Practice-oriented technologies in developing readiness for professional adaptation of law students

Abstract

Background. The relevance of the research is due to the need to improve the quality of training of lawyers in Russia in order to improve their successful adaptation in the professional field.

Objective. The main purpose of the article is to study the role of practice-oriented technologies in the process of formation of professional readiness in students of legal specialties.

Study Participants. The study involved 125 2nd year students of the PSNIU College of Vocational Education, studying in the specialty 40.02.01 “Law and organization of social security” (65 students made up the control group, 60 students participated as the experimental group).

Methods. A set of theoretical methods were used in the study: analysis and generalization of scientific data on practice-oriented education, systematization of existing approaches, as well as the study of the experience of Russian law faculties. Diagnostics of the components of readiness for professional adaptation of students of legal specialties was carried out using the author’s methodology of A.N. Brazhnikova, practical case studies and analysis of work experience based on the results of students’ practical training; V.F. Ryakhovsky’s methodology “Assessment of the level of communication”, “Diagnostics of reflection” by A.V. Karpova, a questionnaire for diagnosing the motives of professional activity by T.N. Frantseva. The comparison of the studied indicators in the experimental and control groups of law students and confirmation of the statistical significance of the differences obtained during the pedagogical experiment was carried out through the use of the nonparametric criterion X2 “Chi-square” and the U-Mann-Whitney criterion.

Results. The study showed that the integration of practice-oriented methods, such as real legal tasks, business and role-play games, contributes to the formation of key professional competencies. This not only facilitates the process of graduates’ adaptation to the labor market, but also increases their competitiveness.

Conclusions. The article outlines an integrated approach to assessing the impact of practice-oriented technologies on the readiness for professional adaptation of future lawyers, which allows changing the vector of students’ professional training itself: from practice to theory, and then again from theory to practice but at a higher level of quality and understanding. The practical value of the work is justified by the possibility to use the data obtained to optimize curricula and develop new methods in the field of legal education, which will contribute to improving the quality of student training.