Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2020 number 2

Further vocational education (FVE) is an important subsystem of the social institution of education, whose dynamic development lies in the fact that, in this day and age, it is impossible to ensure the relevance of one’s knowledge for life. Economic globalization, accelerated technological advances, the rapid development of manufacturing processes and innovative technology, newly establishing information and knowledge societies, and increased competition in the labor market-every one of these factors contribute to the growing social need for further education, as well as create and improve an individual’s motivation to resume and continue their lifelong learning. Under the current socio-economic conditions, the FVE system requires fresh approaches. The present trend is to build an FVE system aimed at satisfying professional, educational, and personal needs expressed by the main consumers of these educational services (students of FVE programs and employers) to the fullest extent possible. Further vocational education is gaining in social importance and becoming a key area that provides an enabling environment for professional development, maintaining and improving competitiveness in the labor market, along with self-fulfillment, cultural growth, and personal empowerment. Moreover, FVE is a more mobile and flexible system than higher education, which makes it possible to rapidly and timely update the content or reorient FVE curricula to constantly changing societal and government demands. The article reviews the main stages of the institutional evolution of further vocational education in Russia, revealing its social functions at each stage; identifies factors contributing to the growing demand for FVE in present-day society; presents the results of a sociological study on social conditions affecting the work and development of FVE in the region (specifically Belgorod Oblast).