By September 1, 2022, admission to universities for undergraduate and graduate programs for the training of speech therapists and defectologists will be increased in Russia. This is stated in the list of instructions of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin following the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council. According to experts, about 600 thousand children study in correctional schools in Russia alone. At the same time, there are simply not enough relevant specialists today. Details – in the material “Izvestia”.
On behalf of the President
By September 1, 2022, admission to Russian universities for undergraduate and graduate programs for the training of speech therapists and defectologists should be increased. This is stated in the list of instructions of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin following the meeting of the Presidium of the State Council on 25 August.
According to the information on the Kremlin’s website, it is necessary “to ensure an increase in the admission targets in the specialty (defectological) education” under the bachelor’s and master’s programs, taking into account the data of monitoring the staffing of educational institutions by specialists-defectologists, speech therapists and tutors.
The head of state also instructed the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Education to include modules on correctional pedagogy and correctional psychology in educational programs of secondary vocational and higher education in the direction of training “Education and Pedagogical Sciences.” They should be aimed at the formation of professional competencies in the organization of educational activities of students with disabilities and disabilities.
Towards the development of inclusion
The President’s attention to the problem of training defectologists indicates a special place in the state educational policy of education and rehabilitation of children with disabilities., noted in the conversation the doctor of pedagogical sciences, director of the Institute of Correctional Pedagogy of the Russian Academy of Education Tatyana Solovieva.
Among teachers-defectologists, various specialists are distinguished: these are deaf teachers, typhlopedagogues, and specialists in working with children with intellectual disabilities, preschool defectologists who work with children under 7 years of age with different developmental problems – and all these specialists are urgently needed today. , explains Solovyova.
Modules on correctional pedagogy and correctional psychology in educational programs of secondary vocational and higher education are already included in all programs in the direction of “Pedagogical education” and “Psychological and pedagogical education”. But at the level of secondary vocational education, where kindergarten teachers and teachers for schools are also being trained, these modules are not yet available, but they must be included, the expert emphasizes.
Фото: Global Look Press/imagebroker.com/Felix Vogel
“They must ensure the formation of competencies in such specialists – not the same as those of defectologists, but allowing them to organize the activities of children with disabilities, whose parents choose inclusion for their child,” the Izvestia interlocutor notes. – New competencies, which will be formed both among teachers studying at a university and among teachers who graduate from a teacher training college, will become the most significant component of an inclusive educational environment. None of the technical elements will make it possible to teach children well if the specialists are not ready for this.
The issue of developing inclusiveness in education is also on the list of instructions of the head of state. Thus, the President instructed the Ministry of Education to approve the requirements and indicators for inclusive education and submit a report by December 1. Until the end of 2022, it is necessary to ensure the involvement of students with disabilities, orphans and children left without parental care in Olympiads, other intellectual and creative competitions, physical culture and sports events. In addition, the ministry has been instructed to summarize the experience and best practices of organizing extracurricular activities.
Lack of specialists in new profiles
Recently, the target numbers for admission to universities in these areas have begun to decline, said Georgy Kryukov, executive director of the Union of Defectologists, member of the expert council on special education under the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, in a conversation with Izvestia. For example, in the Moscow region, they have decreased by half – from 80 to 40, and this situation is observed in many regions, he stressed. “We also carried out monitoring, which showed that the admission numbers are not particularly tied to the needs of the region. That is, as they trained so many speech therapists there, they do it, and this does not cover real needs, ”Georgy Kryukov points out.
At the same time, the number of children who need such specialists is growing every year. About 600 thousand children study in correctional schools alone. In addition, a lot of children are in an inclusive form of education, there are also preschoolers.
— Among schoolchildren there are almost 600 thousand children with disabilities, that is, with hearing impairment and impaired vision, musculoskeletal system, speech, intelligence, as well as with autism and severe multiple disorders. Therefore, naturally, more specialists are required. There is an order No. 115 of the Ministry of Education, which determines the number of children for a specialist in the relevant profile. For example, for how many children there should be one defectologist, one speech therapist at school, in kindergarten – everything is spelled out there. So, if we take these norms, then this is absolutely not fulfilled anywhere. In reality, there are much fewer such specialists, so it is necessary to train them.
Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Vyatkin
But there are other subtleties here, notes Georgy Kryukov. According to him, now there is no shortage of speech therapists in Russia, and there are many oligophrenopedagogues.
— But there are such categories that, in fact, did not exist before. For example, autism spectrum disorders – this category did not stand out at all 20-30 years ago. Now their number is very significant among other children with disabilities, and specialists are trained in very few places. And if such a child comes to a regular school for inclusive education (parents have the right to insist that the child study at the place of residence), then who knows how to deal with such a child?
In addition, if a child cannot be in the classroom alone, especially among normo-typical peers, then he is legally entitled to a tutor or technical assistant to help. There are also not enough such specialists today, Kryukov emphasizes. “Previously, they also did not distinguish such a category as children with severe multiple disabilities. And almost no one knows how to work with them either, such specialists are not trained enough, ”he said.
We need a professional standard
Meanwhile, in Russia several years ago, a draft professional standard for a teacher-defectologist was developed. It is currently under review.
— The project provides for the introduction of new training profiles, namely, training specialists to work with children with autism, musculoskeletal disorders, mental retardation, severe and multiple developmental disorders, – says Tatiana Solovieva. – Particular attention in the standard is paid to the content of the professional activity of a defectologist when accompanying a family raising children with disabilities at an early age.
Photo: RIA Novosti / Kirill Kallinikov
The approval of the professional standard is extremely necessary to determine clear requirements for students studying in this area, Georgy Kryukov is sure.
– In addition to the fact that after the approval of the standard, new training profiles will be introduced, it is extremely important to provide new programs, which is what, for example, the Moscow State Pedagogical University is doing, which, at the request of the Ministry of Education, is developing new professional training programs for teachers-defectologists and, in particular, a training program for defectologists for work with children with autism spectrum disorder, – said Tatiana Solovieva.