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Tsiolkovskiy, Konstantin. Reaktivnyie letatelnyie apparatyi. Moskva: Nauka, 1964. Tsiolkovskiy, Konstantin. Vne Zemli. Moskva: Zolotaya alleya, 2008.

Shamsutdinov, Sergey. Pervyiy nabor v edinyiy otryad Roskosmosa. Novosti kosmonavtiki. 2012. #12. http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/mag/2012/700/4007/

70 Future Human Image. Volume 7, 2017

The Main Determinants of Improvement of Model of Educational Training of Specialists in the Field of PR Based on Competency Approach

Andrii Kyrychok – PhD

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute named by Igor Sikorsky (Kyiv, Ukraine)

E-mail: [email protected]

Modern approaches to the study of issue of PR-experts training require rethinking in order to identify new prospects of improvement and development in training of specialists in public relations. An important aspect is that Ukraine has recently moved to training format, based on acquiring of knowledge necessary for professional life by students. This applies, in particular, to specialists in public relations. The key aspect is to determine the set of skills of PR-specialist meant to be acquired by him during study. Another important point is the transition to the European three-level educational model, aimed at democratization and improvement of the process of acquiring of necessary skills by specialists. The essential transformation should be done in the field of PR-education in order to allow experts, at every level of education (Bachelor-Master-PhD), to receive only a clearly defined and systematic set of skills. The author carried out the content analysis of educational training programs in the field of PR for the purpose of discipline component, the principles of programming and knowledge, acquired at each educational level. Investigated data was systematized, analysed and recommendations on principles of development of effective three-level model of training for experts in public relations at the university were given.

Key Words: public relations, PR-education, skills, comparative analysis, educational training program, and competency approach

Introduction

Ukrainian education system requires essential rethink from all points of view, it concerns the approaches to training of workers in different disciplines, including specialists in public relations. Nowadays, the first step to this at the level of the whole higher education system is made – the Law of Ukraine «On Higher Education», aiming to democratize education sector and make it more competitive.

In this article, we suggest to investigate the process of educational training of specialists in public relations by applying competency approach. In modern realities, HEIs should develop innovative educational programs, which can provide not only the acquisition by students of certain amount of knowledge and skills, but also their subsequent effective practical application in their professional activity. This approach to the development of educational programs will respond to the challenges, posed by «knowledge society» and therefore «knowledge economy», for which generalized skills, based on the obtained fundamental knowledge, communication,

╘ Kyrychok, Andrii , 2017

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resolution of professional problems, possession of the latest information technologies, the ability to continuously update the existing system of knowledge are the most important and effective.

Competency approach involves the willingness and desire of a man to apply his knowledge, skills and personal qualities in a certain field of professional activity [Baydenko, 2004].

Competency approach in educational activities is an important direction to ensure a close correlation between education and employers, as well as the direction of unification, on the one hand, the requirements of employers to future experts, and on the other – a means to develop educational programs for individual specializations of one discipline. Even as we speak, leading companies, government bodies, when developing demands on staff, describing requirements for certain categories of workers, widely use the concept of competencies, develop and implement the so-called «profile (or model) of competencies», a set of competencies, i.e. knowledge, skills and personal qualities necessary for successful professional activity [Bolotov, 2003].

The most important indicators of the quality of acquired knowledge throughout the learning process are professional qualities of experts, formed on the basis of personal qualities in the information and communication sector, including the field of public relations, which involve consistent and analytic thinking, creativity, communicativeness, ability to teamwork, ability to use knowledge, skills and practical skills to analyse the situation and foresee its development, including the cases of complicated and unforeseen situations, the availability of rhetoric skills, including written and oral communication, negotiation, work with print and electronic media, social media and other communication channels of digital society, possession of the full range of Internet technologies, conducting special events, creation of promotional product of commercial or social orientation. The analysis of all these indicators allows us to draw a conclusion about deep relationship and interdependence between them [Saunders, 1998].

Here is a list of skills the PR-specialist should possess (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The list of required competencies for PR-specialist

As we can see, the figure shows a wide range of competencies from various fields of knowledge. This is not the whole list of branches, to which the field of public relations is coherent. PR-specialist is versatile and he constantly develops new skills from other disciplines, because without such a development his professional level will fall. The main requirement for the student during study is to acquire the ability to learn. We emphasize that PR-specialist should constantly improve his skills [Fiske, 2014].

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The Main Determinants of Improvement of Model of Educational Training of Specialists in the Field of PR Based on Competency Approach by Andrii Kyrychok

The aim of this article is to analyse the peculiarities of the formation of educational training programs according to three-level system by virtue of competency approach.

In the course of the work two tasks were performed: we carried out the comparative and content analysis of educational training programs in the field of PR and considered the ways to integrate this experience into domestic programs.

Literature review

It should be noted that today specialists of educational and scientific sphere and practitioners hold discussions about what character exactly should the training program in the field of PR-education have, including what nature the discipline content should have. Many of these professionals pay attention to the fact that a single international standard of education should be developed. Experts from many countries have already tried to improve the system of training in this area [Azarova, 2003; Ferrari, 2009; Ferreira, 2004; L"Etang, 2002; Pirozek, 2003; Sriramesh, 2002; Toth, 2010; Zhang, 2010; Zlateva, 2003]. In 2008, the University of Leeds [Tench, 2008] conducted the study of public relations programs around the world to form a unified standard of training in this area. Then, in 2009 an online survey of members of «Euprera» organization regarding programs of basic and full higher education was carried out [Cotton, 2009]. From this perspective, analysis of web sites and conduction of qualitative interviews of East European University [Watson, 2014], as well as study of the development of education in public relations in some countries seem to be very interesting [Goncalves, 2009; Xifra, 2007].

During the research, we pursued the objective to compare educational training programs for public relations in different countries and in the domestic training system. In the study, we relied on document analysis and content analysis to obtain statistically accurate survey data. Since recently we have implemented three-level education system, the research was conducted on the basis of three-level paradigm. That is why, for the analysis, we chose programs of «Bachelor», «Master» and «Doctor of Philosophy» degrees, which train specialists in public relations. 37 training programs of «Master» degree and 35 training programs of «Bachelor» degree were analysed. Considering that training system for «Doctor of Philosophy» degree is a new format for the domestic education system, we analysed five foreign training programs for «Doctor of Philosophy» degree in order to establish their discipline filling, content and duration. Data received will be used in the future to improve the national training system for public relations and to develop educational training program for «Doctor of Philosophy» degree. The investigation was aimed to carry out a comparative analysis of the programs in terms of repeatability of professionally oriented, social, and human disciplines and general credit load for each discipline separately; to determine optimal credit load for each discipline, based on the evidence found.

Research methodology

Studies of education programs of all three levels were carried out in several stages. On the first stage a comparative analysis of Bachelor and Master Education programs of the US, Europe, Ukraine and Russia on similarities of disciplinary and credit components was conducted. They were based on subjects of domestic educational and professional programs of «Bachelor» and «Master» degrees. The data was tabulated.

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On the second stage, on the basis of data obtained a table was compiled, which contained information on the minimum, maximum and average number of subjects repeated, their list and the total number of credits of the education programs. Subjects were placed according to audience rating, which was measured by the number of frequencies in the list of universities. The data was entered into the primary data table.

On the third stage of the study, based on the table data for each of the universities, a number of subjects, which coincided with the domestic educational and professional programs, were calculated. On that basis, the program ranking was compiled.

On the fourth stage, on the basis of the third stage data, five the most effective educational programs of «Bachelor» and «Master» degrees, which structure is similar to domestic educational programs, were chosen. The main criteria for selection were the requirements for the duration of the program – 4 years for bachelor and 2 years for masters. In addition, it should include high scores in the ranking of subjects" frequency and practice.

The fifth stage of the study included the comparative analysis of educational training programs of «Doctor of Philosophy» degree. But, since Ukraine has moved to a three-level model of higher education not so long ago, the domestic educational system for PhD degree does not have western model yet. Therefore, we have chosen five training programs for «Doctor of Philosophy» degree in order to compare them and to demonstrate their credit-disciplinary component for further integration into the domestic education system.

We have also identified ten subjects from each educational level according to the highest credit/number of frequencies in the educational and professional programs (EPP). Besides this, considering the best possible educational training programs for each educational level as an example, we have identified the one, which is the most appropriate according to relevant qualitative and quantitative indicators and will describe its construction principles and features, to be applied to build our own three-level training program.

Discussion of research results

Bachelors

The study analysed 37 programs for «Bachelor» degree, which train specialists in public relations, providing different training period. According to European and American programs, training often lasts for three years, not four, as it is customary in Ukrainian or Russian universities. Education in Western universities is usually single-disciplined, the list of disciplines of the humanities and social sciences, compared to domestic universities, is limited. The number of credit hours at universities in Europe and the US is almost twice lower than in Ukrainian. Educational programs at European and United States universities differed by variability of subjects" choice. Educational programs of domestic and Russian universities hardly differed by name, but they were wide enough, that would be an advantage. It was found that training in public relations could be carried out with a focus on completely different disciplinary component. Six main fields of training in PR were identified. They are advertising and PR; communication; marketing; art and design; journalism and business and management. The study found that the average total credit exposure in Western universities is 133 credits, at universities of Russia the figure is 250 credits, and at domestic universities – 245 credits

(Fig.1).

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Fig. 1. The average amount of credits for EPP of «Bachelor» degree.

Therefore, it is clear that the training programs in Western universities are nearly half less according to credit component, yet at the same time, their efficiency is much higher. Here is a list of ten disciplines, which according to credit indicator and frequency at high schools showed the highest result: Theory of Advertising and PR 8.0k./33; Fundamentals of Journalism 7.5k./32; Principles of Marketing 7.0k./28; Copywriting 7.0k/28; Fundamentals of Management 6.0k./25; Ethics in Advertising and PR 5.0k./24; Integrated Marketing Communications 5.0k./24; Speechwriting 4.9k/ 2; Branding 4.8k. /0; Principles of Oratory 4.7k./ 7.

We offer to consider the most appropriate, in our opinion, training program for experts in public relations for «Bachelor» degree.

At the University of Tampa (US), in the first year of study, the emphasis is laid on various aspects of marketing communications [Conestoga College, 2017]. Special attention is paid to such subjects as event marketing, branding and copywriting. The program includes also a large number of subjects related to economics (microeconomics, macroeconomics, fundamentals of economics and basics of economic research). This strategy of subject presentation was chosen for students to have a better idea of how advertising, marketing, and business are related between each other.

During the second year students have an opportunity to acquire more practical knowledge related to the preparation of advertising campaigns both through traditional means and through using electronic media. In addition, students are taught how to start and to operate their own advertising agency and how to use psychological techniques in work with clients. Other disciplines, such as consumer demand study, evaluation of campaigns" effectiveness and planning and purchase of large media companies. Much attention is given to the objective component, related to work based on Web 2.0 technologies to develop creative and analytical skills in the field of electronic media.

In the last year students work mainly individually and conduct, researches related to branding, development of promotional strategies and integrated marketing communications.

They complete degree work. Alternatively, they can be offered training module on production. This allows student to employ, gain more knowledge that is practical and receive credit for this activity. This module lasts for a year. The student is obliged to go to work and attend classes at the same time. The mark is put with regard to individual training schedule of a student, which is compiled at his place of work.

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Masters

The study analysed 35 training programs for education level «Master» in the field of public relations. The analysis showed that in masters" training in this field the same trend as in the bachelors" training remained. Western universities offer different periods for training of experts – 1, 1.5 or 2 years. Domestic and Russian universities offer training period of 2 years; credit exposure is also different.

In general, training program for «Master» degree is more narrow than for «Bachelor» but domestic education system contains a large number of subjects of social and humanitarian sciences, which sometimes prevail in the ratio of professionally-oriented disciplines. The study, the same as for bachelors, divided them into four different categories: advertising and PR; communication; marketing; business and management. The amount and character of disciplines for «Master» degree differed significantly from «Bachelor» degree in Western universities. In Ukrainian, universities amount and character of disciplines almost had no differences with the disciplines of «Bachelor» degree. Western programs tend to have more administrative functions of public relations and to study subjects related to communications and research.

It was also found that the average total credit exposure varies in different countries. For example, in Europe and the USA the average total credit exposure is 90 credits, at Russian universities – 124 credits, and at Ukrainian universities – 108 (Fig.2)

Fig. 2. The average amount of credits for EPP of «Master» degree.

In terms of these figures, we can conclude that the quality of training, but not quantitative content of the program plays an essential role. Master"s degree of education at the West provides high mobility of students with possible employment in the workplace and a lot of practical training, while domestic universities hardly change the approach to training of master"s degree. Here is a list of ten disciplines, which according to credit indicator and frequency at high schools showed the highest result: PR in politics 6.6k/25; Crisis PR 6.6/25; PR in Business 6.6/24; Imageology 6.4/23; Information Wars 6.2/22; Media Planning: 6.1/21; Strategic Planning 6.1/19; Political Consulting 6.0/18; Strategic PR 5.9/17; Human Resources 5.5/16.

We offer to consider the most appropriate, in our opinion, training program for experts in public relations for «Master» degree.

The program at George Washington University (USA) is based on the integration of disciplines that are intended to learn the work with customers, innovation management, and

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to cultivate the skills of reputation management. The program is flexible, it consists only of seven mandatory and four optional courses and provides the opportunity to participate in a unique program of students" exchange (Global Perspective Residency GSPM). It was designed not only for young students, but also for the already experienced employees who want to get additional education. This program has an option of practice [Georg Washington University 2017]. The program itself is an alternative to MBA programs. The largest number of subjects is related to innovation management and public relations in the energy field.

Doctor of Philosophy

Since the EPP for «Doctor of Philosophy» degree in our country have been introduced recently, we have chosen five training programs of appropriate level to determine the educational content of these programs and principles of their educational training. Here is a list of the subjects that are the most often found at the third level of education in the field of public relations:

We have selected five training programs for «PhD» educational level for experts on public relations, advertising and allied branches that have similar disciplinary and informal content, but certain differences in the course structure [Educational program, 2017; Educational program, 2017a; Educational program, 2017b; Educational program, 2017c; Educational program, 2017d; Educational program, 2017e; Educational program, 2017f].

Training for PhD degree lasts from three to four years. Almost in all programs, graduate students are required to study, to be in parallel engaged in teaching and to work on their researches. In addition, all programs had common disciplinary framework that is related to communication studies, journalism, and media technologies and media researches. Some universities open access to certain subjects for the student only when he defends his academic paper. The fact that candidates to the PhD degree create their own advisory centres, where they, without assistance of senior colleagues, discuss their scientific achievements is atypical for our scientific environment. Due to this, they develop scientific thinking and skills to solve research problems. We offer to consider the most appropriate, in our opinion, training program for experts in public relations for «PhD» degree. Here is a list of ten disciplines, which according to credit indicator and frequency at high schools showed the highest result: The Stylistics of Writing of Scientific Texts 5.0k./5; Scientific Aspects of PR-activity 5.0k./5; Methods and Techniques of Scientific Research 5.0k./5; Seminars in Aid of Scientific Research 5.0k./5; Seminars Following the Results of Dissertation Research 5.0k./5; Statistical and Analytical Methods of Research 5.0k./5; Foreign Language Scientific Field 5.0k./4; Basic Methods of Research in PR 4.0k./4; Theory and Practice of Writing Research Papers 4.0k./4; The Psychology of High School 3.0/3; Main Approaches to teaching in Higher Education 3.0k./4; PR in Science and Education 3.0k /3.

Feature of the program for the degree of «Doctor of Philosophy» at the University of New York in the field of «Media, Culture and Communication» is the focus on the interdisciplinary study of the media and culture [New York University, 2017]. PhD candidates study disciplines, which include the structure of the media, science and culture, media history, visual culture, the science of sound, anthropology, sociology, political science, in order to attract interdisciplinary strategy of analysis. The focus in teaching and research is done on multi-methodological approach, which involves the use of different research methods, qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis, deep interviews, network analysis and other explanatory and critical approaches. At the university, they study historical perspectives through media

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study, technology and culture studies in the historical context, comparative historical research, genealogy and history of media. PhD candidates actively explore global and comparative research methods in the context of cultural differences, forms of media, historic framework and theoretical paradigms.

During the education, there are many workshops, including two major theoretical seminars during the first year of study. The first seminar entitled «Introduction into communication studies» refers to the theme of philosophical and theoretical hypotheses for different methodologies, approaches, procedures of research, which include semiotics, discourse analysis, ideological analysis, political economic analysis, historical analysis, archival research, psychoanalysis, feminist analysis, networking analysis, transcultural analysis, ethnographic analysis, content analysis, in-depth interviews and analysis of audience perception.

In the view of the research component of the program, the seminar on proposals to the thesis work is of vital importance. It is carried out in the first semester of the third year of study to provide students with a proper theoretical and methodological foundation before they start working on their thesis works. The course is conducted as a workshop, and students must make first crude schemes for thesis work and the final versions should be prepared during the second semester of the third year of study. In addition, the faculty, inside or outside, gives lectures on basic theoretical and disciplinary courses with a volume of 12 credits. This list of disciplines includes the subjects of anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy, computer science, social psychology, political science, law and politics, science about feminism, international science and science of regional development, the sciences of America, culture, film and performances, critical theory and others. These courses are selective. Another disciplinary component is optional specialized courses (minimum 8-10 credits, inside the faculty). They cover any important graduation courses offered at the faculty of media, culture and communication [Educational program, 2017e].

Recommendations

In modern education «the main condition for building a successful model of training is the principle of consistency, steadiness and continuity in education» [Delikatnyy, 1986]. Many scientific papers are dedicated to this issue [Batarshev, 1996; Delikatnyy, 1986; Goncharenko, 1997; Hanaba, 2014; Gritsyuta, 2015]. Relying on the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical literature, we can say that throughout the development of pedagogical science the scientists have been actively holding searches of the most appropriate model to ensure continuity in education.

«Category of continuity in the literature can be considered in many aspects – scientific, philosophical, pedagogical and didactic. However, in order to understand this principle, we must consider some aspects of the interpretation of the concept of „continuity“. Speaking of continuity as a social process, here are two its components – transfer of values and their assimilation.» The nature of values to be delivered to the students also reflects the semantic component of continuity. Konstantin Delikatnyy, in his scientific work suggests that the process of continuity should involve a continuous connection between the past, the present and the future in the context of the acquisition of educational knowledge [Delikatnyy, 1986].

Another scientist Semen Godnik, considers the phenomenon of continuity as "the law of operation of all specially organized and controlled processes and believes that gradual

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progressive development is impossible without continuity" [Godnik, 1981]. We agree with this statement and will add that during the analysis of academic textbooks on pedagogy the scientist had found the ambiguous interpretation of the term «continuity» and the functions that it must perform.

Semen Godnik found that scientificity is a training rule that ensures the implementation of principles of scientificity, accessibility and continuity in education. Also, the scientist stated that the category of continuity necessarily implies a connection between what has been studied and new knowledge, being the elements of an integrated system. He also draws attention to the interdisciplinary relationship in the context of continuity in education, which is the study of related disciplines in the context of lifelong education. The continuity is meant that teachers will build the learning process so that future teachers, who will lecture their subjects in the future, will also teach according to the principle of continuity.

In most cases, the phenomenon of continuity is considered in two aspects – methodological and common didactic. Nataliya Aleksandrova indicates that continuity, as a phenomenon, reflects the normative nature of didactics, it regulates the relationship between learning process and student, and this makes it one of the main principles of didactics [Aleksandrova, 2016]. Another scientist Olga Nezhyva considers continuity in learning as establishing of relationship between elements of learning process so that they could perfectly interact in the system [Nezhyva, 2016]. It is also meant that connection must be established between the elements of the system, between the forms and methods of learning, as well as between the procedures of material adoption. This connection must be constant at all stages of the material learning.

Continuity as a scientific and educational phenomenon enables to understand the major components of the educational process, such as objectives, learning, content, methods, forms and teaching means. «Namely with the help of such concepts as continuity, consistency and steadiness in education, the model of educational training of specialists in public relations can be improved and meet modern requirements of the labour market.»

The scientist Vitaliy Slastenin notes the following concerning continuity: «In general, principle of continuity, consistency and steadiness in learning is stipulated by objectively available knowledge stages, relationship between sensual, logical, rational and irrational, conscious and unconscious» [Slastionin, 2004]. A student, passing all stages of the educational process, should not only be intellectually prepared to move to the next stage of information digestion, but should be also ready psychologically and treat the learning process consciously.