Today's employers are interested in qualified, competitive specialists who are flexible in their profession and able to adapt quickly to changes in the production process. However, young specialists are not always able to participate actively in the competition in the labour market, because their professional development usually takes several years after graduation and requires additional efforts and financial resources from the organizations and institutions where they work.
Therefore, the development of society and the state of the economy requires educational institutions to form a new generation of personnel. Modern specialists must be well prepared to work in a rapidly changing world, be competitive in the labour market and educational services, possess mobility, as well as the desire for self-development, self-education and self-realization.
Under such conditions, the role of practice-oriented technologies, aimed at developing personal and professional competencies of a specialist, as well as the training activity acquires a practice-transformative character, and becomes more important than ever.
For a few years Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University has been implementing purposeful activity aimed at creating requirements for the implementation of practice-oriented approach in training highly qualified specialists. In addition to the subjects taught, an important aspect is the creation of a basis for practical training involving practitioners.
Many interesting ideas were discovered during online meetings and seminars by the UniLab participants in the project “From University to Labour Market in the 21st century: a step towards training in a real-life working environment”. Some of the ideas have already been incorporated into the teaching process.
For example, in the current academic year students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages had an opportunity to take part in master classes at the branch of the Department of Romance and Germanic Philology in the state educational institution “Secondary School No. 28 in Mogilev”, develop lessons and role-play them in the role of teachers during the lessons under the guidance of an experienced methodologist. The updated curricula of the faculties provide for practice starting from the 1st year, which will allow future teachers, economists, lawyers, historians, journalists, etc. clearly understand where, when and how to apply theoretical knowledge in practice at the end of the course. Besides almost all students have a course of Business English in their curriculum which provides language instruction and training in business communication, including business correspondence, negotiations, formal presentations, informal networking, business vocabulary, report and proposal writing, vocabulary and reading for professional purposes. In addition, faculties have started to work more closely with potential employers. Many of the students take the opportunity to work part-time in their spare time with subsequent employment as a young professional. But perhaps the main role in the formation of students' professional skills and the development of professional skills is given to practice, which allows students to convince themselves of the correctness of their choice of future profession.
On the threshold of state examinations and diploma projects defense students had an opportunity to consolidate in practice the theoretical knowledge they had been receiving for 3.5 years of study at the university. At the reporting conference on the results of pedagogical practice students shared their impressions on their first pedagogical experience, personal achievements and difficulties encountered. Traditionally, the words of encouragement and wishes for a good path to the profession were said by the teachers — supervisors of internships.
For 11 weeks, students of pedagogical specialities not only performed the duties of an English Language teacher and a supervisor, but also informed high school students about the main activities of Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University. This is a necessary initiative, because in just a few months, graduates of schools, gymnasiums and lyceums will have to take a serious step in choosing their future profession.
Summing up the future teachers of a foreign language noted:
— The meeting with the school administration and teaching staff brought us only positive impressions. English Language teachers and supervisors tried to provide all possible assistance in the preparation and conduct of foreign language lessons, as well as extracurricular activities, to carry out psychological study of the team of students.
— We thoroughly prepared for each lesson, studied the curriculum on the subject, the best experience of teachers; we made up scenarios for out-of-class activities and prepared them together with pupils. There were no particular problems with discipline in the lessons, as we tried to choose interesting educational material and use a variety of methods and techniques of working with it in the classroom.
— It was difficult to fit all the planned material into 45 minutes. Therefore, some of the material always “fell out” and had to be left for self-study.
— During lessons we often used creative assignments, which students were always very happy about. We believe that a creative approach in working with students increases their cognitive interest in the subject and learning in general.
— Throughout the practice, we tried to be responsible teachers, with a broad cultural outlook and high speech culture. We are glad that we always managed to find an emotional connection with the pupils, which made the learning process as comfortable and effective as possible.
— Our first teaching experience proved that we did not make a mistake in choosing our profession. After graduation, we are ready to continue our professional and personal growth in education.
— In the process of conducting lessons we have learnt how to plan the lesson, to define the learning, developing and educational aims of the lesson, to prepare for the lesson all necessary teaching and visual aids and technical means of education, to draw up a lesson plan.
— Visiting classes of our groupmates we had an opportunity to compare the methodology of their lessons with our own.
— We believe that pedagogical practice is quite effective and will help us to master pedagogical skills in general.
The students were so touching and sincere in their stories about the school, creative in their reports, poetic in their descriptions of their experiences, finding so much positivity in the days and weeks they spent with the students that one wants to believe — we are graduating trained and motivated young professionals, and most importantly — decent, kind and bright people.