A new conceptual view of inclusive professionalization as a multidirectional process system

Mal'tseva Tat'yana Evgen'evna PhD in Pedagogy Associate professor, Department of Social Work, Luhansk State Pedagogical University 291028, Russia, Lugansk, 4 Kvartal Lugansky str., sq. 18 maltzevate@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The main contradiction of inclusive professionalization is observed in society: the need for specialists with inclusive social work practices is increasing, and university graduates cannot meet the current requirements of the developing labor market. They have not formed a socio-professional subjectivity and they do not own the latest achievements of science and technology. For future social workers, this is an insurmountable obstacle in finding employment and fulfilling their functional duties.

The socio-professional subjectivity of future social work specialists with socio-functional differences is a new formation characterized as a special understanding of the rules, principles, norms of learning, self–education, formation and development of personality traits that regulate various spheres of social activity and organize them into a system of roles and statuses that form a certain social mechanism that allows this category people not only successfully change their lives for the better, but also help other people with similar problems do it ^[1].

Modern trends in the development of education show that inclusive professionalization in higher education requires new conceptual, more versatile views and approaches, their deepening and systematization. Inclusive professionalization in higher education is mainly considered by scientists as inclusive education of people with disabilities or people with disabilities. Thus, the problem of accessibility of inclusive education for people with disabilities and people with disabilities is now being solved both at the state level (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 12/21/2021) and by scientists. At the same time, the inclusion of higher education affects the divergent scientific interests of teachers, sociologists, psychologists, defectologists, etc. This also applies to the problems of forming an inclusive culture ^[2], legal norms and rules ^[3], medical, psychological and pedagogical support for people with disabilities in conditions of continuous inclusive education ^[4], improving the effectiveness of inclusive education ^[5], teaching methods ^[6].

Despite the diverse aspects of studying this problem, there is still no systematization of these approaches in order to optimize them.

At the present stage of society's development, the socio-professional aspect of the concept of inclusion acquires a new meaning in the context of accessibility of something for all segments of society. Today, scientists abroad have become much more likely to use the terms "inclusion" and "inclusivity", meaning not only special accessibility, but also the highest degree of inclusion in any process.

Inclusivity is the inclusion of someone or something in the social process. The word "inclusion" comes from the Latin "Includo", which means "include". In the usual sense, inclusion refers to "inclusive education" and "inclusive technologies" ? that is, it is a principle that allows people with disabilities to interact with the outside world.

Note that ramps, help buttons, special elevators and Braille translation cannot be called inclusive technologies, and if they are freely used in schools or universities, then this is an affordable education. Text-to–speech devices, resource courses for students, access to digitization and jobs for all people with disabilities, their support (tutoring) and assistance in the entire learning process, etc. - this is the accessibility of learning ^[7]. In the current technological world, everything works differently. Inclusivity means equal rights and advanced technologies in creating an inclusive culture.

For higher inclusive education, this is a special look at its practical scientific inclusion, that is, the immersion of education in all the most advanced scientific achievements. Since higher education educates professionals of the future, professionalization is a process that not only should not lag behind in any scientific field, but also work ahead of the curve.

The scientific and pedagogical environment has devoted a quarter of a century to the digitalization of education. We moved hard, with some lagging behind the development of science and production. However, it is quite obvious that the era of "quantization" will soon come, since quantum computers and systems have already been invented and used in research institutes and other high-tech organizations and enterprises. This aims today's universities not to lag behind, but to get ahead of the mastery of these technologies by both students and teachers, until they become the norm. This approach entails a significant increase in education costs and economic inclusion.

It should be noted that scientists and educators are already thinking about inclusive diversity in the process of professionalization. This is characterized by an expansion of the vector of awareness of this problem, which, of course, will contribute to the creation of a completely new system of inclusive professionalization in higher education. 

Inclusive professionalization is a complex instrumental and technological educational process based on the concept of inclusion, the methodology of which is widely used in the formation of socio-professional subjectivity of students ^[9].

Without focusing on a specific contingent of trainees, inclusivity is often compared to cultural diversity. And this is not surprising, because in the modern world it means everything that allows you to immerse yourself in an environment where you can expand your experience. The basic principle of inclusive culture is to create equal access to the social process for all inclusive groups of people who have historically been excluded from public life: on territorial, social or civil grounds, on the basis of gender, race, health status, etc. ^[8]

In other words, the inclusion of higher education is based on a concept that includes people, resources, funds, etc. in scientific and practical cultural, social, political, economic, health-saving spheres, forming an inclusive field of activity of an educational institution for the formation of socio-professional subjectivity of students.

The concept of inclusion is a general way of theorizing minority membership in social, political, and economic systems. Social inclusion is closely linked to economic inclusion. Equal access to economic opportunities – economic inclusion ? is an integral part of the sustainable development of inclusive education – specifically and society – as a whole.

In order to systematize, we will consider different views on inclusive professionalization, focusing on its various forms, focusing on social, yet not separating it from all others. According to A. de Tocqueville, "the basis of democratic forms of government is the undivided power of the majority, since, apart from it, there is nothing permanent in democratic states. <...> The very essence of democratic government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the majority" ^[10]. In each country, groups with socio-functional differences representing a minority face obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in political, economic and social life. Disadvantage is often based on gender, age, location, profession, race, ethnicity, religion, civil status, disability, and other factors ^{[28; 29; 30]}. This kind of social isolation deprives people of permanence, security and the opportunity to lead a decent life. Unless the root causes of structural exclusion and discrimination are addressed, it will be difficult to sustain sustainable inclusive growth and rapid poverty reduction ^[31].

Therefore, if we talk about social inclusion in education, then it is necessary to understand the inclusion in education of persons with socio-functional differences, which include not only disabled people, but also all people (pensioners, military personnel, prisoners or released from places of detention, immigrants, refugees, citizens from liberated territories, etc.), whose educational activity should, among other things, become a certain socio-psychological condition that forms value orientations, motivation to overcome their own life difficulties, achieve success, a form of their social and cognitive activity, an expression of aspirations for life self-determination and self-affirmation ^[11].

There are people who cannot make the best use of their skills and talents due to the fact that they were born in a remote area or affected by military conflicts. This has a negative impact on their self-realization and employment. However, if they are given a chance to succeed, they are more likely to want to get an education, engage in activities that lead to socio-professional development, economic growth and prosperity ^[12].

It is impossible to draw a clear line between social and political inclusion, since one form complements the other ^[32]. Nevertheless, political inclusion is a manifestation of political integration: national community, citizenship, i.e. the inclusion of each person in the rights of one and only one nation–state in the modern world. Today, it seems, due to the large-scale migration of the population, the reverse process has occurred. Numerous symptoms of the crisis of political inclusion can be observed:

- deterritorialization of politics;

- Regionalization of effective social interdependencies that ignore political boundaries;

- career and global activities of organizations (multinational enterprises, etc.) that can choose the states in which they prefer to work;

- legal and illegal migration and the impossibility of its political control.

The term "inclusive governance" is increasingly used in political inclusion. The managerial component of the integral idea of inclusive management means that inclusivity is a managed and ongoing process, not an achieved state ^[13]. The inclusive component in education management means something different from the usual use of the terms "inclusion" and "exclusion" to denote the social diversity of participants ^[14], new understandings and resources of public value or public good can be implemented here ^[31]. Inclusivity means actively overcoming differences in views, problems and their solutions, which can be based on the integration of institutions, participants, and social groups.

We will highlight economic inclusion in a special way, since it determines the possibilities for the development of advanced learning. Economic inclusion, which provides economic realities to previously underserved social groups, is a prerequisite for the transition to a sustainable form of professional education development. Economic inclusion is at the heart of inclusive market economies and is when every person who has received higher education, regardless of gender, place of birth, socio–economic environment, age and other factors, has access to labor markets, entrepreneurship and, broadly speaking, economic opportunities.

D.Ajemoglu and J.Robinson (Ajimoglu D., Robinson J.A., 2016) puts forward the economic concept of inclusive institutions. By inclusive, the authors understand such institutions "that allow and stimulate the participation of large groups of the population in economic activity, which in turn allows them to make the best use of their talents and skills on the basis of freedom to choose where to work and what to buy. In other words, inclusive institutions ensure the involvement of the broad masses in the economic cycle and, accordingly, a large amount of human capital" ^[15]. This is how the authors present the impact of economic inclusion on the growth of the well-being of the whole society (Fig.1).

As we can see, inclusivity has an economic dimension, in addition to the fact that it contributes to the creation of efficient labor markets. It is the modern system of higher inclusive education that seeks to promote fair and equitable access to economic opportunities not only as an integral value, but also as one of the key elements of a sustainable market economy.

Thus, the promotion of inclusive education involves the effective allocation of human and other resources, on which social policy should be based. This understanding of inclusion is broader and makes it possible to interpret it not one-sidedly, but systematically. In higher education, this can be formulated as follows: inclusion means a form of inclusion or integration of people into the professionalization system, which includes all areas of social development that can form the socio-professional subjectivity of persons with socio-functional differences (SFD).

The contingent of students we are talking about allows us to assert that taking care of health and strengthening it is one of the most important tasks of the educational process. The formation of a healthy inclusive educational environment is an educational process of a medical and hygienic orientation (carried out with close contact between the teacher, medical staff and the student), focused on physical culture and environmental well–being (creating harmonious relations with nature); the use of health-saving educational technologies. Health care shows the main functional aspect of higher inclusive education – environmental professionalization, health promotion.

Within the framework of our research, a more detailed consideration of the conditions of inclusive health care at the university is suggested. Scientific research in recent years shows that most of the works are devoted to traditional methods of health promotion, as well as maintaining a healthy lifestyle of students, and only a few researchers (R. I. Aizman, N.P. Abaskalova, N.M. Amosov, I. I. Brekhman, E. N. Weiner, V. I. Kazarenkov, E. M. Kazin, N. E. Kasatkina, V. V. Kolbanov, A. 3. Rakhimov, E. L. Rudneva, I. A. Sviridova, L. G. Tatarnikova, L. F. Tikhomirova, etc.) talk about the need to create special, inclusive conditions for a health-saving educational process, namely: the use of methods of self-regulation and adaptation to student learning conditions, diagnostics of their health level, valeological training of teachers, methods of health-saving activities, etc.

A.Y. Osipov, I.A. Tolstopyatov, A.V. Lukin and B.C. Spirin note that in the current difficult socio-economic conditions, the physical training and health of a young specialist will become the most important factor in the success of his future professional and social activities, since, unfortunately, the physical health of most modern Russian students is far from optimal. The authors consider the possibility of preserving the health of undergraduates and graduates by introducing effective assessment systems of physical culture and sports activities of students in the educational process ^[19].

According to L.S. Yelkova, in the current negative conditions of the influence of Western culture, which promotes an idle lifestyle, where violence, crime, drug addiction, low social responsibility are the norm of life, the tasks of creating a field of health preservation in educational institutions are actualized only as an alternative to influencing the consciousness of the younger generation, the formation of a correct hierarchy of values in which care for your own health should take its rightful place in the list of values of modern youth. Unfortunately, the lack of priority of their health among the basic values of modern youth leads to the fact that most students practically do not pay attention to activities aimed at maintaining and strengthening their physical health ^[16].

L.A. Dzodzikova argues that modern higher education is characterized by an abundance of curricula related to the need to provide high-quality humanitarian and professional knowledge, which guarantees a good higher professional education, but at the same time, is an important factor in exacerbating problems related to the health of students ^[17].

So, the concept of higher inclusive education contains a set of components that create its systemic perception. Let's display this in the table (table).:

Table. ? The essence of the concept of higher inclusive education

According to A. G. Ryapisova, the introduction of inclusion into the mass educational space requires systematic development, taking into account socio-cultural conditions and the specifics of educational policy. The author's works highlight the main directions of innovative activities of educational organizations, which include the formation of an inclusive culture, the development of an inclusive policy and the introduction of inclusive practices. It is emphasized that solving the problems of inclusion significantly affects all elements of the education system and significantly optimizes, improves and activates the educational space at the regional and sectoral levels, which corresponds to true systemic innovations. The author confirms his conclusions by the fact that the introduction of inclusive education into the practice of mass education as a fundamental, structural, cardinal and multidimensional systemic innovation has sufficient resources to improve the quality and effectiveness of youth education ^[18].

N.H. Gafiatulina considers the professional socialization of students as a model that includes the management of the health-saving process. Although the author does not talk about inclusion in education, the core level of the model of professional socialization of students is the formation and assimilation of a system of professional values, taking into account the situation of insecurity and risks in society, certain behaviors, social activity, initiative and orientation towards a healthy lifestyle (HLS) (N.H. Gafiatulina, 2013).

J.M. Gerchak (Gerchak, Y.M., 2007), Allen J.Ryan M.D., Robert E. Stephens Ph.D. ^{[30, p. 48]} believe that one of the most important problems of modern society is the inability of many graduates to quickly adapt to a market economy, which is aggravated by the low mental state and low physical development of graduates. According to the authors, there are very few modern educational technologies in the educational process aimed at introducing students to a healthy lifestyle and developing their readiness to carry out recreational activities. In addition, the vast majority of university professors are not carriers of the health-saving factor, mainly due to their own physical condition, lack of knowledge and awareness of the latest health-saving technologies. 

An analysis of the scientific literature suggests that for the harmonious education of persons with socio-functional differences in an educational institution, a special inclusive field of socio-professional development should be created.

The concept of a field from a physical point of view is a three-dimensional space limited by time, energy or another physical unit of measurement. Each field is an energetic substance, everything that enters it is affected and interacts with it. A person in this field is a physical, intellectual and bioenergetic element that interacts with this field in space, time, energetically and informationally ^{[24; 25; 26]}. He interacts because he himself possesses an energy field as a spiritual and material being. This interaction can maintain or disrupt the harmony of human existence. Its quality is determined by the level of comfort and well-being of the people in it, which is felt physically and psychologically, expressed in positive or negative emotions of people ^{[27; 28]}.

Research ^{[20; 21; 22; 23]} shows that the task of the inclusive field in the process of forming the socio-professional subjectivity of future social work specialists is to understand how harmonious and positive this field will be, how comfortable and congruent (in agreement with oneself) every participant in the educational process will feel in it The process is so much more effective will be the result of both professionalization and strengthening the health of each student with socio-functional differences.

Thus, new conceptual approaches to the study of inclusive professionalization in higher education are based on a systematic understanding that: inclusive education today is a complex process of creating an inclusive and developing field that includes various inclusive areas (scientific inclusion, economic inclusion, political inclusion, cultural inclusion, educational inclusion, environmental or health–saving inclusion, etc.) inclusive professionalization, except for the disabled, includes all persons with socio-functional differences (in our conditions, these are pensioners, military personnel, prisoners and those released from prison, citizens from liberated territories, migrants, displaced persons, etc.); education and upbringing of students is carried out on the basis of the latest scientific achievements, with the help of the modern equipment, devices, technologies, training programs, educational and methodological base, health-saving methods. This will allow us to talk about advanced vocational education, help students with socio-functional differences successfully master the process of professionalization, form socio-professional subjectivity, and therefore socialize in public life and profession, be in demand on the labor market. This approach contributes to the formation of a new inclusive public consciousness, as well as the own subjective position of future professionals.