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This paper addresses the problem of the formation of the self-regulation of educational activities of students studying in a technical university. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problem of the self-regulation of educational activities of students, presenting data from an experimental study of students' self-regulation. Special attention is paid to the distinction between the terms self-control and self-regulation. This paper presents data on the state of self-regulation among students studying technical specialties. The research methodology is based on the theoretical analysis of the results of scientific works, which present the main provisions on the formation of students' self-regulation. The research methods include questioning and a methodical experiment. The stages of the formation of students' self-regulation are highlighted, and the main directions of teachers' work on the formation of students' self-regulation are determined. The structure of self-regulation is described and the condition for its formation is justified using the technology of self-regulation formation. Based on the study, students' self-regulation is linked to the awareness of their professional and personal goals, as well as to the level of regulatory and reflective qualities. Personal and professional self-improvement in the process of vocational education depends on the level of the formation of regulatory and reflexive qualities.

The paper deals with the evaluation of specialists' professional training quality within the framework of intersectoral, transborder, public and private models of social partnership described in theories by foreign and Russian scientists. Special attention is paid to providing methodological grounds for cooperation between the total subjects within the vocational education system. The procedure of studying the Russian employers' ideas about the high-quality training for specialists relies on an innovation spiritual and ontological model of social partnership. The model comprises the following components: representation of the educational content through the lens of business futurology on the part of teachers; selection of the educational content through the lens of spiritual and ontological intentions on the part of students; expert evaluation of the educational through the lens of the competitive business environment on the part of the employers. The effectiveness of social partnership is determined proceeding from justified indices: the extent of variability, flexibility and mobility when performing the tasks of teaching the students possessing social and creative assets that are in demand at the labor market in the sphere of children and youth leisure. The paper presents the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data of questionnaire survey conducted among the directors of educational organizations of culture (a case study of Rostov region of the Russian Federation). The survey has allowed detecting a slight positive dynamics in their evaluations of the quality of specialists' training and outlining the prospects in the development of social partnership between the employers and the educational organizations.

Aimed at developing methods, tools and techniques for delivery and evaluation of an educational module, this article addresses the needs of academicians restructuring, adjusting and altering their curricula to meet European Higher Education Area standards. The paper focuses on two pressing issues -- the applicability of and adjustment to European standards in the Russian higher education system. These issues are exemplified by the pilot implementation of a course in Language Assessment at Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (KFU). In the paper the local impact of the course at KFU is viewed at four levels: Reactions, Learning Changes, Behaviour and Results. Impact data collected at KFU include the following: end of session written feedback, pre- and post-course questionnaires, observation in the classroom, interviews, concept maps, teacher portfolios, written assignments, tests/examinations and participant journal entries. Viewed as the first step in conducting a full Student Needs Analysis, the research is intended to inform the design and delivery of Language Assessment courses for graduates majoring in English, Linguistics or Pedagogy elsewhere. The methods, techniques and tools developed by the authors may also be adapted for application to any University course during piloting, or following its introduction.

This paper is dedicated to the up-to-date educational problem, that is, the role of local lore in teaching EFL to University students. Although many educators admit that local lore knowledge plays a great role in the development of a well-bred and well-educated personality and meets students' needs, the problem has not been thoroughly studied. Local lore can also serve as a unique source for implementing various teaching techniques, in particular a project method. In this study a project-based teaching technique was exploited, which allowed to implement the individual approach to the education of students. The materials used in this research are taken from the copyright methodical textbook "Local Lore in EFL Class". Drawing on literature of teaching and learning EFL as well as personal teaching and learning experience, the authors present the authentic model of teaching local lore in EFL class on the basis of the project-based teaching technique. The paper discusses issues and practices of the studied topic and offers general recommendations for University faculty. These materials can also be used in teaching practice of pre-service teachers.

The paper explores the ways in which non-formal content and language integrated learning within university studies can affect students' academic progress. The research has included theoretical and empirical studies. The article focuses on the observation of students' learning process, draws attention to challenges and benefits students experienced through non-formal Law and Language integrated learning. Emphasis is laid on those non-formal learning activities that may be viewed as part of the university students' training for their future professional activities. The paper provides the results of students' interviews and questionnaires revealing the issues that students consider important regarding non-formal content and language learning. The research findings aim to contribute to a better understanding of the overall interdependence of formal and non-formal learning within the university academic environment.

The purposes of this paper are to survey Russian trainers to create a social portrait of the professional group and to identify features, which could be arranged as a foothold for transforming this group to a new level given the demands of the modern economy. This study integrates the use of quantitative and qualitative social research strategies to obtain, aggregate, and analyze data characterizing the professional group of trainers in the Russian vocational education and training (VET) system. The basic research was provided by questionnaires in all federal districts (as recognized by international law) of the Russian Federation. The quantitative poll of trainers was conducted by representative two-level sampling. A number of tables and charts provide a social portrait of the Russian trainer. The statistical data reveal the current level of trainers' education as well as their length of service, distribution of vocations, and other significant features. The overall conclusion from these findings indicates that a typical representative of this professional group is a woman of average or slightly advanced age with a family, who has a VET or higher education, has served as a training officer for not less than 10 years, and who has either been recruited as a highly skilled worker or as a specialist. A typical representative feels the need to change something in the life and teaching of the young people that she knows. The research into trainers as a professional group was conducted first because of their uniformity, and secondly, their typicality as a pedagogical group. In many respects, the main characteristics of the social portrait are similar to characteristics of other professional groups in the Russian education system, such as secondary and post-secondary school teachers, and VET teachers. The study is based on one country. It is the first and only survey of its type in the Russian Federation. The paper provides a unique analysis of the situation with trainers in the VET system of the Russian Federation.

The research urgency is caused by necessity to study and develop the phenomenon of students' self-government, providing their vocational formation. In this regard, this paper aims to identify the internal psychological-pedagogical factors for implementing of self-government of the students through the assessment of their personal-typological peculiarities. A leading approach to the study of this problem is activity-based approach, allowing considering of the manifestation of students' personality characteristics within the educational process. The authors present the results of experimental research of internal factors of students' self-government; reveal the specifics for solution of educational tasks in terms of time; identify criteria of successful task performance by the students; theoretically substantiate conditions for manifestation of self-government of college students. The materials of the paper are of practical significance for educators, psychologists, researchers, engaged in the projecting and implementation of learning activities of college students.

Learning management systems (LMS) have been proven to encourage a constructive approach to knowledge acquisition and support active learning. One of the keys to successful and efficient use of LMS is how the stakeholders adopt and perceive this learning tool. The present research is therefore motivated by the importance of understanding teachers' and students' perceptions of LMS in order to anticipate possible issues (problems) and help to build a productive learning environment and a committed user community. The paper looks at this process at a Russian university (National Research University Higher School of Economics-HSE) where the system is being implemented and examines the following issues: qualification and readiness of the stakeholders to use LMS and their perceptions of the system's convenience, effectiveness, and usefulness. The research reveals remarkable divergence of students' and teachers' perceptions of various aspects of LMS which must be considered when raising the effectiveness of the system and building commitment to e-learning. They are analyzed and explicated in the present paper.

The research relevance of the paper is determined by social demands in highly qualified specialists with abilities to professional growth. In this regard, the article is aimed at developing students' professional self-actualization in modern educational environment. The article presents authors' technology of developing students' consciousness indicating higher levels of students' professional selfactualization. Leading research methods are: theoretical analyses, induction and deduction, systematic and structural analysis, methods of indirect and direct pedagogic observation, expert evaluation and experimental testing (experimental questionnaires and review). Materials of the article are of practical value for teachers, students and people who are interested in practical ways of self-organizing personal and professional development in modern educational environment of technical university.

Teaching online requires different skills, roles and competencies for online instructors compared to teaching in traditional learning environments. Universities should offer ongoing support in various forms to help academic staff through their online journey. This paper provides insights into a multinational faculty development program for teaching online, elaborating on results of expectancy and satisfaction surveys. From a local program to a subproject within the Swiss National Science Foundation Project Scopes, e-Tutor aimed at expanding competencies in online lecturing and providing OER material for training colleagues. Designed in the form of a descriptive case study, this research was conducted with 34 attendees of e-Tutor. Data was collected using an e-learning readiness and expectancy questionnaire, and open-ended questions after the program to measure satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey data and content analysis for open-ended data. Participants considered e-Tutor a well-planned and targeted program with good theoretical and practical balance. Duration of such courses, opportunities for adaptation to real-life situations, and localization of the content are areas to be explored further. For future studies, it would also be interesting to see whether participants can apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to create efficient online learning environments.

This paper brings to light the essence, characteristics, and role of educational-cognitive barriers in the preparation of college-attending future social pedagogues that may arise in the process of their mastering social-pedagogical skills related to the prevention of social dependencies. The authors share the findings of their study of a typology of such obstacles in the educational process. Special attention is devoted to typical educational situations in the preparation of students (e.g., getting engaged in methodological activity related to preventing social dependencies, testing mastered methodological schemes and algorithms in activity related to preventing social dependencies, and discovering methodological knowledge) and specific educational-cognitive barriers dominating these situations.

The article presents the main ideas of concept of foreign language discursive competence formation among university and secondary school students by means of intercultural dialogue. The concept includes fundamental principles, activity stages of educational process, and criteria of foreign language discursive competence formation. Innovation of the research is in interdisciplinary approach to solving the problem of foreign language discursive competence formation. It combines principles, methods and diagnostic techniques used in Pedagogy, Methodology of teaching foreign languages and Linguistics. Integrated solution allowed to create the optimal mode of experimental activities and to get innovative experience of the results of empirical research. The author notes that intercultural dialogue is a means of formation of foreign language discursive competence, and the system factor is a special course "Discourse as the way of communication and understanding of the world". The originally developed special course includes studying the theory of discourse, and practical tasks for mastering various types of discourse and communication strategies. It is emphasized that the formation of foreign language discursive competence involves not only organization of intercultural dialogue between students and their foreign-language peers on the Internet, but also various interactive methods of foreign language teaching techniques. The results of research proved the effectiveness of the suggested concept of foreign language discursive competence formation. The reliability of the results is confirmed by calculations based on the x[superscript 2] criterion (Pearson criterion). The paper proves that the proposed concept seems promising as it is significant for professional training of future teachers in modern conditions of education modernization and Russia's entry into the world educational space.

This paper focuses on methodologies of serious games deployment and evaluation. Particularly, this study will present a specific category of serious games that are based on Collaborative Virtual Environments and they aim to support Collaborative Learning. We call these serious games Collaborative Virtual Educational Games (CVEG). The paper aims to analyze the deployment and evaluation process, through the study of relevant bibliography, and by doing so to reveal the existing research gap, which fails to evaluate the threefold nature--game, collaboration, and software--of CVEG. The proposed framework aims to support the design, deployment, and evaluation of a CVEG, by incorporating two consecutive and recurrent cycles, each consisting of distinct phases. Furthermore, each phase is designed to address specific goals. Finally, the paper presents four case studies, applying the proposed theoretical methodology for designing, deploying and evaluating a pragmatic CVEG.

This article is aimed at revealing the foundations of the formation of the official loyalty among the cadets of higher education institutions of the FPS of Russia by the institutions staff, and first of all, by the faculty. Leading methods of research of this problem in this article were: the analysis of scientific papers and official documents, questionnaires, interviews, observation. The article describes the key problems of formation of the official loyalty among FPS of Russia employees. Article identifies factors both assisting and impeding the process of the purposeful formation of official loyalty. Also the attention is focused on the heterogeneity of mechanisms of formation of official loyalty in behavior on the level of compliance with legal and ethical norms, disclosed the peculiarities of formation of official loyalty in the context of the educational process in educational institutions of the FPS of Russia. Principles and steps of purposeful formation of official loyalty in the higher education institutions of the FPS of Russia, practical recommendations in this direction are recommended.

The relevance of the research is conditioned by the need to win the competition struggle by certain organizations and area in general. Education has recently become very popular for the training of highly professional staff. However, achieving this goal is possible by means of creation of favorable working and learning conditions, maintaining health of the teaching staff and students. Therefore, the present article has the purpose to reveal the issues of monitoring of working conditions and the nature of their influence on the health of students and academic staff of Russian State Social University (RSSU). The main approach, implemented in the study has been the system one, giving the opportunity to study the problem in the logical relationship. Also, there has been used the method of comparative analysis, based on the comparison of the results of content analysis of documentary data of the university and sociological survey. The paper reveals the nature of the impact of working conditions on the health of students and teaching staff. There is a dependence of the increase in the incidence of the academic staff and the duration of the university renewal. Scientific and methodological recommendations for the formation of working and learning conditions, favorable for health of students and professors have been working out.

One of the most important functions of historical and pedagogical education in modern educational the system is connected with a pupil's character features development, a value apprehension of social events and a formation of a value-oriented attitude to reality. The main aim of the present article is to describe and analyze the results of a conceptual and methodological model implementation which is based on historical and social science knowledge for a purpose of a formation of value-oriented attitude to reality among younger pupils. The principle methods of this research are: modelling method which allows to observe and trace a value-oriented attitude formation in a step-by-step sequent complex of didactic, methodological and technological historical and social science education components of a primary and secondary education; a method of pedagogical experiment among younger pupils aimed at a formation of a value-oriented attitude to reality on the basis of historical and social science knowledge. The conceptual and methodological model of a value-oriented attitude to reality formed on historical and social science knowledge among younger pupils is discussed and explained in the present paper; the forming conditions of a value-oriented attitude to reality based on historical and social science knowledge among younger pupils are revealed from a pedagogical point of view taking into account pupils' most sensitive personal development period for pedagogical influence and reality apprehension. Devised and tested diagnostic tools implemented among younger pupils to analyze the quality parameters of a value-oriented attitude to social objects in connection with history and modern conditions are considered to be practically significant.

The goal of the paper is to study the problem of developing the professional expertise of vocational college students, future technicians of the road transport industry. The nature and content of the concept "the professional expertise of a technician of road transport industry" has been defined. This concept is considered as a set of skills, knowledge and experience of professional activities in the following directions: cargo and passenger transfer; road transportation service; transport and logistics activities. The content and structure of the contextual approach contributing to the effective development of the professional expertise have been determined. Its structural components--cognitive, value, activity, informational and communicative, adaptive--have been revealed. The pedagogical experiment involved students of the Ufa Road Transport College (Ufa, Russia). The pedagogical conditions ensuring the effective development of future technicians' professional expertise have been formulated. The latter includes using the forms, tools and techniques of active learning within the contextual approach; the implementation of the automated control systems for road transport in the educational process; the orientation of the educational process on realizing the potential of students, enabling them to display creativity through the project method. After the experimental work the number of the students with a high level of professional expertise increased by 30%. The results of the experiment proving the efficiency of the suggested complex of pedagogical conditions for developing the professional expertise have been presented.

In the article, the problem of correspondence of educational standards of higher pedagogical education and teacher professional standards in Russia is actualized. Modern understanding of the quality of vocational education suggests that in the process of education the student develops a set of competencies that will enable him or her to carry out successfully professional activities. As a part of the study of correspondence of educational and professional standards through questionnaires, the representation of employers (heads of educational institutions) about the preparedness of young teachers to the professional activity was studied. The paper presents the analysis of the results of empirical research conducted in two regions of Russia, the problem areas of teacher training are identified, which include deficits in the subject training, in skills of building interaction with the participants in the educational process, deficiencies in required professional motivation and general culture, in communication and IT skills, social infantilism.

It is absolutely essential in any professional environment to go through natural agerelated rotation over a period of time. But, unfortunately, many young teachers filling in the vacancies are practically incompetent in their job, though they are supposed to have acquired certain psychological and pedagogic competencies at the university. This factor raised the issue of discrepancy between the student's idealism with respect to future profession understanding and professional realism revealing and demonstrating young teacher's insufficient competencies. The paper considers idealistic versus realistic set of necessary competencies for a modern teacher as the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of teaching is closely linked, and often dependent, on it. The major methods used in the study of the issue were questionnaires and interviews among school head masters/principles, teaching methodology experts, teachers and undergraduates. They allowed to determine the desired and imperative competencies for teachers. The experiment involved 230 students and 190 school representatives. Current problems in teacher education, related to Russia, have been identified as belonging to three levels: regional, teacher training institutions, and secondary schools. The study contributed to develop a competency model of a modern teacher and the algorithm of its development. Investigation into the idealistic understanding of certain competencies and their relevancy by the university undergraduates who participated in the assessment of competencies significance, revealed the following student's attitude: they believe that subject content knowledge and methodological competencies are number ones in their future job. There are a large number of instructional and related activities to be performed by the teacher inside and outside the classroom. In their opinion the educational competency associated with developing a child's personality, talents and etc., was the second in order of importance, whereas in real teaching practice this competency was determined as the first in order of importance followed by reflective competency, and the third place was given to subject and methodical competencies.

Bologna process puts in a high claim for the modern European education in terms of competency building approach. The control is conducted by the agencies which monitor learning activity level in higher education institutions. This paper presents the aspects of higher education within the conduction of competency building approach projects in Europe and Russia. We propose the technology which evaluates students' professional competence qualimetricly. The technology represents the evaluation algorithm at all levels of student training.

The images of "enemies" and "friends" remain in the focus of attention due to escalating discriminatory practices towards communication partners from different groups that one tends to ascribe negative features based on various stereotypes, social attitudes and representations. In this paper, the problem of metaphorical and narrative foundations of such phenomena as "discrimination" and "hate speech" is investigated. The purpose of this pilot research was studying the influence of "friend" and "alien" metaphors and the ideas of adults about Enemy and Friend on their adopting discriminatory practices towards other people. The author's technique for researching the metaphors of "friends" and "aliens" was developed, as well as one for studying the way discriminatory practices towards other people get adopted. The techniques for studying the characteristics of ideas about Enemy and Friend were applied. The empirical model of "friend" and "alien" metaphors and "enemy" and "friend" images as cognitive predictors of discriminatory practices towards others has been demonstrated. The correlation between "friend" and "alien" metaphors of different kinds, characteristics of personality's ideas about Enemy and Friend were analysed. The results of this research can be of use in solving the applied tasks in psychology of conflicts, in psychological consulting and tolerance trainings.

The relevance of the problem under investigation is conditioned by the fact that a person in the situation of the disease, especially the disease with a poor prognosis in the first place, transforms the system of the value-meaningful priorities, organizing time perspectives, which are drastically changing its structure and length. The resulting changes of the time perspective in the situation of the disease significantly affect the outcome and quality of life. The aim of the research is to study the dissociation of time perspective of the individual patients with hematological disease. The basic method to study this issue is the experimental method, which allows revealing the specifics of the dissociation of time perspective of the individual patients with oncohematological disease. The research results, obtained by the authors are as follows: the basic element of the time perspective of the individual patients with oncohematological disease is the fatalistic present, which is dissociated from the future and the positive past. Negative past is not dissociated, as it is a source of maintaining the experience of the fatalistic present. The increasing share of the future, its integration into the structure of the time perspective of the individual patients with oncohematological disease will allow activating the productive mechanisms of coping with the disease, which has a prognostic significance in the subjective attitude to their own disease. The paper submissions may be used in the provision of psychological assistance to patients with oncohematological disease.

The relevance of studying the stated problem is due to the fact that for increasing the efficiency of higher education marketing it is necessary to take into account several factors, namely, factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, as well as socio-psychological characteristics of the latter, while systematic research of this problem has not been done by now. The goal of this paper is to give recommendations for the implementation of higher education marketing strategies aimed at potential enrollees. The main method used by us for studying the stated problem was the questioning of 1515 enrollees of Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (KFU) with subsequent statistical data processing. Namely, by using techniques of cluster, factor, and correlation analysis we have succeeded in determining certain characteristic features of enrollees and main factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees; we have also ranked these factors. We refine factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, rank their motives for entering a university, reveal factors that influence the total number of enrollees in a university, and determine new academic programs demanded by enrollees. Basing on the obtained results, we propose a model of an enrollee of one of Russian universities and prove that the implementation of an education marketing strategy should take into account the factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, as well as socio-psychological characteristics of the latter. The practical value of obtained results consists in their applicability to the implementation of higher education marketing strategies. The recommendations proposed by us can contribute to increasing the competitiveness of universities among enrollees.

The relevance of the investigated problem is conditioned by the fact that one of the negative factors, which prevent favorable socialization and successful personal-professional development of students, is the tendency of youth to be prone to addiction the formation of which is affected by various mental states. The paper is aimed to explore the characteristics of emotional and estimative mental states of the students who are prone to alcohol and drug dependencies. The leading methods to the study of this problem are psychological testing and analysis of statistically processed data obtained. In the course of empirical research it is found that students with a high propensity to both alcohol and drug addiction possess the emotional perception of self-image is significantly more negative than the students with low propensity. Their dominant mental negative emotional and estimative state that contributes to the high level of addiction to psycho-active substances is a condition which is caused by the insufficient adequacy of self-esteem and the failure of themselves. These article data can be used to improve the psycho-pedagogical activity on reducing the level of addiction to substance abuse among students, to develop effective prevention programs.

This paper discusses the ongoing patriotic education campaign in Russia and how school practitioners interpret patriotism and patriotic education. Patriotism is interpreted in Russia through terms that span the whole political and ideological spectrum from almost extreme left to extreme right, accurately reflecting the existing dichotomy deeply entrenched in Russian culture and mentality. In this study, more than 300 of Russia's teachers participated in a survey about the elements of patriotic education (return rate--77%). The author argues that despite a strong tendency to rationalize patriotism in political and educational discourses through traditionalistic and militaristic frameworks, teachers' opinions about patriotism and patriotic education are more nuanced and pragmatic.

The paper considers key risks of cultural and civilizational integration of the Russian-Ukrainian border region. Proceeding from the sociological surveys conducted, the following typical cultural and civilizational identities of the population of border regions of Russia and Ukraine are singled out: Russian, Ukrainian, Slavic, European, mondialist and Eurasian. The first of the risks found is discrete perception of social time and space. For the bulk of representatives of the regional communities, social time breaks down into parts acting like periods that are devoid of the shared logics and are contrasting towards each other. The second is associated with chronotope pattern structure consisting in the presence of cognitive and value-related dissonance which characterizes the consciousness of the population--this is expressed in acceptance of value attitudes not only mismatching but even opposing each other frequently. The third risk consists in incongruity and controversy of heterostereotypes that are emotionally colored set ideas of communication subjects about their counterparties. Irrelevance of ideas about the future acts as the last risk that is caused by asynchrony of social processes in the area which used to be united that is manifested both at interstate and regional levels.

The paper deals with particularities of political and legal consciousness of young people in view of a region against the background of the general standpoint of the Russian citizens and Russian youth in questions of the political and legal spheres. The opinion of the young people and citizens of the country as a whole is evaluated based on the results of authors' sociological questionnaire surveys conducted in Jewish autonomous region and questionnaire surveys of the population of Russia conducted by Levada-Center and the Public Opinion Foundation. The political and legal consciousness in a social relations subject is formed under the effect of the entire complex of factors and is determined by the historical, political, economical and other conditions of the subject's life activity. In it, both the emotional and the rational, experience and traditions, moods and stereotypes are interweaved. While performing a number of regulatory, communicative etc. functions, the political consciousness is a kind of indicator that allows understanding, estimating the place and role of this or that subject (population as a whole, a social group, an individual) in politics. Legal consciousness is the most closely associated with the political one. It reflects political and economical interests, knowledge and evaluations of the laws, standards, social relations regulators accepted in the society.

The objective of this paper is to present the results of the study detailing the essence of the "gratefulness" phenomenon as a quintessence of morality in the context of today's world and its values. The methods of the research were theoretical analysis of the works of philosophers, psychologists, philologists, and pedagogues on the structure and essence of the notion "gratefulness" as well as the method of diagnostic experiment. A review of various treatments of gratefulness is suggested, ranging from the "feeling", "capacity", "attitude", "concept" to "indicator", "prerequisite", "limiter", "virtue", "duty", "obligation" and so on. An attempt is made to characterize "gratefulness" through description of its components and indices of its formation and a portrait of an adolescent having a high level of its formation is given. A complex of author's diagnostic techniques (in the forms of questionnaire, ranking, essay) worked out on the basis of the theoretical analysis and the current condition of gratefulness formation in adolescents from various types of schools is described. A comparative analysis of gratefulness formation in those schoolchildren who have development disorders and in normally developing ones is given.

The relevance of the present research stems from the need to consider the ways of preventing conflicts between the objective necessity of development of students' creative activity in the learning process, and insufficient development of pedagogical conditions for its effective implementation in theoretical and methodological terms. The article is aimed at summarizing the study of creativity development by means of the foreign language. A set of methods was used in the paper: theoretical (analysis of the philosophical and methodological literature on the issue; projecting), empirical (questionnaires, interviews, testing, an experiment), methods of mathematical statistics. Experimental work covered in total 58 students and included three stages: summative, formative and controlling. The results of the experiment show that the system of exercises developed for boosting the student's creativity proved out effective, and the selected indicators characterizing the creative activity of students reflect considerable growth. The authors also proved that the goal of foreign language teaching in higher education is both practical knowledge of the target language, and the development of the student personality. The practical significance of this research involves developing the complex of effective means, forms and methods of teaching and learning activities of students in the process of learning a foreign language in the framework of the theory of development training, and the use of the materials received in the course of study by teachers in the higher and secondary vocational schools.

The purpose of this paper is to explore attitudes towards learning and perceptions of the learning environment. Our theoretical examination is based on the social-cognitive theory of motivation and research that emphasizes the connections between an individual's perceptions of the learning environment and his/her motivation, interest, attitudes and confidence. Recent theories that deal with "powerful learning environments" (Fraser, 2002) stress that the teacher should not look only at the physical aspects of the environment in which learning takes place, but also at the learner's perceptions and beliefs. The importance of multiple aspects of learning environments will be stressed and some recommendations for improving the effectiveness of these environments will be given. Additionally, some theoretical concepts of learning environments will be reviewed. We will examine empirically the differences and correlations that occur in adult learners' motivation and attitudes due to their psycho-social and physical learning environment. An international comparison between various post-socialist countries has also been carried out.

The article describes features of the communicative competence evolution in adolescents growing up in orphanages. The specificity is revealed and definition is given to key concept of the research, namely "communicative competence". Authors emphasize and demonstrate the evaluation peculiarities of the adolescents, growing up in orphanages. The paper deals with the evolution forms and methods of communicative competence in adolescents, growing up in orphanages. Additionally, the article presents the results of experimental work on the evolution of communicative competence in such adolescents. The study proved the effectiveness of the "Effective Communication" program on the evolution of communicative competence in adolescents growing up in orphanages.

This paper is focused on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that are based on the metaphor of a university and provide users with different learning tools. More specifically, the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city is suggested. Such a virtual city, where students live and work, can extend the possibilities of a virtual campus in supporting learning and socializing. This paper provides a description and analysis of an empirical case study that was performed to test and develop these ideas. Based on the results of the study, a set of guidelines for designing a virtual campus in a city context is presented. (Contains 15 figures.)

This paper reviews the recent turn toward a capitalist approach to higher education with specific reference to the social, demographic, and legislative changes, including growing academic capitalism, which led to a transformation in Israel's higher education system. In an empirical comparative case study of students from Israel and Russia, this study explores students' assessments of profit and utility of an academic education and its value in the respective local job markets. Findings confirm that students have adopted a capitalist approach to academic degrees, to which universities and colleges have responded by incorporating major changes and effectively instituting a paradigmatic shift in the roles and mission of higher education.

Students' evaluations of teaching quality are one of the crucial components of the teaching quality evaluation (along with external evaluation, opinions of colleagues, etc.). According to our research and professional experience, the teaching quality has to be examined in correlation with personality traits of a lecturer. Students' surveys (aiming at evaluating the teaching quality) have to consider the most valuable factors of the teaching quality and qualities of lecturers, which comprise knowledge transfer, knowledge evaluation, accessibility of a lecturer and his/her personality traits. In order to obtain quality results and compare them among various universities, a unified questionnaire should be applied when exploring the students' evaluations of teaching quality. (Contains 2 tables and 2 footnotes.)

Our paper analyzes lessons for medical education and health education stemming from the experience gained in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it tackles the issue of the social health and psychological wellbeing of medical students involved in online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper systematizes up-to-date data on how medical schools and universities have adapted to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and implemented novel effective solutions for the learning process, such as transitioning from traditional in-person classes to online learning, incorporating virtual simulations and telemedicine experiences for clinical training, and collaborating with health authorities to provide support in testing and contact tracing efforts. The paper contains an analysis of various aspects of medical education, such as the changes in practical classes, the impact of the pandemic on the formation of communication skills, methods for assessing students' knowledge and skills, and many others. It also considers case studies related to the implementation of educational programs, methodologies, and novel digital technologies in a pandemic. Additionally, the paper features an empirical study that is based on the results of our own survey that was carried out with the help of a snowball convenient sampling that involved 710 medical students between 19 and 25 years of age (56% females and 44% males) from 4 Russian regions (Moscow, Krasnodar, Kazan, and Saint Petersburg). We applied the correlation between stress scores, anxiety scores, factors of stress, and strategies for coping with stress and various economic and demographic variables (age, environment, and gender) that were analyzed using the chi-square test. Our results demonstrate that over 85% of the students in our sample yielded an above-average vulnerability to stress due to the COVID-19 restrictions. At the same time, around 61% of the students experienced severe anxiety during online education in the COVID-19 pandemic. The important factors leading to stress and anxiety were the fear of getting infected and social distancing, and the best strategy to deal with stress and increase wellbeing was self-control. Through a comprehensive review of the literature and empirical estimations, our paper identifies key areas of improvement, including curriculum adaptation, technology integration, faculty development, student support, and interprofessional collaboration. The proposed recommendations aim at strengthening medical education systems and preparing healthcare professionals to effectively navigate future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the results of two questionnaires conducted among thirty-eight participants of a language course in medical Polish for people from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The first survey (conducted before the course started) covered the following issues: (1) the participants’ self-assessment of their knowledge of general as well as specialised (medical) Polish, (2) their expectations of the twenty-hour course they were to attend, (3) their linguistic awareness of the need to develop the four linguistic skills in specialised language classes. The second questionnaire focused on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the classes and participants’ own progress in learning Polish for professional purposes. The research was of a diagnostic and descriptive nature, and the findings signalled in this paper have given rise to broader reflections on the current state of research on the description of receptive and productive skills in teaching Polish as a foreign language for specific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the main problems of Russian energy system development that proves necessary to provide educational programs in the field of renewable and alternative energy. In the paper the process of curricula development and defining teaching techniques on the basis of expert opinion evaluation is defined, and the competence model for renewable and alternative energy processing master students is suggested. On the basis of a distributed questionnaire and in-depth interviews, the data for statistical analysis was obtained. On the basis of this data, an optimization of curricula structure was performed, and three models of a structure for optimizing teaching techniques were developed. The suggested educational program structure which was adopted by employers is presented in the paper. The findings include quantitatively estimated importance of systemic thinking and professional skills and knowledge as basic competences of a masters' program graduate; statistically estimated necessity of practice-based learning approach; and optimization models for structuring curricula in renewable and alternative energy processing. These findings allow the establishment of a platform for the development of educational programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results obtained from investigations of pedagogical relationships between academic teaching staff and students with sensory-related and physical disabilities (the blind and the deaf, persons with mobility disability: persons who use wheelchairs, persons with absence of upper limbs) are presented in the study. It has been proved that current problems directly affect adaptive processes and successfulness of receiving a higher education by the students of these disability categories. The authors of the paper focus on the social stigmatization of disabled young people. Analysis of sociological studies has revealed a number of problems that affect the lack of training of teachers in higher inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The circumpolar habitat stands as one of the most vulnerable environments for human activity and health. The primary study objective was to compare sleep-related factors, light exposure, social cues, and potential confounding variables among schoolchildren residing in the European Arctic region from two settlements situated below and above the Polar Circle using validated self-reported questionnaires. Materials and Methods: We recruited 94 children aged 13–15 years (40.4% males), matched by sex and age, from public educational institutions in two circumpolar settlements located below (Kem', Republic of Karelia; 64.6 NL) and above the Polar Circle (Apatity, Murmansk Region; 67.3 NL). Participants completed several surveys, including the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale, and the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire, to evaluate sleep parameters and chronotype. The χ2 test was used to test for differences between proportions. Linear regression and multiple regression models with co-factors were applied to assess the relationship between studied indicators. Results: A noteworthy increase in physical activity was observed in children residing in Kem' compared to those in Apatity. Children from Apatity showed higher alcohol consumption than their counterparts from Kem'. The overall rate of excessive daytime sleepiness in the sample was 17.1%. Moderate insomnia symptoms were reported in 18.4% of adolescents living in Kem' and in 25% of respondents living in Apatity, respectively. Notably, participants from Kem' attained higher academic scores and had longer exposure to sunlight on schooldays. On the other hand, children from Apatity tended to have later bedtimes and sleep-onset times on schooldays. According to the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire data, a reliance on alarm clocks on schooldays, and a higher Sleep Stability Factor based on the Adolescent Sleep Hygiene Scale. Discussion: Our study indicating that higher physical activity and longer sunlight exposure among Kem' children on schooldays are associated with earlier wake-up times during schooldays, earlier bedtime whole week, reduced dependence on alarm clocks, and higher academic achievements. The results of older schoolchildren differ from many works published previously in the USA, Argentina, and Japan, which could be explained by the season when the study was performed. Here, we observed a negative impact on school performance and sleep parameters in children living in high latitudes, namely in circumpolar regions. Conclusions: Our study points out that adolescents living above the Polar Circle tend to have sleep problems, e.g., late sleep-onset times, higher excessive daytime sleepiness, and insomnia-related symptoms, because of experiencing reduced exposure to natural light. Future research encompassing assessments across all four seasons will provide a more comprehensive understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have experienced a lot of changes at the end of the 20th century, including changes in the health care systems and especially in primary care. The aim of this paper is to systematically assess the position of family medicine in these countries, using the same methodology within all the countries. Methods: A key informants survey in 11 Central and Eastern European countries and Russia using a questionnaire developed on the basis of systematic literature review. Results: Formally, family medicine is accepted as a specialty in all the countries, although the levels of its implementation vary across the countries and the differences are important. In most countries, solo practice is the most predominant organisational form of family medicine. Family medicine is just one of many medical specialties (e.g. paediatrics and gynaecology) in primary health care. Full introduction of family medicine was successful only in Estonia. Conclusions: Some of the unification of the systems may have been the result of the EU request for adequate training that has pushed the policies towards higher standards of training for family medicine. The initial enthusiasm of implementing family medicine has decreased because there was no initiative that would support this movement. Internal and external stimuli might be needed to continue transition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]