Development of the specialty "Social Work" in the educational system of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The authors show the current stage of staff training in social work in the post-Soviet space, in particular, in Kazakhstan, in the context of comparison with how this task is being accomplished in Russia. The aim of the article is the consideration of institutionalization as a stage in the formation of professional social work, identification of approaches in the training of social workers in Kazakhstan and Russia. The main issues of higher education in this specialty were discussed at meetings of the scientific and methodological seminar which took place in September 2016 at the Eurasian National University on the topic ``Formation of social stability of students' personality and topical development trends in social work in Kazakhstan and Russia{''} and at a round table on the topic ``Prospects of the development of social workers' training in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation{''} at the University of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade (Astana, Kazakhstan). The meeting was attended by a delegation of teachers and students of the Department of History and Social Work of Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics. Based on a comparative analysis of participants' speeches, differences and common positions were revealed. Thus, in Kazakhstan the formation of the specialty ``Social Work{''} is influenced by the Western model. The educational process of the Eurasian National University includes elements of the Bologna system, loans, construction of educational modules, defence of doctoral theses for a PhD degree. In addition, creating social services on the basis of district polyclinics (Center for Family Medicine ``Demeu{''}) is in progress. This direction is relevant in modern social work, but in Russia it is given insufficient attention. The Russian model of institutionalizing social work pay more attention to traditions of charity, the experience of the social welfare system of the Soviet period, combining it with innovative approaches based on the application of group project training in the university, implementation of the principles of inclusion, creation of barrier-free educational environment accessible for people with disabilities. In the domestic system of training of social workers, more attention is also paid to the organization of new forms of research work of students. The general problem of university education in Kazakhstan and in Russia is the topic of employment of graduates, creation of stable university links with employers. For this, the University of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade (Astana) organizes round tables with representatives of social services in order to take into account the needs of social work practices in the educational process at the university. The authors think that both Russia and Kazakhstan are mastering the world experience of social work, searching for optimal forms of university training of specialists and developing institutionalization.