Педагогические науки/2. Проблемы подготовки специалистов

Skurikhina O. V., Yusupov V. Z.

Vyatka State University of Humanities, Capital Financial and Humanitarian Academy, Russia

Training of students – future pedagogical workers

in management of educational projects

Young men’s life in modern society doesn’t develop linearly: from basic education to professional one, from studies to work, from life in the paternal home to creation of their own family. Real life situations demand mobility, innovative activity and search for non-standard solutions of professional problems. Many of them are effectively resolved in the process of initiation, preparation and implementation of projects serving as a mechanism of changes in organizations. In the educational institutions they are called educational projects, and training of students in management of such projects is becoming increasingly important for universities and academies where future pedagogical workers are trained.

The experience of defining educational subjects and working-out their content for training of students – future pedagogical workers in management of educational projects are amassed in Vyatka State University of Humanities (Kirov) and in Capital Financial and Humanitarian Academy (Moscow). The educational content of future managers of educational projects is based on International and Russian Standards in project management and on common practice of project preparation and implementation in VSUH and CFHA.

The term “project” in its traditional meaning designates a preliminary draft, a concept, a worked-out plan of something. It makes a bit different sense in the field of scientific knowledge and practical activity which is called “Project Management”. More than thirty international and national standards of project management as well as standards of competence assessment of the project manager are developed now. The Guide “Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)” prepared by the Project Management Institute in the USA is widespread in Russia.

In 2012 there was the fifth edition of this document. “Project” in it is a temporary enterprise designed for creation unique products, services or results, and “project management” is characterized as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and methods to meet the requirements of the project. The Guide “PMBOK” defines that project management is performed by means of processes combined in five groups: initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and control, and closing (1).

Among professional associations of project management the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the best known in Russia. The association laid down the rules and standards of professional activity in project management which are stated in the international requirements to the professional competence in the field of project management – International Competence Baseline (ICB) (2). The member of IPMA is the Russian Association of Project Management “SOVNET”.

In January 2012 the certification committee SOVNET approved national requirements to the professional competence in the field of project management (3) and in 2012 GOST R 54869 – 2011 “Project management. Requirements to project management” became operative in Russia (4). In this document the term “project” designates a set of interrelated activities oriented to the creation of unique product or service under conditions of time and resource constraints, and “project management” means planning, organization and control of project labor, financial and logistical resources aimed to achieve its objectives.

There are no fundamental differences between PMBOK guide and GOST R 54869 – 2011, because both of them have a system and process approaches as a methodological basis. From the perspective of the system approach project management is a set of interrelated processes which ensures project development and implementation under conditions of existent constraints and resources. The salient feature of using the system approach in modern project management is the fact that any project beginning with its concept is originally considered in a wider context of solving advanced and current tasks of organization development and expansion of its relations with external environment.

The fundamental essence of the process approach is that each project management process is considered as a set of resources and activities of project participants that transform inputs of the process into its outputs. GOST R 54869 – 2011 “Project management. Requirements to project management” defines that the activities related to ten functional areas of project management are carried out within the framework of project management processes. In PMBOK guide practically the same functional areas are designated by the term “knowledge area in project management”. These include Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Communication Management, Project Risk Management and Project Procurement and Contracts Management.

Project management standards are the basis of training and advanced training of project managers. In Russian universities and academies educational programme called “Project management” is being implemented under the master’s programmes in the area of training “Management” and “Economy”. Most often these programmes provide training for managers of investment, technical, informative and construction projects.

More rarely master’s programmes are oriented to the project manager training in the social sphere which include educational projects aimed at solving problems related to the provision of new educational services as well as improving the educational system itself. Educational services here are actions designed to meet the educational needs of the person, family, society and state in the area of mastering human knowledge and skills, value system, experience and competencies for their intellectual, moral, creative, physical and professional development.

Educational system pursuant to the Education Act of the Russian Federation (5) is a set of federal state educational standards and federal state requirements; organizations carrying out educational activities, their staff and students; public and local self-government authorities responsible for management in the sphere of education; organizations providing scientific-methodological, methodical, resource, manufacturing and engineering support of the educational activities and education system control, evaluation of education quality; associations of legal entities, public and state-public associations working in the field of education.

Thus, an educational project is aimed at developing new educational services or certain components of the educational system (for example, educational standards, new types of educational institutions, education management structures, etc.). In institutional terms, this project is a complete cycle of an individual or joint activity of its participants (individual workers, project team, educational organization, its structural unit, etc.), limited by time, budget and resources, prepared and implemented in accordance with the project requirements.

In Vyatka State University of Humanities (Kirov) and in Capital Financial and Humanitarian Academy (Moscow) postgraduate students in the areas of “Management”, “Pedagogical education”, “Psychological and pedagogical education” have an opportunity to study such subjects as “Project development and examination of educational systems”, “Pedagogical projecting”, “Educational project management”, etc. As a result of mastering these programmes the following competences are formed: the ability to manage projects and teams of project participants; the readiness to implement pedagogical projecting of educational environment, educational programmes and individual educational routes; the capacity to design forms and methods of quality control in education as well as various types of control and measuring materials; the willingness to design new educational content, technologies and specific teaching techniques; the competence to build up a concept and development programme of the educational organization on the basis of the marketing research in the area of educational services; the skill to identify and create conditions conductive to motivational readiness of all educational process participants to the productive project activity, etc.

The experience of Vyatka State University of Humanities and Capital Financial and Humanitarian Academy proves that the targeted training of future pedagogical workers in project management ensures young specialists’ active participation in the development and implementation of various innovations in education and creates favourable conditions for their successful professional career.

References

1. Guide the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) [electronic resource] // Project Management Institute or IPMA (International Project Management Association).

2. International Competence Baseline (ICB) (International requirements for professional competence in project management) [electronic resource] // Project Management Institute or IPMA (International Project Management Association).

3. Project Management Association SOVNET – National requirements for the competence of specialists. – M.: CJSC “Design practice”, 2010. – 256p.

4. Project Management. Requirements for project management. (GOST R 54869 – 2011) [electronic resource] // National Standards. Annual meetings of ISO Technical Committee 37 and its Subcommittees. – Moscow August 2008.

5. The Education Act of the Russian Federation (2013). Federal Law № 273-FZ of December 29, 2012 [electronic resource] // Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation: minobrnauki/documents/2974.

Authors

Skurikhina Olga Vitalievna, candidate of pedagogical sciences, associate professor at Vyatka State University of Humanities.

10a Surikov St., Apt. 160, Kirov, 610035, Russia

Tel. number: 8-909-716-88-48

E-mail: felicity@mail.ru

Yusupov Vitaly Zufarovich, Doctor of education, professor, pro-rector of Capital Financial and Humanitarian Academy.

4 Tovarnaya St., Apt. 16, Podolsk, Moscow region, 142116, Russia

Tel. number: 8-903-722-81-53

E-mail: uvz2@sfga.ru