No 2 (2017)

The paper analyzes modern trends related to reforming of education systems in different countries, including Russia, focusing on monitoring and evaluation processes. The author describes functional models of vocational education and conditions that affect the structure and contents of the monitoring and evaluation activities. The concept of “evaluation” in education is introduced and considered as an integrative category of evaluation-analytical activity in the context of improving the quality of education. This paper analyzes the use of the concept both in foreign educational systems and in Russia, defines its role in the process of creation and development of the Russian system of the education quality assessment which is considered to be a combination of organizational and functional structures, norms and rules that provide the assessment of student performance. While forming the Russian system of education quality assessment, the improvement of the quality of monitoring and evaluation of educational results is very important and is implemented in Russian modern education through a number of activities. In this regard, particular attention is paid to the introduction of mandatory state final certification for a certain category of citizens in the form of a unified state examination (USE). The author considers this exam as the Russian interpretation of foreign experience in the part of the final assessment of educational results in connection “school – university” and shows the positive and negative features of this process in the Russian educational practice.

The problems indicated in the paper suggest the necessity for further study of the reforming the monitoring and evaluation activities in the national education system in relation to the methodology and tools of this process.

The paper discusses the issues related to the radical reforming of the higher education system in Russia. The authors indicate positive tendencies associated with the accession to Bologna convention and the transition to two-tier educational system manifested in the specific progress of Russian colleges on the way of integration into the global educational environment and consider negative consequences of overcommercialization of the educational field, narrow-minded interpretation and exaggerated implementation of the competency-based approach. The paper draws attention to the de-emphasis, in some degree, of the fundamental mathematical and natural-science knowledge specified by the state educational standards of a number of baccalaureate training programs. The authors discuss the problematic aspects of distance education expansion and give the results of the pedagogical study in the form of a survey of freshman students of the Ural State University of Economics carried out in order to identify psychological preparedness for modern methods of distance implementation of certain stages and procedures of the educational process. It is showed that this preparedness requires visible correction on the basis of the formation of culture based on the academic ethics principles. The authors note the essential increase of teachers’ intensity of work caused by the essential strengthening of bureaucratization of the educational sphere, the imperfection of system of the efficiency and material stimulation indices and, as a consequence, the unreasonably sizable volume of work on formation of normative methodology documentation and the overgrowth of publication activities not promoting the ensuring of the educational process quality. It is highlighted that the overcoming of difficulties and problematic aspects of the higher school reforming and the further progressive development of the sphere is possible when considering the domestic experience and steady traditions of the state educational institutions.

One of the key issues of modern education is the effectiveness in teaching foreign languages. Nowadays school teachers are using various technologies to improve the quality of education. Methodologists focus on the necessity of high-quality teaching a foreign language starting from the primary school.

This paper considers the features of using CLIL-technology on the primary school lessons. CLIL-technology (teaching by integration of foreign language with other school subjects) is often used in high school or university, although it is possible to use this technology with primary school pupils. As an example in this paper we have used our experience of teaching English to the first grade pupils through CLIL-technology on the lessons of additional educational program.

The experience of teaching English in primary school allowed us to see the following methodological opportunities of using CLIL-technology on foreign language lessons: these lessons can be used as a form of consolidation of knowledge that pupils acquire in studying other school subjects; it is possible to correlate teaching particular units of the English lessons planning with teaching the units of nonlinguistic subjects for effective integration of these subjects; the lessons of nonlinguistic subjects should be the basis for integration as an effective method of learning a foreign language in primary school. All these methodological opportunities of using CLIL-technology will allow teachers to generate better foreign language knowledge and develop skills of higher quality in the first grade pupils and can become the basis for new methodological works of teachers.

In recent years, it is said frequently enough about the necessity of applying mathematical knowledge in all fields of science and economy. However, mathematics is difficult for many students to learn. Increasingly frequently, various experts say about the low level of mathematical training of school and university students. Such problems as the lack of background knowledge, the separation of theory and practice, and the lack of continuity in the school and higher mathematics can be observed in the modern school mathematical education. The paper suggests one of the most effective ways of eliminating these issues – the introduction of interdisciplinary relationships to the educational process. The advantages of interdisciplinary relationships application are displayed through the example of studying two sections of school mathematics: vectors and method of coordinates. It is reasonable to show the alternative ways of solving the same task, including the application of methods of the related disciplines, to the students of classes with the advanced study of mathematics the graduates of which are the intending students of technical universities. The paper gives the example of solving the geometrical task by two methods (traditional and using vectors and the system of coordinates) and suggests the comparative analysis of the complexity of the solutions obtained.

The analysis of the problems determined in the mathematical education allows speaking about a number of advantages of the interdisciplinary relationships in education. Among them are the creation of the general picture of subject matter that causes its in-depth understanding, the application of the alternative methods of solving tasks that allow escaping stereotypeness, and the elimination of gap between the school and university programs in mathematics.

Vocational university training requires graduates’ mastering not only professional competencies but also other competencies that provide adequate communication and IT literacy. However, the ability of Russian university graduates to use a foreign language leaves much to be desired. The quality of language training at a university can be increased by means of grouping the first-year students according to their level of a foreign language, which can create relatively equivalent conditions for acquiring the language and most effectively develop communication skills in accordance with the language abilities of the students. The aim of this paper is to analyze and describe the existing systems of placement testing including the authors’ test based on international language testing system TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). The paper studies such concepts as “test” and “pedagogical testing” and explains the general structure of a test. The authors consider the concept “placement test” which implies stratification into levels. The levels described are based on the European scale CEFR. Besides, the authors analyze the existing systems of placement testing, i.e. Oxford Placement test, EF test, etc., and specify advantages and disadvantages of their use in Russian universities. Finally, the authors give a detailed description of the Placement Test developed for Togliatti State University students and interpret the experience of using the testing in 2016. The results of the research and the test approbation prove the reliability and veracity of the suggested method of language skills level assessment.

The issue of development of the cognitive universal learning activities (CULA) is connected with the introduction and action of the federal state standards on all levels of education. These CULA focus not only on obtaining particular subject knowledge (an information-oriented paradigm) but on the formation of prolonged vital ability to study (a system-activity paradigm). The paper gives the concept of the “cognitive universal learning activities”, describes new approaches and ways to activate the process of CULA formation aimed at work with the text and the text information, which is the cornerstone of actively developed hermeneutical approach (A.F. Zakirova, S.S. Maltsev, O.P. Mokiyenko, V.I. Slobozhnikova, etc.). The paper studies the possibility for implementation of the principles of system-activity and hermeneutical approaches in the combination of classroom work and after-classes activities of students of the general education organization in the theoretical, methodological and practically-focused contexts. A model is proposed for the formation of cognitive universal learning activities, which has practical significance. It is shown that introduction of the model into the educational process allows to acquire metasubject competences as ways of learning at a higher (advanced) level, which becomes possible due to systematic work with text information both in classroom and after classes, as well as reflexivity and skills of evaluation of the public information, necessary not only for successful learning but also for socialization and self-realization.

In the modern world, a number of features of an adult person’s view of life, which lead him to the personal immaturity (infantilism) and the insufficient professionalism, have broadly spread. Such view of life is based on the desire for easy insouciant life, full of pleasures, that is actively promoted by mass media. The paper concentrates on the identification of psychological factors contributing to the human exposure to influences preventing his full development and maturity, as well as the factors that allow countering these unfavorable influences.

The paper analyzes the works of Russian and foreign researchers published during the recent decade and considering the issues of personal maturity and infantilism, juvenilization of modern society, labor, idleness, game interest of adults, and demonstrative consumption. The author identifies characteristics of modern living conditions that, on the one hand, allow a person to develop progressively and, on the other hand, can be used for regressive development. The author summarizes the results of several empirical works carried out earlier, during which personal and professional development was studied in connection with the moral development, the ability to make a positive moral choice. 

The analysis of unfavorable tendencies in the development of adults in the modern world shows that the factors of susceptibility to infantilization are a number of features of a person’s internal attitude, as well as the failure to use the criteria of moral standards when assessing one’s actions and current events.

Based on the comprehensive analysis of works on the problem under consideration and the results of the author’s empirical research, it is concluded that the factors of progressive development and achievement of maturity are the following: a person’s having the inner position of an adult; a person’s engagement into labor activity according to the age norms; making positive moral choices in the situations of uncertainty; high level of moral development.

Study of psychological content of the process of religious conversion is one of the main fields of research in the psychology of religion. If the factors of religious development of a person carried out by the religious upbringing and education are clear enough, the factors and stages of sudden and unpredicted changes of religious consciousness and behavior in psychological science are poorly described in psychological science at present time. The main problem is that it is impossible to create a universal scheme of religious conversion without taking into account specifics of the religious institute where a neophyte is directly “introduced”. Specifics of religious conversion in Islam are insufficiently described.

This paper describes empirical research of religious conversion of Muslims. The narrative analysis was applied as a research method throughout the study. Respondents who included representatives of the young age were offered to write a story how they gained their faith. The analysis of the texts shows that conversion into Islam is characterized by a high degree of the search activity of the persons and rational reasoning of their choice. In most cases, the new Muslim converts are characterized by a negative attitude toward Islam before the process of conversion, which they associate with insufficient life experience and social stereotypes. The structure of the narrative of “turning” to Islam contains three consecutive constituents: search for the Truth, insight, and life according to the Truth. It is possible to make a conclusion that this type of religious conversion should be considered as a cognitive process. Among the factors initializing “turning” to Islam are reading of religious literature and interaction with Muslims.

Monotonia is a phenomenon specific to the conveyer labor. Due to the fact that each profession can have peculiar symptoms and mechanisms of its formation, the need arises to study this state in relation to the specific labor conditions. The problem of monotonia in the sphere of hazardous chemical production still remains unexplored.

The paper covers the study of monotonia symptoms of the operators of continuous glass fiber production. Sixty-four male operators at the ages from 22 to 39 participated in the research study.

The author determined the dynamics of manifestation of monotonia symptoms of the operators of continuous glass fiber production during the day shift. Among the identified symptoms, apathy, boredom, fatigue, and drowsiness were determined. At the beginning of the working day, the operators registered cheerful mood, in the afternoon and by the end of the day, this index decreases significantly due to the augmentation of the fatigue state of various intensity. The drowsiness is observed at all stages of the work shift, and at the end of the shift, it is being fixed more often than at the beginning of the day. None of the respondents register the apathy and boredom at the beginning of the day, but they experience them very often in the middle and at the end of the day.

The results of the study can be considered when organizing the technological process of production of continuous glass fiber in order to reduce the negative impact of experiencing monotonia, and, as a consequence, to improve the efficiency of work activities. However, it should be remembered that the results are related to the day shift only. Manifestations of monotonia of operators of continuous glass fiber production will differ significantly during the night shift.

The paper covers the issue of the adolescent maladjustment. The author considers the basic domestic and foreign approaches to the understanding of social and psychological factors of maladjustment. The obtained empirical data reveal various aspects of the phenomenon under the study. Teenagers from deprived backgrounds participated in the study. Such social status is assigned by the social services and is officially accepted in the case of family abuse, needy family, alcohol involvement and the unemployment of parents. In such cases, a family is considered a difficult family. Teenagers grown up in such conditions are prone to the maladjusted behavior. The impaired interaction of a person with the society as a whole and oneself is understood to be the maladjustment. The examples of maladjustment are the non-normative lexicon usage, aggressive behavior, educational institutions non-attendance, poor progress, unauthorized leaves, addictions, stealing, and so on. The paper considers the multidimensionality of behavioral manifestations of the adolescent maladjustment. The author gives the empirical study data and uses the following methods of diagnostics – questionnaire, testing, supervision, and conversation. Based on the data obtained, the author analyzed the contradictions in the objective and subjective evaluation of the behavior of teenagers and compared the data of teachers’ observation and survey with the self-assessment of the behavior of the study participants. The unique data about the peculiarities of the behavior of teenagers in the informal groups are considered and the ideological beliefs of modern informal groups are described. The author gives certain examples of behavioral peculiarities and self-assessment of the maladjustment levels of the adolescents with different levels of the maladjustment symptoms and determined the contradictions between the maladjustment external manifestations and the internal assessment of personal behavior. Multiple consideration of maladjustment promotes the fullest understanding of its special aspects in adolescence.

The paper considers the age-specific involution of cognitive processes in the elderly: thinking, short-term visual memory, and the voluntary attention stability. The relevance of the study is associated with the aging population of the country. Skilled intellectual workers when reaching the retirement, at the discretion of the employers, become eliminated from the active working life. At the same time, their experience turns out frequently to be much-in-demand. The psychological issue is the determination of cognitive resource allowing them to prolong their working efficiency. The empirical study is carried out on the total sample of 322 people at the ages from 18 to 89; they include 144 males and 178 females with higher and secondary education who still work now. Using the age section methods, the authors studied the productivity of the superior mental functions at different age periods during natural aging without pathological changes. The authors used the well-known valid and reliable psychodiagnostic methodologies. The data obtained are presented in the diagrams reflecting the changes in productivity of cognitive processes (Y) depending on the age (X). The authors determined the gender shift in the trends and the nature of age involution of cognitive functions and established that the cognitive processes regress, according to T. Ribot’s law, follows in the order inverted to their genesis.  Using the partial sample of 70 people with the higher education and 70 people with the secondary education working at the ages of 60–85, the authors carried out the correlation and factor analyses and detected the psychosocial factors influencing the retention of the efficient mental activity in the elderly. Family support, mental activity, and person’s education are the main factors. It is empirically proved that the cognitive functions regress of the intellectual workers proceeds less intensively and settles down at the age period of 65–70. In the elderly, the prior regular intellectual activity in the spheres of “man – man” and “man – sign” professions influences positively the retention of mental operations. The education of nonintellectual workers has just the latent inhibitory effect on the cognitive functions regress.