USE OF WORKSHOP TECHNOLOGY IN PRACTICAL TRAINING FOR FUTURE SOCIAL CARE TEACHERS IN TERMS OF PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

The article substantiates the conceptual principles and practical possibilities of using workshops in the process of practical training of to-be social care teachers for professional activity. The issue is considered from the theoretical and methodological standpoint of modern higher education and social pedagogy. The article explores target priorities and essential features of the workshop as an innovative pedagogical technology which assumes that participants actively and willingly gain knowledge and make decisions in the process of dynamic group work which integrates social-communicative, activity-practical, and project-innovative components of professional training. It is proved that potentials of competence and activity approaches can be successfully realized in the process of practical training of to-be social care teachers due to such invariant characteristics of the workshop as dynamism, active and social nature of reciprocal learning process, swapping teacher's role between those of a translator and an active participant of the education process, as well as ensuring team building in student groups. The author identifies stages to organize a workshop (preparatory, organizational-introductory, research, technological, and final stages) and various ways of their implementation (analysis of problematic situations, team building, discussion, pedagogical workshop, brainstorming, marathon, parametric hands-on session). The article provides a sample workshop course structure —"Professional development milestones for a prospective social care teacher" course plan for a set of ten interactive-competence sessions. As an example of using workshop technology in practical training for prospective social care teachers, the article outlines two exercises, "Structure of social care teachers' professional competence" and "Formula of social care teachers' professional competence". The study identifies diagnostic criteria (value-motivational, cognitive, activity, and reflexive ones) and corresponding indicators that help to assess the dynamics of prospective social care teachers' development based on workshop results. The article also presents the results of workshop course introduction and its efficiency assessment using developed diagnostic tools including student questionnaires ("My competence potential as a prerequisite for future professional activity") and an expert assessment sheet for a prospective teacher ("Dynamics of student's professional development for a prospective social care teacher").