Patriotism in the context of the formation of social competence of the younger generation (using the example of the activities of the supplementary education system)

Moroz Egor Vladimirovich ORCID: 0009-0004-5448-0473 Lecturer; Department of Sociology; St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technological University) 190013, Russia, Saint Petersburg, ave. Moskovsky, 24-26/49 egorstalker1@gmail.com

Pervova Irina Leonidovna ORCID: 0000-0001-7000-4398 Doctor of Sociology Doctor of Sociological Sciences; Professor of the Department of Theory and Practice of Social Work, Faculty of Sociology; St. Petersburg State University 1/3 Smolny St., Saint Petersburg, 191124, Russia pervovai@mail.ru

Introduction

The social adaptation of the younger generation is one of the most important tasks for any society. The transfer of norms, values and socially significant experience to young people makes it possible to ensure the continuity of generations and create conditions for stable development. It would not be an exaggeration to note that the future of the country, the stability of the political regime and the well-being of the people largely depend on what fundamental principles and values will be laid in the basis of the consciousness of future citizens and how effective this process will be.

In modern sociology, the processes of social adaptation, involving the introduction of an individual to the norms and values of social life, the formation of his moral and behavioral attitudes, are usually considered within the framework of the concept of social competence, which is a complex social phenomenon and in the most general sense can be defined as a qualitative characteristic of the subject, allowing him to be included in the social environment and build in it successful interaction.

At the same time, one of the main problems facing modern Russian society is the search for spiritual, moral and value orientations for further development. The ideological vacuum created after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the abandonment of communist ideology remains unfilled to this day, and the question of which ideas and ideals should form the basis of the modern Russian state remains open.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that at present one of the most important values capable of consolidating Russians is precisely the idea of patriotism: it is patriotism that is recognized as the most important value of Russian society by representatives of the government (RIA Novosti: [website]. URL: https://ria.ru/20240209/patriotizm-1926304134.html ), and the society (VTsIOM: [website]. URL: https://wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/o-sovremennom-rossiiskom-patriotizme). In addition, in the context of the rejection of the class approach, one of the key categories defining the role and place of an individual in society becomes the concept of "citizenship", which in a general sense can be considered as a stable connection of an individual with a specific state, involving a number of mutual legal, social and moral obligations.

Thus, in modern Russian society, an individual's awareness of himself as a citizen and patriot of Russia and his acceptance of the values, duties and rules of behavior associated with this concept becomes one of the most important factors of his successful existence and development, which allows us to consider the phenomenon of patriotism in the context of the process of forming the social competence of the younger generation as one of the most important socio-spiritual dominants. modern Russian society.

One of the main mechanisms for the formation of social competence of the younger generation is the educational process ^[1]. In the course of active social interaction, which is characteristic of the parenting process, an individual acquires the necessary experience of communicating with peers and older generations, learns various social roles, and also gets an idea of basic norms, values, and rules of behavior. As a result of this process, the child develops a certain set of competencies, thanks to which he is able to adequately interact with the external environment, in other words, he becomes socially competent ^[2].

In the Russian Federation, the main process of educating the younger generation takes place within the family and within the educational system. Despite the fact that the abandonment of the Soviet educational model significantly weakened the role of educational institutions in the educational process, steps have been taken in recent years to change this situation. In 2020, the Order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation dated 11.12.2020 No. 712 "On Amendments to certain Federal State Educational standards of general Education on the education of students" established new semantic foundations of the educational process.: According to the wording set out in the Federal State Educational Standard of Basic General Education, the entire educational process should be aimed at "ensuring the formation of the Russian civic identity of students.", <...>, mastering the spiritual values and culture of the multinational people of Russia" (FGOS: [website] URL: https://fgos.ru/fgos/fgos-ooo/).

It should be noted that in the structure of educational institutions there is an internal division into institutions of basic and additional education. If within the framework of the first institutions an individual learns the compulsory educational programs necessary to obtain a document on secondary/higher education, then the second institutions are characterized by electivity: the skills and knowledge acquired in them are optional. Additional education is characterized by such forms of work as various clubs, sections, and clubs, within which an individual can acquire competencies in the field of his interest: art, creativity, and profession definitions. In addition, researchers note that the structures of additional education are able to largely compensate for the lack of social and cultural competencies of students that are absent from the educational process of institutions of basic education, which is possible due to their lower formalization and greater focus on the individual's personality ^[3].

The above circumstances are the basis for choosing as the subject of this study the practices carried out in institutes of additional education, as being of the greatest research interest for achieving the set research goals.

Theoretical overview

The concept of "citizenship" is of great interest to domestic and foreign educational institutions.: among the works that have made a great contribution to his conceptualization and description of practical issues of citizenship formation, it is necessary to mention the works of such authors as T. Hobbes ^[4], T. Marshal ^[5], Yu.N. Nikiforov, A.N. Scalina ^[6], B.G. Kapustin ^[7], S.W.Tanshzil, K. Suryadi, K. Komalasari, L. Anggraeni ^[8], S. Petroccia, A. Pitasi ^[9], A. Rodrigues L.A. Chagas, T.L. Calabri^[10]. Summarizing the ideas of these authors, it can be concluded that the concept of citizenship in the most general sense is a stable connection of an individual with a particular state, which manifests itself in a variety of social, political and legal aspects. At the same time, within the framework of this study, the concept proposed by B.G. Kapustin is of particular interest, according to which citizenship is considered not only as a legal, but also as a moral category ^{[7, p. 110]}, which allows us to consider this phenomenon not only from the point of view of legal norms, but also from the perspective of an individual's value orientations, allowing him to relate himself to other members of society – fellow citizens, and to realize his involvement not only in a particular state as a legal institution, but also to the Motherland as the most important socio-cultural dominant. Thus, becoming a full-fledged citizen, an individual must not only obtain a certain legal status, but also adopt a set of moral, value and behavioral attitudes that he will have to reproduce in the future.

Scientific understanding of the concept of "patriotism" At various times, the works of such authors as A. I. Kugai ^[11], V.K. Krivoruchenko^[12], V.E. Meshkov ^[13], E.M. Kharitonov, M.Y. Popov and V.V. Kasyanov ^[14], A.P. Voevodin ^[15], Gao Yu ^[16] were devoted. Despite a fairly large number of definitions, in the most general sense, patriotism can be understood as a feeling of love for one's country, which can manifest itself in the adoption of certain values and actions that, in the opinion of the individual, are aimed at the benefit of his Homeland.

Within the framework of modern science, social competence is a set of skills, knowledge and behavioral models that allow an individual to successfully adapt to a certain socio-cultural environment, build effective social interaction and make the right decisions ^[17]. Social competence is not an innate property of an individual's personality and is acquired by him in the course of social interaction due to the development of a certain set of competencies specific to the environment in which he finds himself. At the same time, one of the most important aspects of the formation of social competence is the individual's acceptance of the norms and values of society, as well as achieving a balance between them and his inner spiritual world ^[18]. An article by T.B. Belyaeva is devoted to the issues of conceptualization of this concept, where a model of social competence is formulated^[19], as well as the works of such authors as V.N. Kelasyev ^[20], I.A. Abenova ^[21], O.F. Korol ^[22], who have made a significant contribution to the understanding and theoretical substantiation of this phenomenon.

Materials and methods

As the object of this research, we have selected the practices of forming civic guidelines for the social competence of the younger generation, carried out by The City Center for Patriotic Education and Preventive Work of the State Budgetary atypical educational institution of the children's Health and educational tourist Center of St. Petersburg "Baltiyskiy Bereg" (hereinafter - the Center). Today, the Center is one of the key structures working towards the formation of social competence of the younger generation within the framework of the additional education system of St. Petersburg. The activities of the Center are carried out in accordance with the norms of the Federal State Educational Standard, aimed at fulfilling state tasks, and the direct management of the Center's activities is carried out by the Education Committee, the executive authority of St. Petersburg. Within the framework of the Center's activities, two major areas of work are being implemented: the organization of urban mass events and the implementation of general educational programs for additional education.

General scientific methods were used as the main methods of scientific research, as well as the method of document analysis and the method of semi-structured interviews, necessary to clarify the results obtained. The author's methodology based on the theory of institutionalization was used to interpret the research results. Berger and T.Lukman ^[23], as well as the theory of discourse analysis by E. Laclos and S.Mouff ^[24], according to which the construction of socially significant values takes place within society itself through the habitalization and institutionalization of its daily activities. At the same time, the fixation of the meaningful content of these values is carried out by selecting from a variety of areas of discursivity unambiguous meanings that are assigned to certain phenomena, thereby creating a discourse on values as an ordered system of relations between the semantic components of the created constructs. In cases of situations of antagonism between different discourses, the hegemony (for example, in the person of the state), using the resources at its disposal, disbands unacceptable discourses and rethinks the meanings at the necessary "moments". Thus, socially significant values are created as institutions – elements of social reality that determine the subsequent behavior of individuals ^[25].

The study identified two components of the process of forming the social competence of the younger generation: the construction of the semantic content of the value of patriotism (the formulations used to describe this value in the documents under study), as well as the forms of representation of this value directly during the educational process (the forms and types of activities in which students are directly involved were recorded). In addition, the frequency of mentions of certain semantic categories in the general discourse space of the Center's activities was recorded.

The empirical basis of the study consisted of: 45 work programs of additional education, 37 provisions of urban mass events, materials from 3 semi-structured expert interviews, as well as regulatory documents, materials posted on official websites and platforms of other information resources.

Results

The Center for Patriotic Education and Preventive Work was established on the basis of GBNOU Baltiyskiy Bereg in order to coordinate and develop the system of civil and patriotic education for students of general education institutions, pupils of teenage military-patriotic clubs and children's and youth associations in St. Petersburg, increase the effectiveness of educational institutions in the field of civil and patriotic education, support the Russian movement of schoolchildren, ensuring road safety and comprehensive safety of the younger generation in a megalopolis, preventing and reducing the level of child traffic injuries, as well as promoting fire safety among St. Petersburg students.

As of the time of the study (May 2022), the Center for Patriotic Education and Preventive Work had 45 children's associations for additional general educational programs in social, humanitarian, technical, physical culture, sports, and artistic fields with a total of 655 students. Every year, the Center for Patriotic Education and Preventive Work organizes more than 30 city events for St. Petersburg students: competitions, contests, and promotions. Also, within the framework of the Center's activities, the work of three city educational and methodological associations is carried out (GBNOU "Baltic Coast": [website]. URL: http://www.patriot.balticbereg.ru/).

During the analysis of the Center's activities, it was found that the practices of forming the social competence of the younger generation, implemented on its basis, can be conditionally divided into two large groups: practices within the framework of educational activities and practices within the framework of organizational and mass work.

All educational programs of additional education implemented in the CPViPR can be divided into programs of a civil-patriotic orientation (23 programs), fire and rescue orientation (12 programs) and programs dedicated to road safety (10 programs) (GBNOU "Baltic Coast": [website]. URL:http://www.patriot.balticbereg.ru/obrazovatel-naya-deyatel-nost).

In the course of the analysis, it was found that patriotism is a key value guideline for the formation of social competence of the younger generation within the framework of the Center's activities – in one form or another, this concept is present in 39 educational programs. The semantic content of the concept of patriotism is constructed through such semantic categories as "formation of the foundations of Russian civil identity", "respect for one's Homeland, the multinational Russian state, in accordance with the ideas of mutual understanding, harmony and peace between people and nations, in the spirit of democratic values of modern society", "knowledge of the country's history", "pride in belonging to the heroic profession of "firefighter" and "rescuer"; "interest in the profession of an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia as a vivid example of service to the Fatherland."

It should be noted that within the framework of the analyzed programs, the concept of patriotism is almost inextricably linked with semantic categories referring to military subjects. The most common forms of representation of patriotism in the framework of the educational activities of the Central Military District are drill training (frequency of mention is 38), which includes military rituals and drill techniques (with and without weapons, performed individually or as part of a department), as well as the acquisition of skills in handling weapons and marksmanship. These forms of representation are present not only in civic-patriotic programs, but also in fire-rescue programs. At the same time, two work programs ("Guard of Honor" and "Young Shooter") are fully devoted to the relevant types of activities.

In this regard, the Young Patriot educational program deserves special attention, as part of which 100 out of 224 hours of educational time are allocated to combat training and military rituals. In addition, the program includes activities such as shooting with an air rifle (36 hours), as well as working with a model Kalashnikov assault rifle (12 hours). At the same time, the topic designated as "Public and state training", in which students study the history of the state symbols of the Russian Federation (coat of arms, flag, anthem), as well as the types and branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is given only 8 hours.

An equally important area of the Center's activity is the organization and holding of urban mass events. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the Center's staff held 34 urban mass events, which were attended by over 7,000 students from educational organizations in St. Petersburg.

An analysis of the provisions of the CPViPR events allows us to conclude that the matrix of civic guidelines for the formation of social competence of the younger generation within the framework of these events fully coincides with the matrix of value orientations within the framework of the educational activities of the Center. At the same time, there are certain differences between educational activities and mass events in the construction of semantic content and the representation of the presented value orientations.

First of all, it is worth noting that patriotism is not the dominant value guideline in the framework of mass events, yielding to the values of safe behavior (12 versus 18 mentions, respectively). At the same time, the construction of the semantic content of the value of patriotism differs from the semantic constructions and images identified in the framework of the study of educational programs.

Patriotism in the framework of the Center's mass events is interpreted through such semantic categories as "a sense of loyalty and duty to defend the Fatherland", "readiness to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", "Glorification of people who chose their profession to defend the Fatherland and serve the Motherland", "Preserving the memory of the most important events in the history of our country and the heroic glory of Russia", "A sense of pride in Russia," "The Army as an integral part of the state," and "Perpetuating the memory of the courage of Russian soldiers who defended the borders of the Motherland, as well as military personnel who participated in wars and military conflicts both in the USSR and in the Russian Federation."

Regarding the representation of the value of patriotism in the course of the organizational and mass work of the Center, it can be noted that such forms of work as drill (4 mentions) and acquisition of skills in handling small arms (4 mentions) still prevail in it. In addition, the representation of patriotism is carried out through such images and activities as preparation for service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation: the study of the charter, ranks and insignia of the Russian Army (4 mentions); images of heroes of the Great Patriotic War, post-war peacetime conflicts (3 mentions); memorable dates in the history of Russia: the history of memorable days of Russia, The Battle of Moscow, Defender of the Fatherland Day, Victory Day (3 mentions); images of schoolchildren and teachers of Besieged Leningrad (2 mentions). In addition, such forms of representation of the value of patriotism as the image of the Great Patriotic War (3 mentions) and the passage of tests of the VFSK TRP complex (3 mentions) were identified. Thus, it can be concluded that the semantic content of the value of patriotism is shifting towards ideas about serving the Motherland (primarily in law enforcement agencies) and readiness to take up arms in its defense. In addition, there is a significant predominance of semantic constructions related to the preservation of historical memory, primarily about the Great Patriotic War, its main events and heroes.

The results of semi-structured interviews conducted by the Center's staff, including methodologists and teacher organizers, also allow us to obtain additional information about the identified trends. The respondents confirmed the identified trends: a shift in emphasis towards the dominance of "paramilitary" semantic categories, and especially semantic categories related to the Great Patriotic War.

Respondent K noted that today a significant "bias" towards the theme of the Great Patriotic War is noted not only by teachers, but also by students. According to the respondent, this leads to the fact that it is not always possible to achieve the ultimate goal of the educational process - the creation of conditions for the formation of an individual's value orientations. As the main reason for the existing shortcomings, K. noted the shortage of trained personnel and the significant inertia of the education system, which does not allow for the rapid introduction of new technologies and developments.

This assumption of respondent K. is shared by respondent A. and respondent N. According to respondent A., the dominance in the educational process of semantic constructions inextricably linked to military subjects is due to the life experience of people responsible for organizing this process, in most cases, these are veterans of the armed forces, for whom drill, shooting and assembly and disassembly automata are the closest and most understandable forms of work.

N., in turn, points out that most of the educational activities of the center are presented in three main forms related to drill and shooting, as well as compliance with legislation in the field of fire safety and traffic regulations. At the same time, according to the respondent, such activities can hardly be called exhaustive forms of representation of civic orientations necessary for the formation of social competence of the younger generation. "You can learn to shoot, but that doesn't mean learning to be a citizen," the methodologist sneers. The position of respondent A. on this issue is completely consistent with the position of respondent N. Moustret, and he contrasts the blind execution of commands with forms of work based on lively discussion and involving an independent search for meanings, rather than directive receipt of them "from above". At the same time, A. notes with regret that today there are practically no such forms of work in the work of the Center.

Respondents pay special attention to the problem of intergenerational interaction in the context of the formation of social competence of the younger generation. Respondent K. notes that the radical rejection of the Soviet experience that occurred in the 1990s had a negative impact on society as a whole, and on the education system in particular. The respondent notes that the generation gap has led to the formation of several generations of young people with fundamentally different values than their parents in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This thesis is also supported by respondent A. – he gives an example of how, due to the lack of contact between generations, the speaker of the Center's event, a combat general, Hero of the Russian Federation, found himself in a difficult situation. After the speech of the guest of honor, one of the teenagers asked the general why he so hates and fears the United States of America. The general, who had not expected such a question, turned out to be very puzzled and could not find the right words to answer. According to A., this situation well illustrates how the patriotic narrative, which is absolutely understandable for representatives of the older generation, was unexpectedly interpreted negatively by a representative of the younger generation.

A. also shares another interesting observation – as the respondent notes, the actual influence of state institutions on the practices of the educational process is not as great as it might seem at first glance. During the entire period of his work at the Center (more than five years), A. could not recall a single case of interference by the Education Committee in the content of work programs or events.: The main documents were approved By the Committee without a serious analysis of their content. The only case when officials of the education system had complaints about the competition regulations was related to the incorrect design of the document itself, but not with its semantic content. At the same time, A. points out that the Education Committee regularly required quantitative reports on work, but what exactly happened during the events or classes was not required to be indicated in the reports.

The respondent N. draws attention to these circumstances. According to the respondent, the main form of the report submitted to the Education Committee is information on the performance of the state assignment in the context of the number of academic hours worked by each specific teacher. In cases where information about one-time events is required (for example, a month of landscaping), the teacher is again required to provide only very brief information about the work done with the children. N. considers this approach to be formal and compares it with the experience of his previous job, where each report was accompanied by an information letter with a detailed analysis of each open lesson and event, as well as relevant methodological recommendations.

Conclusions

The analysis of educational programs and mass events implemented on the basis of the CPViPR makes it possible to identify the following trends. First of all, it is possible to note the dominance of the value of patriotism as the main guideline for the formation of social competence of future Russian citizens. At the same time, it can be noted that despite the absence of semantic structures in educational programs that directly refer to military subjects, at the level of representation of this value, there is a significant shift in emphasis towards its militarization, resulting from the use of semantic structures inextricably linked to military subjects: service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, combat training, military rituals, etc. skills in handling small arms.

As one of the possible explanations for the causes of this process, we can point out the tendency of some teachers of the additional education system who implement programs of civic and patriotic education to use in their activities familiar forms of work that have been tested for decades and are often based on methodological developments of the Soviet period. In addition, the results of the interviews suggest that teaching staff with experience in the armed forces prefer to broadcast to students a familiar patriotic narrative, also based on "paramilitary" semantic constructions, which is far from always understandable to representatives of the younger generation.

This situation leads to the fact that individual value orientations fixed in the updated educational standards often have a very limited range of representations for the younger generation, or such representations are absent altogether. In addition, it can be said that a number of value orientations outlined in the Federal State Educational Standard undergo significant distortions during the educational process and are filled with new content that is not provided for by educational standards. This trend may be further reinforced by weak control of the semantic content of educational activities by higher authorities, as also indicated by the respondents during the interview.

The combination of the described factors can contribute to the emergence of an alternative understanding of the semantic content of civic guidelines for the formation of social competence of the younger generation and rethinking the moments of the discourse of patriotism and citizenship.

Conclusion

The results of the study demonstrate that there is a strong demand for further reflection on the value of patriotism in the context of educating future Russian citizens. The data obtained empirically show that today there is no unified approach to understanding the semantic content of civic values of the younger generation, while the value orientations fixed in the framework of normative legal acts can be significantly distorted due to the low degree of control over the semantic content of educational practices and the insufficient degree of adaptability of the civil and patriotic narrative to the needs of the youth audience (which significantly complicates its perception and, consequently, the individual's acceptance of the meanings inherent in it).

Speaking about the possibility of solving existing problems related to the construction of semantic content and representation of civic orientations for the formation of social competence of the younger generation, it can be noted that it seems advisable to expand the meanings of existing civic values, as well as to search for new forms of their representation in the framework of interaction with the younger generation – for example, interpreting the value of patriotism not only within the framework of semantic constructions, related to the Great Patriotic War, but also with more relevant images of both modern military personnel and heroes who performed feats in peacetime. Such an alternative interpretation of patriotism can act as a necessary complement to existing practices of representing this value, which will make it more accessible to understanding and acceptance by representatives of the younger generation.

It also seems necessary to strengthen the semantic accents of activities aimed at the formation of social competence of the younger generation on the values of civic responsibility and social solidarity. At the same time, one of the areas of such activity may be the strengthening of intergenerational interaction and the search for new points of contact between the values of youth and the elderly.

In addition, it is important to abandon the formal approach to the issue of civic and patriotic education of the younger generation: the transition from quantitative to qualitative forms of reporting, the introduction of new forms and methods of work, the development of reflection and self-reflection during the educational process.

Summing up, it should be noted that the formation of social competence as an achievement of a balance between social existence and the inner spiritual world of a person is possible only if the individual, society and the state are interested and work together. Achieving this goal is possible only taking into account the interests of all participants in the process. Striving for this is presented as the main vector of development of modern Russia's policy in the field of civic and patriotic education of the younger generation.