a specialist’s
1 Вершловский С. Г. Система образования взрослых как объект прогнозирования // Человек и образование. 2010. № 1 (22). PP. 16-21.
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personality. Consequently, development of a person’s professionalism and activation of his/her personal and professional development should become one of the areas in the training of adults. In our opinion, the constructive overcoming of psychological barriers on the way to professional development of a person, which accompany professional development, is becoming one of the factors of such development of adults.
We consider psychological barriers to be a necessary condition and factor of professional development of a human being that gives personal meaning to this process and determines the professional future of man (E.E. Symanyuk)1. We consider professional crises, deformation and destruction of personality, emotional burnout, stagnation, etc., to be psychological barriers on the way to professional development of an individual. These states act as barriers and reduce socioprofessional activity, leading to a loss of the sense of the performed activities and the loss of professional prospects, and initiate the adoption of irrational decisions about one’s own professional destiny, thus changing the trajectory of a person’s professional development. At the same time, the need to overcome these barriers may result in an increase in psychological resources of an individual and their self replenishment in order to overcome the obstacles. Overcoming the psychological barriers facilitates finding new meanings in activities performed, and further growth of professionalism and self-actualization of a person.
In our view, education of adults can not only solve problems associated with retraining people, building their new skills and competences, but also resources for constructive overcoming of barriers on the way to further professional development by a human being. This may be due to the availability of lifelong education, as anyone is included anyhow into one of its kinds: formal, non-formal, informal, additional, etc. Further study of the opportunities for lifelong education and its technologies, methods, concepts, and forms of work will allow us to offer the techniques of training or educational programs to overcome the psychological barriers on the way to professional development of a person.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
1 Сыманюк Э.Э. Профессиональные деструкции педагога: методология, теория и практика. Екатеринбург, 2007.
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