Professional standard “Geographer” in the context of university geographical education

Professional standards (hereinafter referred to as PS) determine the characteristics of the qualification necessary for an employee to carry out a certain type of professional activity. They are widely used internationally including the field of education. PSs form the basis for developing vocational training programs and methods for assessing and certifying vocational training outputs. Until recently, a PS in the field of professional activity of geographers was absent in Russia reasoning for the lack of institutionalization of the profession of “geographer” with all negative results. The PS “Geographer”, developed and approved in 2020, largely solves this problem. The content and results of this work determined the purpose of the article, i.e. to analyze the experience of developing the PS “Geographer” and to conduct a preliminary assessment of its potential impact on university geographical education under constantly changing structure of higher professional education.

For this, the article discusses main scientific and methodological bases of the above PS and analyzes the conceptual and institutional problems that arose during elaboration of the PS “Geographer”. The stages of its elaboration are described and labour and generalized labour functions of geographers in various spheres of economic activity are defined. The potential implications of PS adoption for the geographical education in Russian universities are assessed. Within the framework of the PS “Geographer” the functions of the interdisciplinary geographer include the main types of activities, such as performing field and survey work, preparing analytical materials, organizing geographic projects, conducting a comprehensive geographical assessment of projects and works. PS “Geographer” could play a significant role in the development of higher education in geography in Russia, as it allows universities to “tool” the education process for the most challenging and competitive areas of professional activity of graduates, taking into account the needs of regional labour markets and the opportunities for continuing education with no restrains to the narrow scope of specialization. To identify prospects for its use it is necessary to monitor the sphere of employment of those graduated from educational programs in Geography, and support the educational programs in Geography by employers. The adoption of the PS Geographer does not exclude, but presupposes further development of specialized professional standards, more adequately reflecting the specifics of certain geographical areas and spheres of activity. 

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