Dialogical Approach In Students’ Training Majoring In Work Organization With Youth

Abstract

The relevance of the study is due to the need to search and update the forms of organization of dialogic interaction in the context of blended learning in the era of Covid-19, aimed at the subjective development of knowledge and values ​​by students. The article deals with a dialogical approach to the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" (undergraduate level) at the Rostov State University of Economics. The aim of the study is to substantiate the dialogical approach in the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" based on highlighting the complex dialogues used in educational practice. Analysis of the works of domestic and foreign teachers described various modern approaches (“pedagogy of dialogue”, “civilizational dialogue”) that made it possible to clarify the concept of dialogue. The specificity of the content, the use of each of the selected types of dialogue in the professional training of future specialists in working with youth is reflected: professional dialogue, value-search, dialogue with the world of culture, intercultural, research and project dialogues. The result of the study is the identified conditions for ensuring a dialogical approach in educational practice: the teacher's orientation to the personality of the student in the construction of content, choice of methods, forms, teaching technologies; the teacher's ability to design and use various types of dialogue in the educational process; achievement of emotional-valuable, eventful relations among the participants of the educational.

Keywords: Dialogical approach, intercultural dialogue, professional dialogue, values

Introduction

Before talking about any scientific and pedagogical approach to the implementation of vocational training, it is necessary to answer the fundamental questions that pedagogy has been asking throughout its history. One of the first questions is what is the content of training and education of a future specialist in youth work? The organization of work with youth is a professional field of activity based on knowledge of a wide range of socio-humanities (philosophy, sociology, pedagogy, psychology, etc.), aimed at implementing youth policy in various fields: youth employment, law, science and education, culture and sports, ensuring effective communication of state organizations and public institutions important for the younger generation. A specialist in youth work is not just an employee of the social and psychological-pedagogical sphere, but first of all the creator of social technologies for working with young people, their involvement in solving global problems, innovative trends in youth policy.

The second question necessary to substantiate any other innovative pedagogical approach is: "Who is a modern teacher and student?". In our opinion, a modern teacher is an intermediary between the past (eternal, traditional) and the future (innovative), integrating the developments in the history of pedagogy into the current educational space. A modern student of the direction "Organization of work with youth" is a person open to the world, ready to be at the centre of events, existing in the era of digitalization, quickly adapting to everything new. In this regard, the training of specialists in working with youth requires an approach that will contribute to the organization of subject-subject mutually developing, creative interaction between a teacher who is on the threshold of the eternal and modern, and a student who has his own experience and needs to realize his individuality not tomorrow, but here and now.

Having answered the fundamental questions of pedagogical science, it is also worth considering the time and conditions in which the educational process is carried out. The living conditions dictated by the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to a massive transition to distance learning, the use of various information technologies, online platforms, and applications in the educational process. This fact gave rise to the problem of finding the most effective ways to maintain student feedback, their group interaction in the learning process. During self-isolation, students also found themselves in a difficult psychological situation, being in a limited living space, which contributed to the development of such negative phenomena as emotional burnout, decreased motivation for learning, alienation of the individual, and aggressive behaviour. Such a pedagogical approach, taking into account the peculiarities of a modern teacher and student, the conditions for the implementation of the educational process, in our opinion, should be a dialogical approach based on empathy, eventfulness, variability in the choice of forms of organization of training, subjectivity in the development of student skills, professional experience. The dialogical approach to professional training allows to actualize of the personal meanings of students through the use of various types of dialogue, including through information technology, to provide psychological and pedagogical assistance and mediation of emerging conflict situations in the educational process (Smolyaninova et al., 2020).

Problem Statement

Modern research shows that dialogue is not just a teaching method, but a deep multi-level phenomenon that has a conceptual reflection in pedagogical science (De Waard & Roberts, 2021; Yu & Yang, 2021). Within the framework of the scientific direction "pedagogy of dialogue", the ontological essence of dialogue is considered based on the concept of M.M. Bakhtin (as cited in Matusov et al., 2019). Proponents of this approach justify the concept of critical dialogue as a meeting of various subjects of education with an individual and cultural history of development (Marjanovic-Shane et al., 2019). Such a dialogue is an ontological, open, intersubjective way of the attitude of the subjects of education to others, the world and themselves, allowing its participants not to impose values, ideas, knowledge predetermined by the teacher, but to form students' attitude to the subject of discussion. Therefore, to organize such a dialogue in which a student can become a creator of knowledge and culture, the most important principles are voluntariness, democracy, subjectivity (Matusov & Marjanovic-Shane, 2014).

In several studies, the most important component of the dialogue is emotions, a positive atmosphere of dialogue, which involves students in an active communication process and allows them to overcome the difficulties of communication - conflict, criticism, mistakes in interaction (Yermolayeva, 2012). In this regard, it is emphasized that to implement a dialogical approach in the educational process it is necessary to have a significant Other, inclusion in a variety of collective relationships for the professional and personal development of students (Er et al., 2021, Steen-Utheim & Wittek, 2017).

In the context of rapid and global transformations of the modern world, the fundamental problem of intercultural diversity, the scientific direction of civilizational dialogue has become relevant (Aleshkovski et al., 2020; Smakotina et al., 2021). In this scientific direction, it is believed that dialogue, as the basis for the sustainable development of the world, can be built on the content of global universal values, provided that national cultures and historically established identities are preserved and developed. Such values are education, freedom, justice, patriotism, progress, security (Aleshkovski et al., 2020). Therefore, the civilizational dialogue is a methodological basis for the formation of one of the most significant competencies in the conditions of the modern multicultural world - intercultural.

Having considered the indicated theoretical and methodological approaches, having singled out the essential characteristics of dialogue in them, it seemed possible for us to clarify the concept of “dialogue”. In our study, dialogue is understood as the existential relations of a teacher and a student, organized and experienced based on the use of variant methods of communication, means of its implementation (including informational), various significant activities, information, ideas, meanings and values ​​(universal, professional, intercultural, etc.) as mechanisms and content for the subjects to solve the problems of education, professional training.

Research Questions

The analysis of scientific and scientific-practical literature on the research problem allowed us to conclude that the phenomenon of dialogue in the educational process takes place in line with various studies, scientific schools, however, the authors do not take into account the specifics of the implementation of the dialogical approach within the framework of one or another area of ​​higher education. Meanwhile, the need to form a complex of professional knowledge, skills, values ​​within each of the areas of higher education affects the design and choice of certain types, forms of dialogue and relations between the teacher and the student.

Appeal to the problem of implementing a dialogical approach in the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" made it possible to formulate several questions:

1. What types of dialogue are necessary and relevant for use in modern professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth"?

2. How does joint extracurricular activity affect the formation of professionally significant knowledge, skills, values ​​among students of the training direction "Organization of work with youth"?

Purpose of the Studу

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the dialogic approach in the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth".

Research objectives:

• clarify the concept of dialogue based on a theoretical analysis of modern research, scientific areas;
• to systematize the types of dialogues used in the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth".

Research Methods

To solve the set scientific tasks, the following research methods were used: analysis of the works of domestic and foreign teachers to study the essence of the problem under study, clarify the concept of dialogue; study, systematization and generalization of advanced pedagogical experience - to develop methodological recommendations to ensure a dialogical approach in the preparation of bachelors in the direction of "Organization of work with youth".

Findings

The analysis of the advanced pedagogical experience, the work carried out to ensure a dialogical approach in the preparation of students in the direction of "Organization of work with youth" allowed us to identify and systematize various types of dialogues and reflect their specifics (Table 1).

By professional dialogue, we understand the subject-subject interaction of students with carriers of professional experience, generated by the motives for the exchange of ideas, opinions on improving the field of work with youth, establishing significant connections, and implementing joint initiatives and events. Professional training of students is not limited to interaction with teachers and involves a whole system of dialogues with various actors in the field of work with youth (Fig. 1).

See Full Size >

Professional dialogue is facilitated by the presence at the university of "Boiling Points" - a space for the collective work of students, where educational, design, competitive and various events are organized with the participation of authorities, business, professional communities. The teachers developed a system of events aimed at students studying the professional field of activity, sharing knowledge and practical experience. Such events include: “Hour of professional interaction”, meetings of graduates of the “Organization of work with youth” training course, subject week, conversations with heads of government bodies, government agencies and public organizations implementing youth policy. As part of the subject week, teachers and students of the “Organization of work with youth” training course prepared master classes in which they shared their experience, demonstrated new methods and technologies of working with youth. Also, the university has organized a digital career environment based on the inter-university platform "Facultetus", thanks to which students receive information about employment opportunities, take part in various career events, in courses aimed at developing modern professional knowledge and skills. The platform allows you to use its capabilities even after graduation, involving graduates in a professional dialogue.

There is an alumni association at the university, various events are held. So, since 2019, meetings of graduates of the training area "Organization of work with youth" have been organized to transfer professional experience to students, discuss current trends in working with youth, present individual cases of graduates, their success stories. At the same time, students were not just listeners, but active participants and organizers of such meetings-dialogues prepared questions for graduates about their studies and professional development. This is very important because the dialogic approach implies not only the teacher but also the students as the organizer of the dialogue, requiring them to take a certain responsibility (Steen-Utheim & Wittek, 2017).

In addition to events within the university, students take part in various youth forums, conferences, where they acquire the necessary professionally significant connections (networking), communicate and exchange experiences with students of their field of study. An example of the original organization of professional dialogue is the forum "Young professionals of the organization of work with youth vs professionals of the state youth policy". Participants of this forum are students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" from all over the country, teachers, experts, potential employers who discuss the best practices in working with youth in a discussion form, playfully develop soft-skills.

The professional training of students is based not only on training, the formation of knowledge and skills inherent in each speciality but also on the education of values necessary for the implementation of a qualitatively different level of activity. We consider it necessary to form such values as humanism, altruism, collectivism, patriotism, justice, and creativity among future specialists working with youth. The meetings of the pedagogical film club are an original practice in organizing a value-search dialogue. The pedagogical club was created to form a value attitude to the profession, studying possible conflict situations in youth collectives, turning to non-standard pedagogical methods. The originality of the film club consists in the fact that a group of students is appointed to be responsible for holding the meeting, and no one else knows in advance what kind of film will be shown. The effect of surprise allows each group of film club organizers to develop their form of discussion involving reflection on the content, the author's idea of the film. During the discussion, ideas and values are exchanged, and each student finds something important and meaningful in the film both for his personal development and professional formation.

The assignment of professional values by students requires inclusion in socially significant life activities (Eroshenkova et al., 2021). Students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" are volunteers, participants of various student organizations. Every year, the university holds the action "1000 good deeds", which promotes the manifestation of humanistic values, as well as the creative approach of students to the implementation of their initiatives. Students themselves come up with a form of doing a good deed. For example, students have created a book exchange point at the faculty, where each student can take a book to read and leave their interesting books in return.

The formation of professional values can be carried out in line with the intergenerational dialogue in the process of event-based activities, ensuring the naturalness of the communication process and contributing to the emergence of internal personal and collective experiences among the participants of the dialogue. As part of the training course "Organization of work with youth", a retrospective reconstruction of pioneer traditions in the summer student camp was carried out. Each course during the event was a pioneer group, had a name, had clothing attributes, an emblem, a poster, prepared dances and songs by the selected period: 1920s-1930s, 40s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s-1980s. Teachers helped the teams in the event, conducted various types of traditional pioneer activities, in which they took part together with students. The event implemented the principle of pedagogical partnership, according to which the appropriation of knowledge and values occurs in learning comes through joy and overcoming the difficulties of working together (Hill et al., 2021).

In the context of globalization, the integration of Russian education into the world educational space, the formation of intercultural competence is relevant, consisting of attitudes, skills and abilities that allow communicating with representatives of various peoples and cultures (Bultseva & Lebedeva, 2021). The multicultural environment of Rostov State University and the region allows students to gain the necessary practical experience of intercultural interaction, develop and put into practice various innovative forms of such interaction. An example of an original approach to the formation of intercultural competence among students is the youth forum "Kaleidoscope of Cultures", which has been held annually at Rostov State University of Economics since 2015. Students immersed themselves in the selected cultures of a particular people, country, prepare dances, performances that have not only entertainment but also value-significant, ceremonial significance. During the years of the forum's existence, students presented the culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus, the Indians of North America and various countries: Egypt, Spain, South Korea, Japan, etc. Students also prepared event events dedicated to such holidays as "International Friendship Day" and "World Youth Day". They developed games, quizzes, prepared videos, studied the cultural characteristics of youth, events related to the youth of different times. These events were held on the Zoom online platform, which allowed students to study and apply information technologies, gain experience of intercultural dialogue in virtual space. The use of information technologies made it possible to ensure the continuity of professional training in the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic and to master the educational, developing the potential of the online platforms and applications used by students.

The following, used in the professional training of students, we singled out the research dialogue. The direction of preparation "Organization of work with youth" is assigned to the department of "Economic theory", which allows students to interact with teachers representing various socio-humanitarian sciences: sociology, pedagogy, philosophy, economics. In the process of learning, students develop the broadest scientific views within the framework of interaction with teachers of professional and economic disciplines. The scientific-practical conference is the main form of organizing a large-scale research dialogue. Since 2018, the department has organized a conference specifically for students of the training direction "Organization of work with youth". In 2021, the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Theory and Practice of Organization of Work with Youth” were held in a mixed format (online and offline) at Rostov State University, which became a platform for the exchange of ideas, experience, and innovative approaches. The conference contributed to the dialogue of scientists, teachers, students, practitioners, representatives of authorities, public youth organizations from different regions of the Russian Federation and even abroad (Belarus, Germany). Teachers not only provided students with the freedom to choose the topic of a scientific article but also by studying the interests, hobbies of students, their belonging to student and public associations, helped to use their personal experience in science. So, for this conference, students prepared articles on the following topics, reflecting their personal and professional interests: photo tours in patriotic education, the role of intellectual games, cheerleading in the leisure of youth, art as a means of forming a tolerant attitude towards young people with disabilities, the formation of interethnic relations using cinema. These examples of student research paper topics show how the research dialogue combines the types of dialogue presented above.

The most important type of professional activity of specialists in working with youth is project activity, which involves the development and implementation of innovative ideas and technologies in working with youth aimed at solving the social problems of youth. In this regard, in teaching students, we used a project dialogue, which inherently integrates all of the above types of dialogues. With the help of a project dialogue, students learn to apply the acquired knowledge when creating ideas, form team-building skills, teamwork, communication, leadership, organizational and managerial skills. Students developed projects of various directions in such areas as prevention of deviant behaviour, work with young families, patriotic education of youth, involvement of youth in volunteer activities, development of sports activities, etc. Some of these projects were approved by experts from international, all-Russian and regional competitions and received financial support, for example: “The final All-Russian forum of the Corps of Public Observers of the Russian Youth Union”, “Student Football League”; projects aimed at the development of student dormitories - "Upgrade" "Youth project" HELP "(development of a student hostel). Also, students who have mastered the basics of fundraising implement their initiatives as part of their participation in student associations, socially-oriented organizations. Thus, students were able to raise funds as part of the project to modernize the work of the non-profit organization of psychological assistance “Youth Helpline” (Gvaldin et al., 2021), which is an example of the formation of humanistic and professional values in the framework of project activities.

Conclusion

Thus, the dialogical approach in the professional training of students of the direction "Organization of work with youth" provides for the use of dialogue not only as a teaching method but as the basis for the formation of multifaceted existential relations of subjects of education with the help of a complex arising from each other and complementary types of dialogue. The implementation of the dialogic approach in the professional training of students is due to the orientation of the teacher to the personality of the student in the construction of content, the choice of methods, forms, technologies of education; the ability of the teacher to design and use different types of dialogue in the educational process; achievement of emotional-valuable, eventful relations among the participants of the educational process. The practical experience presented by us shows that the set of applied dialogues contributes to the creation of an educational developmental environment that makes it possible to activate the students' need for professional knowledge and skills, as well as to form their value attitude to the professional culture of their field of study.

References

• Aleshkovski, I., Gasprishvili, A., & Smakotina, N. (2020). Global values in the context of civilizational dialogue. Journal of Globalization Studies, 11, 73-85. https://doi.org/

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Bultseva, M. A., & Lebedeva, N. M. (2021). The role of intercultural competence, in the relationship between intercultural experiences and creativity among students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 82, 256-264. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• De Waard, H., & Roberts, V. (2021). Revisioning the potential of Freire’s principles of assessment: Influences on the art of assessment in open and online learning through blogging. Distance Education, 42(2), 310-326. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Er, E., Dimitriadis, Y., & Gasevic, D. (2021). Сollaborative learning approach to dialogic peer feedback: a theoretical framework. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(4), 586-600. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Eroshenkova, E. I., Isaev, I. F., Eroshenkov, N. V., Tarasova, S. I., & Duplyakina, A. V. (2021). Formirovaniye chelovecheskogo kapitala i prosotsial'nykh ustanovok obuchayushchikhsya vuzov [Formation of human capital and pro-social attitudes of future teachers and university students]. Perspectives of Science and Education, 49(1), 66-79. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Gvaldin, A. Yu., Dadayan, N. A., Oganyan, T. B., &Panasenkova, T. V. (2021). Problema dialogichnosti v vospitanii ekonomicheskoy kul'tury molodezhi [The problem of dialogicity in upbringing of the economic culture of young people]. Perspectives of Science and Education, 52(4), 48-63. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Hill, J., Healey, R. L., West, H., & Dery, C. (2021). Pedagogic partnership in higher education: encountering emotion in learning and enhancing student wellbeing. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 45(2), 167-185. DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2019.1661366

• Marjanovic-Shane, A., Meacham, S., Choi, H. J., Lopez, S., & Matusov, E. (2019). Idea-dying in critical ontological pedagogical dialogue. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 20, 68-79. https://doi.org/

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Matusov, E., & Marjanovic-Shane, A. (2014). Democratic dialogic education for and from authorial agency. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 10(1), 9–26. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Matusov, E., Marjanovic-Shane, A., & Gradovski, M. (2019). Dialogic pedagogy and polyphonic research art: Bakhtin by and for educators. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Smakotina, N., Aleshkovski, I., & Gasparishvili, A. (2021). Global Universal Values and the Dialog among Civilizations. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 48(1), 71-79. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Smolyaninova, O. G., Korshunova, V. V., & Andronnikova, O. O. (2020). Formirovaniye mediativnoy kompetentnosti uchastnikov obrazovatel'nogo prostranstva (na primere Sibirskogo federal'nogo universiteta) [Formation of mediation competence of participants in the educational space of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the Siberian Federal University]. Perspectives of Science and Education, 47(5), 413-428. https://doi:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Steen-Utheim, A., & Wittek, A. L. (2017). Dialogic feedback and potentialities for student learning. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 15, 18-30. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Yermolayeva, Y. V. (2012). Osnovnyye kharakteristiki dialogicheskogo vzaimodeystviya (k opredeleniyu aktual'nykh zadach pedagogiki dialoga) [The main characteristics of dialogic interaction (defining the actual tasks of pedagogic dialog]. The Education and science journal, 1(7), 18-34. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Yu, R., & Yang, L. (2021). ESL/EFL learners’ responses to teacher written feedback: Reviewing a recent decade of empirical studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 4917. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref