INNOVATIVE METHODS OF SOFT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE SOCIAL WORKERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of developing social skills (soft skills) in future social workers. The progressive information and communication development of the world community, the active introduction of robotics in all spheres of public life in the twentyfirst century, the increase in crisis situations in various social groups of Ukraine due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation in our country determine new approaches to the modern training of future social workers in higher education institutions. Along with professional competence, the requirement for a specialist to have qualified social skills (soft skills) comes to the fore. The purpose of our study is to identify and characterise innovative methods of developing soft skills in future social workers in higher education institutions. Methods of the study: theoretical – analysis of pedagogical sources on the studied issues, generalisation and systematisation of data on the development of social skills in students during academic and extracurricular activities; empirical – questionnaire. The study sample consisted of 78 bachelor's (63 students) and master's (15 students) students from 9 higher education institutions. The survey showed that future social workers prefer soft skills development methods using educational web services and online platforms. After analysing innovative methods: training, workshop, case method, brainstorming, project method, coaching, we concluded that it is advisable to integrate them into the educational process of a higher education institution. Since none of them can be considered universal: each of them in certain situations gives different results and this must be taken into account when setting the task of developing (improving) certain soft skills.