In 1999, the Republic of Belarus began to educate children with severe multiple disorders (SMD). For this purpose, new special educational institutions – correction and development training centres (CDTC) – were opened across the country. Curricula for preschoolers with SMD appeared only in 2011, and curricula approved by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus appeared in 2014. Before 2011, teachers were more engaged in the care and supervision of preschoolers with SMD than in the actual educational process. Currently, changes are taking place in preschool education. The education of children with SMD should be built on a competency basis where the formation of their life competencies should play the leading role. The need to assess the quality of such education has emerged, and, consequently, the issue of professional training of specialists of CDTC in this direction. The aim of the article is to determine the possibilities of the system of professional development of teachers of specialized institutions on the issues of quality assessment of education of pupils with severe multiple disorders at the present stage in the Republic of Belarus. The basic methods in the study of this problem were questioning and content analysis. The experimental base of the study is represented by 63 state educational institutions “Centre for Corrective and Developmental Education” (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk regions and the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus), as well as 8 institutions providing professional development of CDTC personnel (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk regions, the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus). The study involved 345 respondents: 334 teachers of CDTC and 11 employees of professional development institutions. The study was conducted in 2020. The article presents the author’s view on assessing the quality of education of preschool children with SMD, highlights the results of the empirical study, and substantiates the possibility of changing the training of teachers of CDTC in the context of professional development institutions. The obtained data allow us to see a holistic picture of the modern system of professional development for special teachers on the problems of assessing the quality of education of preschool children with SMD, which further allows to adjust the training programs of professional development in specialized institutions (Academy of Postgraduate Education, Institutes of Education Development), to include the most popular topics in their content.
Keyword(s) : assessment
Characteristics of Social Sector Managers with Different Attitudes towards the Pandemic and Its Consequences
This article explores the attitude of managers towards the COVID-19 pandemic, providing an
overview of their opinions on its consequences and potential impact on the country’s future socioeconomic
development. The study is important since it provides insight into how management styles
may be effective in times of uncertainty and crisis. The research involved 661 managers, including
383 from the social sphere. The study utilized the management potential assessment questionnaire
(PMO, version 5.0, Sinyagin, 2018), as well as a specially developed questionnaire. The participants
were differentiated on two grounds: their attitude towards the pandemic either as a mobilizing
challenge or as a serious not always surmountable difficulty in actual management. The findings
reflect that the managers’ attitudes about the prospects for the country’s development after the end
of the pandemic, commonly referred to as “optimism-pessimism”, have profound effect on their
management strategies and performance indicators. It is revealed that readiness for learning and
social mobility are key characteristics associated with optimistic future expectations. Internality,
personality strength, a clear strategic life idea, and managerial experience are most associated with
overcoming current circumstances. The paper concludes that developing and enhancing these
qualities is a significant task that managers have in today’s uncertain world.
Instruction on Intercultural Communicative Competence and Its Application by Iranian EFL Male and Female Writers
The influence of globalization on applied linguistics has recently generated considerable debate.
With the advent of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) at the start of the twentyfirst
century, many theoreticians and practitioners have accentuated the ICC perspectives and
its incorporation into teaching language skills. This mixed methods research study tries to verify
whether instruction on ICC encourages Iranian advanced EFL learners to incorporate ICC in their
writings, and whether gender plays any role in the tendency to use that competence. To this end,
33 male and female Iranian advanced EFL learners were chosen via an Oxford Placement Test and
then placed in two experimental classes. All the participants received a five-week instruction on
ICC in a writing class at a private language institute in Rasht, Iran. The data analyzed via T-tests,
content analysis technique, and η revealed that instruction on ICC assisted learners in coping with
intercultural issues differently in their writing; however, gender did not play any role in using the
ICC in writing. This study can shine a light on the writing course and language teaching in general
and teaching how to incorporate ICC in writing in particular.
Assessment of communicative competence of resident doctors
The problem of assessing the communicative competence of future doctors at all stages of training
in a medical university is one of the most relevant in the theory and practice of medical education in
Russia. The article reveals the basic principles of building a methodology for integrated assessment
of the communicative skills of students and residents on the basis of multilateral assessment. The
basic (universal) communication techniques for the doctor are determined – active listening,
asking questions, advising and motivating patients, and an explanation, which include a number of
communication skills required by the doctor.
The study examined and analyzed self-assessment (n = 132) and expert evaluation (n = 100) of
communicative competence among residents, as well as the subjective perception of the data
obtained by the residents. The results of self-assessment and expert assessment of communicative
competence showed that self-assessment of all communication techniques that make up the core of
communicative competence is statistically significantly lower than the expert assessment (p< 0.001).
It is shown that the method of multilateral assessment ensures the development of reflexivity and
motivation of residents to improve communication skills.