Squad leader practice as a factor of university students competitiveness of psychological and pedagogical profile (on the example of the ICC “Artek”).

Introduction: the problem investigated in this article is important for the higher education system. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to study and compare the characteristics of future psychologists and pedagogues’ competitiveness, who had the practice at the International Children's Center “Artek”. The research object is students’ competitiveness undergoing counselor practice. Subject: Differences in competitiveness among students undergoing camp counseling practice and ones without that experience. In accordance with the goal, the following tasks are set: 1. To analyze the scientific and methodological literature on the problem of competi-tiveness of students of psychological and pedagogical profile. 2. To study the theoretical aspects of professional self-determination of students. 3. To identify and compare professionally important qualities of students of psychologi-cal and pedagogical profile, having and not having a camp counselor practice, which af-fects competitiveness. 4. Determine the differences in competitiveness between students undergoing and not undergoing a camp counseling practice. 5. To develop recommendations for students of psychological and pedagogical profile, in order to increase their competitiveness. The hypothesis is that students who have experience as a camp counselor practice are more competitive in their future profession than students who do not practice in the camp. They possess the following skills: communication and organizational skills, a high level of professional identity and attractiveness of the future profession Materials and methods: to achieve the goal, theoretical research methods were used: analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the competitiveness problem. Research methods are the following: one of studying the attractiveness factors of a profession (proposed by V.A. Yadov, modified by N.V. Kuzmina, A.A. Rean); ones of studying the status of professional identity (A.A. Azbel, A.G. Gretsov); communicative and organizational inclinations (V.V. Sinyavsky, V.A. Fedoroshin). Mathematical methods of data processing were used: U-test of independent samples of Mann-Whitney data and Spearman's rank correlation method using the STATISTICA 6.0 software. Results: As a result of the analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the problem of competitiveness of students of psychological and pedagogical profile, it was determined that competitiveness is expressed in the successful implementation of pro-fessional activity, the ability to organizational creativity, the manifestation of initiative, and willingness to take risks in the conditions of market relations. A competitive person has a high level of professional and personal qualities with the aim of further realizing oneself in the profession. In the framework of the study, professional self-determination is considered as an independence of choice, an area of daily skillful management of mental development processes. In order for the student to become aware of himself/herself as an activity subject, a number of mental processes take place, the totality of which is defined as professional self-determination, self-awareness and self-esteem. The result of realizing oneself as an activity subject provides professionalism of a specialist who has professionally important and personal qualities. The organization of a practice-oriented direction of students by educational institutions makes it possible to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in real conditions. In the conditions of the children's camp, students of a psychological and pedagogical profile have the opportunity to start their professional activities and develop not only profes-sionally important qualities, but also qualities that allow them to overcome fears and complexes. Having experience as a camp counselor, students get the opportunity not only to establish themselves as a future professional specialist, but to find a new circle of friends as well. To compare two independent samples: group A (camp counselors), group B – students without camp counselor practice, the Mann-Whitney U test was used. Significant differ-ences were obtained for the following indicators: communicative (Uemp = 51) and or-ganizational (Uemp = 49.5) capabilities, as well as according to the criterion "Formed identity" (Uemp = 71) at (Ucr = 56-72). One negative correlation was revealed between the components of competitiveness among students of Psychology and Education Faculty: the uncertainty of professional identity and organizational capabilities of students (at r = -0.4). This relationship shows that students develop organizational skills under the condition of a formed professional identity. Discussion and Conclusions: higher educational institutions are interested in a high level of competitiveness of their students; therefore, in order to develop the necessary skills, they send students of a psychological and pedagogical profile to practice in camps for mastering camp counselor activities. Having considered the results on the example of the International Children's Center “Artek”, it is possible to recommend the compulsory practice of students of humanitarian and pedagogical directions, since this activity contributes to the formation of all the necessary qualities of a competitive specialist, and also allows to develop both professionally important qualities, and the necessary “soft skills”, which become the basis for future labor activity.