Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2016 number 3

The purpose of the present article is to examine the relationship of processes of social and economic development of the society with the need to train qualified personnel in the system of vocational education, taking into account social transformations and objective predetermination of successive changes of technological structures in the history of the world economy. Based on the overall analysis of the theory of post-industrial society, the theory of the development of innovative and modern economic theory as well as on the characteristics of the model of the future society, the author highlights the priorities in economic activity in the structure of employment in the public management system based on a new intellectual knowledge. The article discusses the concept of «technological way» and the signs of technological structures distinguished by modern researchers. Based on the opinion of scientists and experts in the field of socio-economic forecasting, as well as on the results of the achieved level of production and technological development of Russia and the United States, the author substantiates the degree of complexity of the tasks to overcome the backlog of Russian production and the technological core of the economy and the success of the solution of these problems associated with the need to training of highly qualified personnel in the system of Russian professional education in view of the social transformations of the modern world. As such transformations the author identifies: the transformation of the labor market and employment sector and, as a result, the formation of a service-oriented economy providing comprehensive and unique types of services, in which the proportion of employed workers increased (by a decline in the proportion of employed workers in the sphere of material production) with the prospect of further growth of the service sector; digitization of the operating sphere of professional activity of employees of all sectors of the economy; an objective need for the modern workers' soft skills, hard skills as a condition of their successful professional socialization; actualization of World Skills International worldwide. All of these social transformations lead to the creation of updated models of professional education and training of qualified personnel for working professions, which defined response to the challenges of time and a growing level of uncertainty and variability - stimulating creativity, entrepreneurship, lifelong learning. The adequacy of this response confirms the forecasts of sociologists that the model of the future society will be a meritocratic model based on the principle of management of society by the most capable, endowed with special talents people, regardless of their social background and financial status. Such a model allows to quickly and effectively respond to the challenges of today's highly volatile world. Therefore, education, training and the formation of such individuals is one of the priorities of the modern Russian professional education.