ISSN 0798 1015

Vol. 38 (Nº 55) Year 2017. Páge 10

Organization of Special Education Teachers Training in Conditions of Regionalization of Education (on the Example of the Republic of Sakha -Yakutia)

Organización de formación de docentes de educación especial en condiciones de regionalización de la educación (sobre el ejemplo de la República de Sakha -Yakutia)

Irina Aleksandrovna YUDINA 1; Natalia Andreevna ABRAMOVA 2; Ekaterina Nikanorovna KORNILOVA 3

Received: 20/07/2017 • Approved: 15/08/2017

Contenido

1. Introducción

2. Literature review

3. Materials and methods

4. Results

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

References

1. Introduction

Modernization of the higher education system in Russia, which characterizes the current stage of its development, is aimed at the formation of student-general, professional and special competencies that contribute to the sustainable development of modern society, the formation of a competitive personality capable of predicting its actions both on a national scale and a particular region. Reality requires prompt response from the regional systems of pedagogical personnel training.

The purpose of this research - on the example of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to identify the specific organization of speech pathologists' training in the conditions of a modern university, taking into account the regional characteristics and needs of the education system.

Research objectives: To research the scientific literature on the indicated problem; to analyze the managerial experience of special education teacher training  in the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk; to determine the main directions of the pedagogical institution's activity in speech pathology personnel training in conditions of the education regionalization.

Modern researchers emphasize that the regional educational space should be inscribed in the national and world practice, organically combining global and local, general and private, unique and universal, the uniqueness of regional needs and the need to raise education to the level of world samples (Eflova, 2014). Danilov D.A.defines regionalization as a way to improve education in the country (Danilov, 2016). 

Nikolaeva A.D., Chudinovskikh A.V., considering regional education as a system, note that it is characterized by the national-regional component of the education content, the national cultural space, the national-regional approach to management (Nikolaeva & Chudinovskikh, 2016).

Eflova Z.B. as an essential sign of the education regionalization emphasizes its focus on meeting the needs of the regional labor market and the needs of people living in a particular territory. Consequently, "... the coordinated work of all regional education system components, of any level and type of education, is aimed at forming among the trainees such competencies that are in demand in this region, in cities and rural (non-urban) settlements" (Eflova, 2014). The author notes the conditionality of these competencies components that have developed the natural, geographical, economic, political, sociocultural, ethnic situation - traditions and development forecasts. It is emphasized that regionalization is reflected in the content of education, where it is represented by the regional component of educational programs, oriented to local cultural and historical values, knowledge, skills and competencies. The regionalization of the regional education system as a whole and of each educational organization is defined separately as the inclusion of the entire sphere and each structure in the life of the region (Eflova, 2014).

It should be emphasized that in modern conditions regionalization is becoming an important conceptual factor in the development of higher education (Voloshina, Obukhov, & Osetrin, n.a.).

The ethno-regional approach is the methodological basis for research and organization of the modern educational process in a pedagogical university. Modern researchers consider the problem of teacher training on the basis of ethno-regional approach in the key of ethno-pedagogical, ethno-psychological, ethnolinguistic, ethno-cultural and other work (Vinokurova U.A., Grigorieva A.A., Maksimova L.I., Miroshnichenko V.V., Nikolaeva L.V., etc.) (Vinokurova, 2015). According to Miroshnichenko V.V., "the ethno-regional approach in education is based on the unity of the cultural and educational space, equality in the preservation and development of the peoples' languages inhabiting the territory of the region. This approach is aimed at protecting and developing the culture and traditions of all the indigenous peoples of the region" (Miroshnichenko, 2015).

Nazarova N.M. relates the regionalization of the education system to the factors that form the regular tendencies in the development of the higher speech pathology education national system at the present stage (Nazarova, 2008). The author singles out the positive aspects and problems associated with the regionalization of education and the enhancement of regional independence in the training of psychological and pedagogical personnel. Positive trends include partial regional regulation of the number and nomenclature of specialties in the special education teacher training, the completion of missing links in accordance with territorial needs, the gradual smoothing of disparities based on regional monitoring and the real needs of the labor market. The researcher emphasizes that the uneven distribution in the territories of educational structures preparing speech pathologist, first of all, is determined by the territorial density of the population. Therefore, in regions with a low population density, which include the Far Eastern (with the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) included in it) and the Siberian Federal Districts, specialists are trained on which there is a steady demand and a significant contingent of children with HIA who need their help: Logopaedist, oligophrenopedagogue, pre-school speech pathologist, more attention is paid to the training of special psychologists. This allows you to basically meet the regional needs for specialists of the most massive speech pathology profiles. To ensure regional education systems, specialists in small speech pathology profiles (tiflopedagogy, surdopedagogy) need to identify other forms of their preparation, in connection with the unprofitability of such training in the region due to the rapid saturation of the labor market (Nazarova, 2008).  

The researcher emphasizes that the nature of the regional policy in the field of the special education development and professional speech pathologist training is determined by the level of competence in the problem of territorial structures and decision-makers in the field of education, as well as the economic possibilities of the territory. The creation of favorable social and economic conditions for young professionals contributes to the increase in the availability of speech pathology personnel in the regional education system (Nazarova, 2008).

Nazarov N.M. to the group of factors determined by the phenomenon of the educational system regionalization in Russia, also relates the factor of the development of regional scientific schools of the Russian level in the structure of regional pedagogical universities, whose influence on the development of scientific directions in special pedagogy and special psychology, and also on the speech pathology personnel preparation, including higher qualification, increases (Nazarova, 2008).

We are in solidarity with the opinion of Nazarova N.M. that the effect of regionalization of education is to ensure the possibility of taking into account national and regional, geographical and demographic specifics when opening profiles in the course of speech pathologists' preparation, gradual satisfaction of personnel needs in speech pathologists in the regional system of special education and related regions (Nazarova, 2008).

Opening in 2002 in the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk specialty "Logopaedia", in 2003 - "Oligophrenopedagogics" was due to an acute shortage of speech pathology personnel for working with children with disabilities (HIA) in the regional education system. The organization of professional speech pathologists' training on definitive training in the universities of the Russian Federation did not fully meet the needs of the region. 

For 15 years for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) about 300 pedagogues of speech pathology profile have been trained, capable of providing correctional and pedagogical assistance to children with HIA in conditions of special and inclusive education.

The creation in 2011 of the Department of Special (Speech Pathology) Education (SSPE) contributed to the improvement of the professional training quality of special education teacher in the conditions of transition to the tertiary system of higher education.

The activity of the SSPE department teachers is aimed at preserving the positive values of domestic pedagogics in the educational areas "Logopaedia", "Oligophrenopedagogics", continuing the best traditions of fundamental university education and practice-oriented training of future special education teacher on the "Logopaedia" Bachelor's program, "Oligophrenopedagogics", master's program "Psychological and pedagogical support of young children with developmental problems".

The main directions of the department's activities are determined taking into account the existing modernization experience of the leading national universities that produce teachers of the speech pathology profile.

In order to form a complete personality of future special education teacher and improve the quality of the educational process, we adhere to the following fundamental principles:

- Humanization of education, turning to the humanistic aims of the formation and self-development of the individual, the creation at the department of conditions for its self-realization and self-actualization;

- National-regional nature of the education system, i.e. accounting ethno-pedagogical traditions, customs and culture of the people of Sakha;

- Democratism - cooperation of pedagogues and students, equal opportunities for everyone, openness of the educational process;

- Continuity of education - basic education that provides the basis for further movement of a person in the educational space and provides additional education, multi-level, maneuverability, continuity of educational programs, flexibility in the organization of education forms.

Following Eflova Z.B. (Eflova, 2014)we defined the general features of the education system of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the context of the education and upbringing of children with HIA as part of the Russian education system and regional characteristics characteristic of its development current stage, which must be taken into account in the special education teacher training.

The most significant processes in this area, characteristic of the Russian education system, include:

- Implementation of FSES primary general education for students with HIA, FSES education for students with mental retardation (intellectual disabilities);

- Construction and development of the early-care system in the Russian Federation;

- Activation of the inclusive education implementation process.

We have identified the following regional peculiarities of the education system of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which determine the specifics of the professional special education teacher activities:

- Unfinished pre-school level of the republican system of correctional and pedagogical assistance to children with HIA;

- Need to provide training and education for children with HIA, taking into account the conditions of multilingualism;

- Insufficient equipment of educational organizations, first of all, in rural area, speech pathology personnel.

In the process of designing the main professional educational programs, the teachers of the department develop and implement the national and regional component, the academic disciplines for building a new content of pedagogical education based on the trends and prospects for the development of general education, finding a balance between individual and collective, taking into account the uniqueness of the educational environment of the Republic of Sakha Yakutia) and the North-Eastern region as a whole.

In the basic professional educational programs (BPEP) of the Bachelor's program and master's degrees in the field of training Special (speech pathology) education, elective disciplines are included that provide personnel training for work with children with HIA in the regional educational environment: "Correctional and pedagogical assistance to children with HIA in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)", "Regional model of correctional and pedagogical assistance for children with HIA in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)".

In the conditions of the regional educational space, teachers-speech therapists, teachers-oligophrenopedagogue who are able to carry out correctional and pedagogical work with children with HIA taking into account their native language are in demand. This is the reason for the introduction of the special competence of SC-1 in the BPEP Bachelor's program in the profile of "Logopaedia": ability to carry out corrective support of the education and upbringing process of children and adolescents with speech disorders, including in the conditions of multilingualism, to promote their socialization, the formation of the individual common culture. Formation of this competence is carried out in the research of special disciplines, the passage of practices, state final certification.

For the preparation of students for the implementation of speech therapy with Yakut speaking children in the BPEP Bachelor's program, the discipline "Fundamentals of speech therapy with Yakut speaking children" is included, aimed at working with children with HIA in rural area, taking into account their native language. Also in the content of the objective training subjects included sections that reveal the features of correctional and pedagogical activity in the conditions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The regional component is reflected annually in the content of the course, final qualification papers of students, the themes of which are related to the issues of implementing correctional and pedagogical influences taking into account the native language. Graduates of the department under the guidance of teachers take an effective part in the All-Russian competition of final qualifying papers among students and undergraduates in the field of preparation. Special (speech pathology) education, conducted at the Institute of Special Education of the Ural State Pedagogical University. Among our achievements, following the results of the All-Russian competition of final qualification papers for students in 2015 in the nomination "Logopaedia", the awarding of the nomination "Diploma paper reflecting the national and regional component" final qualifying paper on the theme "Development of the phonetic-phonemic aspect of speech in yakut-speaking preschool children with general speech underdevelopment"; in the nomination "Oligophrenopedagogics" - awarding the 1st place of the graduate qualification work on the topic "Formation of ethno-cultural identity in children with intellectual disabilities in after-hours activities", 2nd place - graduate qualification work on the topic "Using olonkho material in mathematics lessons in 6th grade of secondary correctional comprehensive school VIII kind". According to the results of this contest in 2016 in the nomination "Logopaedia" the final qualifying paper on the topic "Development of coherent speech among Yakut-speaking junior schoolchildren with general speech underdevelopment with Puppet Theater" was awarded 2 places.

On the basis of the conducted researches, the teachers of the department carry out the development of scientific and methodological and educational materials, teaching aids, educational and methodological complexes, taking into account the regional component, including those intended for the system of professional development of pedagogical personnel in the system of special and general education.

The organization of all pedagogical practice types of students is carried out on the principles of deepening the formed competencies: Multifunctionality, metadisciplinarity, integrity in the conditions of special (correctional) and general education schools and preschool educational institutions, during which it is planned to create conditions for working with children with HIA in the yakut-speaking educational environment.

On the basis of the Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Assistance to Children with the HIA "Saydy" of the SSPE Department in the academic year 2015-16, an internship was organized for students on the topic "Preparing preschool-age children with speech disorders" in the yakut-speaking group.

Since 2016, the department has launched the implementation of the master's program "Psychological and pedagogical support of young children with developmental problems". Subjects of master's researches are also oriented to the needs of the regional educational space: "Development of emotional-volitional sphere in yakut-speaking children of early age with HIA in the conditions of kindergarten", "Use of Yakut fairy tales in development of the phonetic side of speech in children of early age with HIA", "Use of ethno-pedagogical traditions in the education of young children with HIA in the family”.

The laboratory of oligophrenopedagogics and speech therapy of the SSPE Department has collected methodological material for correctional and pedagogical work with yakut-speaking children, developed by pedagogical practitioners of basic educational organizations and students, which is actively used in the educational process.

Thus, the systematic work of the SSPE department on the preparation of special education teacher for the implementation of correctional and pedagogical work with children with HIA, taking into account the native language, contributes to improving the accessibility and quality of the educational environment, taking into account the specifics of the regional educational space.

Systematic increase of the teachers' qualification of the department in the field of innovative processes in the sphere of education, application and introduction of humanitarian technologies in the educational space in leading Russian and foreign universities, innovation centers promotes the introduction of educational experience in the field of education regionalization. Thus, all teachers have been repeatedly trained in advanced training courses in leading universities in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and also in Yakutsk. In addition, two teachers of the department in 2012 went to the international seminar "Finnish Preschool Education System" in Helsinki (Finland); in 2014, two teachers passed an internship at the University of Kuomintsy and the university clinic of Quing Hee in Seoul (South Korea) under the program "Development of Special Education in the Republic of Korea."

Employment of the SSPE department graduates is carried out with priority formation of employers' requests. A vocational orientation work is actively carried out to increase the attractiveness of the Special (speech pathology) education direction in the conditions of the modernization of education in the region. In this aspect, the organization of the department of the Republican distance vocational guidance olympiad "My choice" is significant. It is held for pupils of 11 classes and graduate students of pedagogical colleges starting in 2013 with a desire to stimulate interest in professional self-determination, identifying creative and active students, capable of demonstrating internal personal prerequisites for pedagogical activity in teaching and educating children with special educational needs. Within the framework of university activities to promote employment, the students of the department take part in the Republican vocational guidance forum "PROF-choice".

We conducted an analysis of the graduates’ employment results, feedback from employers.

The research covered 78 graduates of the full-time form of training at the SSPE Department who completed their studies in 2013-2017 on the specialty "Oligophrenopedagogics with an additional specialty of speech therapy" (OAL) and the special education (speech pathology) education profile "Logopaedia" (LE). The research covered 6 training groups. The research was conducted with a view to identifying the graduates selection of an educational organization located in urban or rural area for employment. The results of the research are presented in the table.

Table 1.
Employment of graduates of the Special Teachers Education
Department of Pedagogical Institute of NEFU from 2013 to 2017 

In the course of the research, it was revealed that the graduate institutions mainly chose pre-school educational organizations, special (correctional) and general education schools, centers for psychological, pedagogical and medico-social support in both urban and rural area. The category of temporarily unemployed in connection with the birth of children includes graduates who are temporarily inactive for health reasons (due to pregnancy) and have children under the age of 1.5 who are on parental leave.

Analysis of the research results allows us to draw the following conclusions:

- in general, for the period under study amid an increase in the number of vacancies for the post of teacher-speech therapist in the educational institutions of the republic, an equal distribution of graduates to urban and rural educational organizations is observed, which indicates the potential readiness of teachers to carry out correctional and pedagogical work with children with HIA in any conditions of the regional educational environment;

- in recent years, there has been a significant influx of rural residents to their permanent place of residence in Yakutsk, which actualizes the need to train specialists to provide quality educational services for children with HIA of different ages in their native language;

- in recent years there has been a slight increase in the proportion of graduates who have chosen rural area for work, indicating their professional readiness and the growing demand for speech pathologists in rural educational institutions;

- feedback from employers from educational institutions located in urban and rural area, testify to the theoretical preparedness of our graduates for professional activity, methodical literacy, activity, initiative in solving professional problems, the ability to conduct correctional and pedagogical work with children with HIA taking into account their native language.

At the same time, the research made it possible to identify certain problems in the regional educational system concerning the personnel equipage of special education teacher in certain territories of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). For example, there is a lack of graduates’ interest in employment in the educational organizations of the northern (arctic) uluses of the republic: Nizhnekolymsky, Allaikhovsky, Bulunsky, Olenek, Even-Bytantaisky, Momsky, Abyisk, Zhigansky and others. Perhaps this is due to the territorial remoteness of these territories from the capital of the republic, a complex transport scheme, insufficiently developed infrastructure, social and other problems. This situation implies the intensification of career guidance work with applicants for their Arctic regions, as well as additional measures to create favorable social and economic conditions for young specialists in these areas, which contribute to an increase in the availability of speech pathology personnel in the regional education system. Also one of the reasons we see the desire of graduates to stay to work in Yakutsk, including, with a view to continuing their studies in the magistracy. 

In the context of our research, we share the Eflova's Z.B. point of view concerning the fact that the indispensable conditions for the regionalization of pedagogical education are:

- the openness of the university to the needs of the regional education system, which results in a timely and adequate response to its changing demands, recognition and high status in the pedagogical community;

- inclusion of the university in the modernization of education, contributing to its impact on regional educational policy;

- cooperation of the university with educational management, educational organizations of the region on a parity basis, which determines the mutual enrichment of professional pedagogues training and the education system (Eflova, 2014).

Considering the activities of the department of special (speech pathology) education in this context, it should be noted that the department organized interaction with social partners, employers, and their inclusion in the system of assessing the quality of education, oriented to the participation of public institutions in the university development.

Relations are established with the departments that train pedagogues of the speech pathology profile of Russian universities: Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Ural State Pedagogical University, Pacific National University, and others. Within the framework of the cooperation, courses are held for professional development, webinars for teachers on current topics of training and raising children from HIA, competitions, competitions for students, etc. 

We are impressed by the Bespartochny's B.D., Medvedev's I.N. point of view the important direction of regionalization is the creation of an effective system of assistance to the employment of the university graduates, including the development of targeted contract training, the formation of graduates' readiness for self-determination in matters of work choice, including the opening of one's own business (Besspartochny & Medvedev, 2008). A focused effort to promote the employment of graduates, conducted at the department of the SSPE of the Pedagogical Institute of the North-Eastern Federal University, is one of the important directions of its activity and brings tangible results. 

It should be noted that recently there has been an increase in the number of freshmen from among the institutions graduates of intermediate vocational education (IVE), which is achieved due to the active interaction of the university with the IVE organizations within the regional system of continuing professional education. This contributes to the increase in the number of students with a steady internal motivation for professional activities, which in turn positively affects the provision of a regional education system by qualified special education teacher.

The identification of the positive sides and problem areas of the special education teacher training process in regionalization conditions of education made it possible to identify the further directions of the department's activities. The issues of strengthening the work in the field of practical-oriented training of special education bachelors in the conditions of bilingualism, realized in cooperation with employers and on the basis of the Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Assistance to Children with the HIA "Saydy" of the SSPE Department, require careful development; increase of the provision of educational process in the university with educational-methodical literature for students in the regional aspect; deeper introduction into the training process of future speech pathologists of corrective pedagogical methods taking into account the native language of children with HIA; scientific and methodological equipment of the system of early comprehensive assistance in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) within the framework of the master's program "Psychological and pedagogical support of young children with developmental problems"; intensifying research activities and increasing the publication activity of teachers on the problem of regionalization.

Summarizing the foregoing on the problem of organizing training of speech pathology personnel in conditions of education regionalization, it is important to emphasize the particular relevance of this problem in the context of the Russian pedagogical education system modernization.

In the context of our research, it is necessary to note the direction of the special education teacher training process for the maximum needs satisfaction of the regional labor market and the demands of the regional educational environment. This requires coherence in the activities of all links in the regional education system and further focused work on the study, development and active implementation of the regional component of the education content in the educational university process.

Thus, the specifics of the speech pathologists training in the conditions of a modern university, taking into account regional characteristics and the needs of the education system, are:

- in the implementation of an ethno-regional approach based on the unity of the cultural and educational space, equality in the preservation and development of the languages of the peoples inhabiting the territory of the region;

- in the development of a national and regional component of educational programs aimed at developing competencies that are in demand in the regional education system;

- in the organization of scientific and methodological support of the training speech pathology personnel process for correctional and pedagogical work with children with HIA in conditions of education regionalization;

- in the expansion of the social partnership aimed at regional regulation of the number and list of training profiles for speech pathologists, the completion of missing links in the special and inclusive education systems of the region.

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Eflova, Z. B. (2014). Regional aspects of pedagogical personnel training: on the example of the education system of the Republic of Karelia. Herzen's readings. Elementary education, 5(3), 157-165.

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Miroshnichenko, V. V. (2015). Professional teacher training in the system of continuous pedagogical education on the basis of the ethno-regional approach. World of Science, Culture, Education, 55(6), 104-107.

Nazarova, M. M. (2008). Factors and trends in the development of professional personnel training for special education in higher education institutions of the Russian Federation. Special education(11), 5-11.

Nikolaeva, A. D., & Chudinovskikh, A. V. (2016). Regional education as a scientific and pedagogical category. Modern science-intensive technologies, 2(12), 392-396.

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Voloshina, L. V., Obukhov, V. V., & Osetrin, K. E. (n.a.). The role of the university in the development of the sustainability of regional educational systems. Scientific Pedagogical Review(4), 92-96.

1. Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Head of the Department of Special (Speech Pathology) Education of the Pedagogical Institute of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk 677000 Russia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Belinskogo street, 58,i-yudina@list.ru

2. Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Special (Speech Pathology) Education of the Pedagogical Institute of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk 677000 Russia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Belinskogo street, 58, Natalya.abramoff@mail.ru

3. Senior lecturer of the Department of Special (Speech Pathology) Education of the Pedagogical Institute of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk 677000 Russia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Belinskogo street, 58, kornilova.ekaterina.2012@mail.ru