Contents
There is little practice, a lot of unnecessary subjects, and graduates do not know who they want to be – modern schools are often criticized for this. We tell how this can be changed and why students need internships
How do high school graduates see their future careers?
The educational path “school – university” has long become almost the gold standard. Most parents are sure that it is impossible to succeed without a university diploma, and therefore children most often do not start building a career until they graduate from a bachelor’s degree, and even better, they become masters. But not all young people are suitable for such a long training. Increasingly, high school students are thinking about starting a career earlier or even starting their own business, for example, after graduating from college or technical school.
The trend towards a quick entry into the profession is also reflected in the change in the programs of secondary vocational education. For example, in the 2022/23 academic year, some Russian colleges and technical schools are starting to work according to a program that reduces the number of teaching hours, while redistributing time in favor of practice.
Why do we need a practice-oriented approach in education?
The answer to the request for an earlier entry into the profession and the need to act in an ever-changing world is a practice-oriented approach. It allows you to form a professional picture of the world at school. Both such schools and separate classes are already appearing in our country.
Evgenia Anikina, project manager for the creation of an innovative school in Skolkovo:
“Already at school, it is important to prepare children for the fact that they will have to live in a constantly changing world, and the speed of these changes is only increasing every year. The traditional classroom system does not fully prepare for this, since the learning process in it is built linearly, where knowledge is transferred from teacher to student. However, the successful process of mastering knowledge should be flexible and inextricably linked with the application of this knowledge in practice, moreover, modern children should be able to independently “extract” the knowledge they need in the learning process. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of self-employed, young entrepreneurs, a growing demand from young people for alternative education and practice-oriented training. In such a model, through experiment and experience, a set of professional competencies and flexible skills necessary for a successful person in the modern world is formed. And it is this educational model that will be most in demand in the future.”
The benefit of this approach is that it gives children much more opportunities to get hands-on understanding of various professions and helps them understand what the child wants to be in the future. It is practice and project work that make it possible to move from the traditional scheme – “the teacher gives knowledge, the children memorize it” – to the scheme when the child learns the world himself, tries himself in various fields, and teachers and experts act more like mentors.
The benefits of a practice-oriented approach will not only be experienced by children. It is important both for future employers and for the state as a whole. It is business, that is, potential employers, who are interested in young people consciously choosing a profession and having basic skills with which it will be easier for them to start their professional path.
Features of practice-oriented educational systems
Practice-oriented educational institutions and individual classes have a number of distinctive features.
Participation of industrial partners
The participation of industrial partners helps to link knowledge and practice. Companies cooperating with schools, manufacturing enterprises and research centers will be able to fully participate in the educational process, conduct practical classes and internships. Thanks to this, students will not only learn the theory from textbooks, but also gain real experience in various professions.
Involved teachers
The task of practice-oriented schools is to create an environment for students in which they could experiment, try themselves in different directions, and form their own educational trajectory. To do this, educators must also be willing to test different approaches to learning, to continually learn and relearn throughout their lives.
Conscious career choice
According to EdTech research by MAXIMUM EDUCATION, 42% of XNUMXth graders do not know who they are going to work in the future and where they want to go. The cooperation of schools with enterprises and companies will help schoolchildren decide which areas they like and which activities they have a penchant for.
Andrey Komarov, investor, co-chairman of the Committee for Vocational Training and Professional Qualifications of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs:
“School has a strong influence on a child’s choice of future profession. In most cases, the only goal of graduation, which parents see, is the subsequent admission to a university. After graduating from it and starting a professional career, after 3-4 years the young man realizes that he made the wrong choice, he is not interested in the profession, and the chosen field of activity does not suit him.
The practice-oriented learning model allows us to break this chain, traditional for our country. Thanks to the involvement of industrial partners in the educational process, the child tries himself in different areas, gains applied skills and can make a clear choice of his future profession, consciously determine the further trajectory of his development.”
Variability of educational and professional trajectories
Practice-oriented schools will take into account the needs of the labor market, as industrial partners help to update the content of education. At the same time, topics and internship modules can be easily adapted without the need to rewrite the curriculum. Such educational models are very flexible, and this is perhaps the most important trend of our time.
Educational systems with a focus on practice
The global trend towards practice-oriented learning is gaining momentum both in our country and abroad.
Innovative practice-oriented school in Skolkovo
Will work in 2023
Skolkovo is a modern scientific and technological complex, where the offices of the largest corporations, educational institutions and research centers are concentrated. On September 1, 2023, a new practice-oriented school will open in Skolkovo, designed for 825 children (grades 1-11). Later, it is planned to create a kindergarten and a college, which, together with the school, will be integrated into a single full-cycle educational ecosystem.
The general education school being created in Skolkovo is focused on modern applied professions. Education in it will go in four main areas: creative industries, artificial intelligence and IT, biotech and space.
In the new practice-oriented school, the emphasis will be on the portfolio of projects that students develop, and not just on academic results. Entrepreneurial thinking will be at the forefront of them. Schoolchildren will be taught to manage a team and projects, to make decisions quickly.
The integration of the school into the Skolkovo ecosystem will allow the maximum involvement of industrial partners in the educational process, which will allow students to gain specific professional competencies through practice and in the future choose a profession and even a place of work, based not on the dreams and stories of their parents, but on their own experience.
Evgenia Anikina:
“We want to create an environment in which children will be given the opportunity to try their hand at practical work under the mentorship of educators and business experts, get acquainted with professions and choose what is right for them. The school is preparing to open next year, but for now we are creating a team of like-minded people: managers, teachers who share our approach and believe in its success. Of course, the leader plays a key role in this. Therefore, we have already announced an open competition to fill the vacancy of the school principal.”
IBM P-Tech Schools, 28 countries
Launched in 2011
In just over 10 years, IT company IBM has opened 300 educational institutions where students can receive a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in 6 years instead of 14 years in the regular US education system (12 years of school plus a two-year specialization program in college).
Students simultaneously go through the standard high school program and study subjects in their specialty in depth. The profile disciplines depend on the specific institution: for example, some schools train graphic designers, others train engineers.
In addition to theoretical training, students work for 6–8 weeks during the entire period of study, gaining practical experience in their chosen field. P-Tech partners with Volkswagen, American Airlines and over 600 other companies. Students can even train at NASA, learning to program satellites, analyze data from their sensors, and take space images.
After graduation, students receive positions in the organizations where they did their internship. For example, in 2019, IBM began hiring the first specialists who studied at P-Tech.
The first P-Tech school appeared in the USA, and now such institutions are open in 28 countries – the UK, Canada, Italy, Morocco, Poland and others. Citizens of other states can also enter there, the conditions depend on the chosen country.
The need to link education with the real sector of the economy has been discussed for several years at the level of the state, business and educational institutions. But, more importantly, a steady demand is being formed in society for the acquisition of practical skills in the process of study and an earlier entry into the profession. The introduction of a practice-oriented approach to education is an effective and relevant response to the challenges of the time and the needs of today’s youth.