How Students Develop and Meet Their Need for Additional Education

Abstract

Abstract. We analyze how university students develop and meet their need for additional education as the critical way to engage in lifelong learning, which starts in student days and continues throughout the life cycle. The article investigates into the theoretical approaches to the nature, content and orientation of the need for additional education, identifying the key factors encouraging university students to acquire additional major-related knowledge so as to sharpen their competitive edge in the labor market. We show that 71% of students experience the need for additional education, and 51% have already received some along with their regular university studies. We rely upon the determination theory to allow for not only extrinsic factors of development of the need for additional education (employer requirements, current trends) but also intrinsic ones (commitment to increasing one's competitiveness in the labor market, need for personal fulfillment). The article also explores how students develop and meet their need for supplementary knowledge and skills depending on their major field of study. We suggest taking specific measures to develop the additional education system, notably developing more actively students' need for constant improvement of their competitive power and better self-fulfillment in career and life, and expanding significantly the range of services offered by additional education institutions. Keywords: lifelong learning, higher education, educational needs, additional education, need for additional education, competitive edge in the labor market, personal fulfillment. 10.17323/1814-9545-2016-3-204-223 The dynamic changes in labor market requirements for university graduates and the need to adjust to them determine the relevance of research on the trends in the need for additional education across different student categories and the main contradictions in the development and realization of such need. A number of sociological studies have addressed the acquisition of knowledge and skills beyond the higher education standard by students to enhance their competitive power in the labor market [Gudkov, 2009;Lukashenko, 2003;Tereshchenko, 2005;Froumin, Dobryakova, 2012;Cherednichenko, 2014]. Master's and senior Bachelor's students who seek to obtain knowledge extending their basic university skills engage in continuing education as early as when obtaining their very first degree. The public demand for lifelong learning becomes their personal need. It brings forth a unique system of interaction between students, teachers, developers and organizers of ever more numerous supplementary education courses offered by universities or dedicated lifelong learning institutions. DOI:Additional education has been traditionally regarded by both foreign and Russian researchers as a type of adult education associated with professional conversion or advanced training in a specific field [Grummell, 2007;Huberman, 1974;Knowles, 1980;Derzhavina, 2008; Konstantinovskiy, Vakhshtayn, Kurakin, 2007;Lagutina, 200...

The role of additional and alternative education in the self-development of children and adolescents

“…Leontiev, D.A. Leontiev, J. Bugental, R. May, V. Frankl and others) [2]. It is also important to take into account the interrelation and harmony of self-realization and social realization, for example, the needs as such are formed under the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors predetermining all human life.…”

“…[1] Synonyms for "alternative" in this context include «non-traditional", "non-conventional" and "non-standardized». Alternative educators very often use words such as "authentic', "developmental", "contextual", "holistic" and "progressive", "innovative", "creative", "decentralized education", "egalitarian, democratic, socially responsible program" [2]. Some elements of the system of extracurricular education were perceived in the countries of Asia and Europe.…”

Model of the System of Raising the Social Status of the Teacher in the Region on the Basis of a Pedagogical University

“…-economic block: low wages, lack of material benefits; non-transparent incentive fund distribution system (Ilyin et al, 2012, Reeves, Lowenhaupt, 2016Shafranov-Kutsev, 2016;Smirnova, 2016); -professional-cultural bloc: insignificant career growth; the formation of a negative image of the teacher and the concept of "teacher's vocation" in the mass media; the unpretentiousness of the majority of pedagogical universities in comparison with other types of universities; low selfaffirmation of most teachers (Sychev et al, 2008;Margolis, 2015;McMahon et al, 2013;Zagvyazinsky, 2016); -labor bloc: administrative-bureaucratic system of school management, increased accountability, lack of power of a teacher in front of the direct management of the school, complexity of relations in teaching staff and with the administration; deviant behavior of students (Vorobyeva, 2014;Efimova, Semenov, 2015;Aydarova, 2016;Khusnutdinova, 2017); -legal block: turning a teacher into attendants for children, parents and the administration; lack of teacher's rights to freedom of speech and action (Abashina, 2012;Miles et al, 2016;Maslinsky, Ivanyushina, 2016).…”

“…Increasing the age structure of teachers is one of the most important problems faced by education systems around the world, including in Europe and the USA (Reeves, Lowenhaupt, 2016). It is necessary to create a strong and diverse research base in the field of education to improve the quality of teacher training in motivational-orientational (Nagovitsyn et al, 2018a), cultural and value perspectives (Miles et al, 2016).…”

Development of Reflexive Thinking as Important Motivational Potential for Teaching Activity

“…It's admitted that lifelong learning begins during the student days and continues throughout the life [3]. Education experts also note that teachers should be capable of constant and systemic self-education pointing out that the evaluation of professional activity becomes an effective tool of performance improvement in the context of professional growth and continuing education [4].…”