Professional training of students for social rehabilitation of children with disabilities: resources for social project activities

Abstract

Introduction. The social importance and topicality of the problem is accounted for by the aggravated contradiction between the need of the society and the state for students’ high-quality professional training and their insufficient commitment to various kinds of practical aid, including social rehabilitation, to children with disabilities. The purpose of the article is to develop and test the original practice-oriented model of future specialists’ training – those to-beinvolved in social rehabilitation of children with disabilities. Materials and methods. In order to assess students’ commitment to social rehabilitation of children with disabilities, the authors undertook a questioning held within the period from May to June 2022. It involved 106 second- to fourth-year students (106 persons all together) studying under the bachelor degree programme “Social work” at the Department of Social Work, Psychological and Pedagogical Education at the Federal State-Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education ‘Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University’. Research methodology and techniques: analysis of documents, observation, interviewing, testing, generalisation of experience. Results. The experimental work made it possible to identify the problems in preparing future specialists to social work involving social rehabilitation of children with disabilities; it enabled the authors as well to verify the efficiency of the proposed original model of professional training. The experimental work was carried out in the natural conditions of educational process. Three crosscutting stages were involved in the course of the experiment. The levels of students’ readiness for social rehabilitation of children were evaluated. The readiness level in the experimental group (high – 1.2%, sufficient – 6.8%, middling – 21.3%, low – 70.7%) was lower than in the control group (high – 2.9%, sufficient – 8.6%, middling – 22.3%, low – 65.8%). The second and third stages confirmed that the realisation of the proposed model contributed to the enhancement of students’ commitment to social rehabilitation of children with disabilities. The data obtained in the course of the experiment showed that the majority of third- and fourth-year students (81.57%) had formed, at sufficient and high level, the system of professional knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for social rehabilitation of children with disabilities, as well as due motivational readiness. At the same time, it should be noted that 14.47% of the surveyed students showed a middling level of readiness, and 5.2% – a low level. The steadily growing level of students’ readiness for social rehabilitation of children with disabilities makes it possible to conclude that the model presented in the article is effective. Conclusion. Working with children with disabilities requires a number of conditions to be met by students willing to have due-quality professional schooling. Of special importance among them is the introduction of the academic discipline “Social rehabilitation of children with disabilities”. At the same time, in addition to the practice-oriented classes and special training at specialised socio/medical and psychological/pedagogical institutions, the authors propose “immersion” of students in the realisation of a social project aimed at social rehabilitation of children with disabilities. In the course of organisation of students’ professional training aimed at social rehabilitation of children with disabilities, the students, owing to the introduction of the above training model into this process, not only accumulate and form due knowledge, skills and abilities, but also reach individual self-development as well as acquire communicative skills, enrich their life experience and social practice.