Quality of library staff training in the context of labor market re-quirements

The article is presented in English: DOI: 10.33186/1027-3689-2020-8-27-38

With the development of the economy and society as a whole, there was a need for a theoretical justification of the influence of personal qualities of a person and the results of his intellectual activity on socioeconomic dynamics. Thus appeared the theory of human capital (T. Schultz, G. Becker, etc.) [1], which in the original, narrow sense determined the profitability (in general) of an individual's (family's) investment primarily in education.
At the end of the industrial and the beginning of the post-industrial stage of civilizational development, when the result of labor was primarily material objects, this approach showed that a higher level of education (including the number of years of training in total at different levels of education) brought the "investor" more income.
In fairness, it should be noted that in the USSR in the 20s, academician S. G. Strumilin showed an increase in the country's GDP due to an increase in the share of the literate population. This theory of economic efficiency of education was continued in the works of V. A. Zhamin, S. L. Kostanyan and other economists in the 60s of the last century [2].
In both of these theories, despite the quantitative form of assessing the relationship between education and the results achieved, the essential basis of the identified trends is primarily the growth of labor productivity associated with education. Thus, in the final analysis, we are talking about the quality characteristics of the labor force.
As the processes of civilizational development become more complex, especially in countries with developed economies, there has been a transformation of theoretical ideas about human capital, which has become widely regarded as the most important productive factor in the development of the economy and society as a whole. Here, the main role is played not so much by quantitative but, above all, by qualitative characteristics of the formation of labor resources.
The current stage of social development, sometimes called the IV Industrial or Information revolution, which is characteristic of most countries of the world with varying degrees of immersion, is marked by a transition to the functional quality of education.
In this case, we are talking about the ability of students to apply specific knowledge (when solving tasks that are not regulated by scenarios of educational activity) when finding answers to non-standard situations, i.e. the development of creative abilities, the ability to make decisions in conditions of uncertainty, etc. qualities.
Historically, Russia has a very high level of educational and professional training of the workforce and, in particular, is one of the world leaders in the proportion of people with professional education (higher and secondary). However, these advantages were mainly shown in the field of fundamental knowledge and basic literacy. Actually, at the school level, this fact is confirmed by Russia's high places in the Pirls and Teams ratings.
As for the rating of Russian schoolchildren in the diagnosis of the mentioned ability to apply this knowledge (PISA rating), according to the results of a comparative study in 2018, Russian schoolchildren did not even enter the top ten (34th place).
According to the Global Human Capital 2017 report (at the world economic forum in September 2017), the Russian Federation ranked 4th in the world in terms of human capital (expressed in quantitative parameters of the number of years of study) [3]. But only 42nd place in terms of the use of skills in the workplace and 89th place in terms of "availability of qualified workers" * The tasks of the information society imply changes in the concept of quality of education towards the formation of pragmatic knowledge, practical skills and abilities while minimizing possible losses in the fundamental nature of knowledge.
. The subject of work in the current civilizational era is the process of collecting, storing, processing, transmitting and analyzing information. The main result of human labor is "creation of new socially significant information" [4]. Rapid change of technologies, advances in the development of artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet of things, cloud tech-------* This refers primarily to "digital competencies". nologies, etc. the attributes of the digital economy lead to the fact that already some companies (especially in IT areas) are moving from assessing the qualifications of employees based on external characteristics (education and professional experience) to methods of analyzing big data (insights from deep Analytics) [5]. This approach is based on the results of some studies on the lack of correlation between documents on formal education and professional success and results.
All of the above indicates that in the process of changing technological epochs (industrial, post-industrial, informational), the ideas about the relevance of the quality of education changed from subject to meta-subject.
For further research on the quality of education, the results achieved here and the future challenges in this area, it is necessary to note a certain differentiation of opinions on this subject among different subjects of assessment. These subjects include: society as a whole; the state; consumers of labor (the labor market); the family; and individuals.
Therefore, the category "quality of education" is a multi-faceted, multi-faceted system of subject-object relations. The article considers only one object -higher education through subjective assessments of the state, the labor market and the individual.
In methodological terms, a comparative analysis of the positions of the definitions of the "quality" category itself is also necessary. Analysis of the literature shows that the economic aspect of quality prevails at present, thus referring this category to the subject of economic science as the materialized result of people's productive activities. Obviously, this implies the approach to the process of education as a service that, in fact, formulated in the RF Law "On education in RF". It is unlikely that this approach can be used in further analysis. In fact, the economic concept considers product quality as the material basis for satisfying people's production and personal needs. At the same time, it is obvious that knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of education are not material.
Therefore, in the context of the studied processes, quality should be considered as a universal philosophical category that covers both the phenomena of the external world and human consciousness. In particular, Hegel defined quality as certainty identical with being. Let us also give here the position of Engels, who considered quality in a variety of quantitative gradations available to observation and measurement.
According to these methodological grounds for analyzing the quality of education, you should first determine the target settings of the subject of assessment and compare them with the current result.
In accordance with Vladimir Putin's decree of May 7, 2012 "On measures to implement the state policy in the field of education and science" the state program of support for the largest Russian universities (Project 5-100), launched by the Ministry of education and science of Russia, has been developed. The program is aimed at adapting Russian universities to international standards and integrating them into the international educational environment. The goal of the program is to enter at least five universities in the top hundred, according to three authoritative international rankings: 1. QS World University Rankings.

Times Higher Education (The World University ranking).
The project will be completed in 2020. In the future, it is possible to develop it, in which about 30 universities will be able to participate.
One of the most important prerequisites for the formation of the Project 5-100 is a national strategy for active competition in the global economic system. A priori, the countries that are leading in the field of education have every reason to join the cohort of world leaders. Therefore, improving the quality of General and vocational education systems is largely political and economic in nature. The commercial component is also important here. Countries with recognized educational quality attract international students both directly to University campuses and through paid remote access educational resources hosted on digital platforms. With the development of artificial intelligence and the advent of automated translation systems, language boundaries will gradually be erased and the factor of education export will become one of the decisive factors in the mentioned inter-country competition.
However, other subjects of assessment, recognizing the undoubted importance of solving this strategic task, nevertheless have (may have) different goals. In particular, University students are primarily interested in the competencies they acquire during their studies.
The analysis of the rating indicators included in the criteria that make up their criteria indicates that they do not directly reflect the quality of students' training, which is understood as the level of their acquired competencies in the relevant areas of professional activity. In the Russian Federation, for example, these competencies are reflected in professional Fsos (however, in this case it may be mainly about the University's selfassessment of the quality of training provided by it). In the indicators of the criterion of the considered ratings "quality of training" there are only characteristics that potentially contribute to achieving a certain level of quality.
Let's illustrate this by the example of training library employees in the specialty 51.03.06 -library and information activities, approved by the order of the Ministry of education of Russia from 11.08.2016 № 1001 (4). Currently, 43 educational organizations provide such training. In terms of higher education, the specialty is "distributed" between specialized cultural institutes and classical universities. Among the first are the Moscow state Institute of culture, the Saint Petersburg state Institute of culture, and a number of others. It is noteworthy that among the classical universities that train librarians, Tomsk national research University, Belgorod national research University, MIREA-Russian technological University, and others are among the leaders of the higher school of Russia.
It should be noted that cultural institutions are branch universities and therefore do not formally participate in the ratings for these metrics. As for national research universities, they are listed very highly in the world "table of ranks". However from the point of view of training librarians for the mentioned FSES participation or non participation in world rankings is not an a priori indicator of quality Another important subject of goal-setting in the field of education is employers or, in General, the labor market. There has always been and still is a contradiction between the level of qualification required by individual employers and the competencies of graduates of higher and secondary vocational education institutions. This circumstance often leads employers not to the market of educational services for joint activities with the educational organization to form the required quality of the labor force, but to the labor market, where recruitment agencies or their own HR departments select personnel with the required competencies and experience.
An effective way to bring the requirements of the labor market and the educational services market closer together is to update the existing system of qualifications, develop professional standards, move to personnel certification and create a corresponding register. However, this approach is only possible for the situation of "replication of professionally trained employees".
The horizon of effectiveness of the mentioned means and methods of solving the formulated problems of personnel training at the civilizational stage of the IV industrial revolution may have already been reached. According to Microsoft experts, 65% of today's school and University students will perform work that does not yet exist [5]!
In 2014, the Agency for strategic initiatives (ASI) and the Moscow school of management Skolkovo developed the first version of the Atlas of new professions (hereinafter-Atlas).
The Atlas highlights a list of competencies that are universal and provide the specialist with a relatively quick adaptation to new types of activities. These include, in particular, "inter-industry communication skills" (understanding of technologies and processes in different industries); "customer orientation" (ability to work with customer requests); ability to work in a group, in a team, and with individuals; "system thinking"; "working in a mode of high uncertainty and rapid change of task conditions", etc.
A number of professions in the Atlas are defined as "retired professions". Such "retiring" intellectual professions until 2030 "Atlas" includes, for example, the profession of accountant, loan Manager, travel agent, legal adviser, realtor, translator, referent, etc.
However, for all the "spectacular" of such rhetoric at the domestic level, in fact, the situation with the "disappearance of professions" is more complex. Thus, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are actively invading the sphere of language communications. Currently, existing chatbots can provide the simplest forms of such communication (at the everyday level) in dozens of languages around the world. As AI develops, language barriers may disappear. However, in our opinion, there are still certain niches for specialists who perform translations of literary works, where emotional shades, imaginative thinking, etc. are important. aspects of creativity that are unlikely to be automated in the foreseeable future (if ever). In particular, the forecast compiled by RBC-a list of 100 professions of the future for 17 industries [8] predicts the appearance of such a specialist as a digital linguist-translator. Its main task, according to international experts included in the forecast, will be to adapt people to rapid changes and the emergence of a new reality.
In the same vein, it is necessary to interpret the forecasts given in the Atlas about the disappearance in the near future of such professions as "librarian", "document specialist", "proofreader". They are not included in the RBC forecast mentioned above. As a justification for the forecast, the thesis is given that information (data) is transferred to the digital space (cloud storage), and a specialist in working with physical media is not required. However, when analyzing the situation in detail, it should be borne in mind that the "library" in the broad social sense, as a sociocultural institution, was and remains. Therefore, there should be specialists (library workers) who perform functions corresponding to the new realities of the development of this institution, regardless of the title of the actual position.
Such opportunities and prospects are laid down, in principle, in the Federal law 51.03.06, in part of the mission of graduates -"the Field of professional activityof graduates..." -practical activities on the formation and use of library information resources, preserving documentary heritage, formation of information culture of society and development of mass communications.
As digital technologies and, first of all, artificial intelligence technologies develop, some tasks and functions from this mission will undoubtedly be automated. For example, tasks that are implemented as part of a General professional competence such as "the ability to solve standard tasks of professional activity... using information and communication technologies and taking into account the basic requirements of information security" (FSES 51.03.06). However, the task of developing socio-cultural communications remains extremely relevant, and such specialists are in high demand, regardless of the title of the position determined by the corresponding qualification.
It should be noted that the names of "specialists of the future" are often very opportunistic and are elements of industry and educational branding. For example, Frances Morris, Director of the Tate Modern gallery, introduced the name Digital-culture commentator-a specialist who provides assistance to the audience of the future in understanding the world's artistic heritage of past centuries with the help of modern technologies.
Another example is a personal tutor for aesthetic development.Its mission is to create an individual program for the student, based on the tastes and interests of the latter and install media filters. Training of such specialists is offered by the Moscow state University of culture and arts and the British Higher school of design. The list of such names can be continued.
In the foreseeable medium term, there will be professions whose set of competencies is currently very difficult to formulate.
For example, "Manager of space tourism" ("Atlas. It would also be difficult to draw up a professional standard for such a profession").
We note in passing that, despite the data on the size and structure disposal of professions and job functions, key figures of reception in some Russian universities do not take into account (or not considering) these trends, opening receptions on unclaimed (probably by the end of training) and the labour market areas, specialties and programs.
Summing up the above, it can be stated that from the perspective of modern employers, the quality of education is assessed primarily as the formation of a specialist's supra-subject competencies, the composition of which is determined by the sphere of activity and labor functions.
Naturally, these trends do not cover all the diversity in the labor market.
The latter includes requests from representatives of various industries, organizational and legal forms of business and non-profit activities, strategies for the development of organizations, and other circumstances. Requests for highly skilled labor are combined with the need for low-and medium-skilled workers. At the same time, applicants often do not require not only high above-professional digital competencies, but even General professional and special competencies obtained as a result of training: the latter circumstance occurs if you do not manage to get a job in your specialty, which, however, is quite common.
Even more diverse than the demands of the labor market are the ideas about the desired quality of education (as a factor in achieving life goals) on the part of families, not to mention the interests of the individual.
According to research by VTSIOM [9], Russians consider higher education a social Elevator that facilitates the achievement of life goals. However, over the past 11 years, the number of supporters of this theory has decreased from 76% in 2008 to 58% in 2019. The respondents' assessment of the task of obtaining a higher education diploma as a mandatory condition for a highly paid and prestigious job corresponds to this trend. Only a quarter of respondents aged 18 to 44 share this opinion.
In addition, many Russians still do not believe that education has a significant impact on a person's financial well-being (70% in 2019 compared to 47% in 1991).
In the study "youth Attitudes to education" [10], 83% of young people actually agree with this thesis. One of the reasons for this negativity may be that many University graduates are not able to get a job at all in their specialty. This situation is shared by 76% of respondents who believe that employers are looking for employees with experience and do not want to spend resources on training young professionals.
The identified trends in the relationship "personality and education" correlate to a large extent with the position of families in assessing the requirements for the quality of education and its significance. Thus, in the above-mentioned study [Ibid.], 42% of respondents indicated that the opinion of parents was crucial for young people's choice of profession.
When analyzing the above results of sociological research, it is necessary to take into account the significant social differentiation of society, especially in Russia, which has gone through many transformations and reforms. Therefore, the results of research depend to a large extent on the number of respondents included in the sample. In this sense, an attempt to find a common position for all regarding the characteristics of the quality of education and its impact on social, professional, civil, etc. directions of personal development will resemble the average weather forecast for the entire territory of the Russian Federation. In any case, to make effective management decisions in the field of development of the education system in the Russian Federation, taking into account the needs of the individual, it is necessary to take into account many factors of social differentiation.