printSelf-Education as a Necessary Component of Educational Routes:
a Categorial Analysis
Meshkova L.I.
Junior Researcher of the Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS; Senior Lecturer of the State Academic University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia Krysta@mail.ru
Meshkova L.I. Self-Education as a Necessary Component of Educational Routes: a Categorial Analysis. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2025. No 10. P. 80-91
The problem of the effectiveness of self-education as one of the educational strategies for obtaining professional knowledge has become relevant in connection with the rapid digitalization of the sphere of professional education and the exponential growth of online learning programs that have occurred in the last five years. The article examines the trends in the participation in additional and non-formal professional education. The non-formal education segment has been actively developing in recent years after a decline. The problem of the effectiveness of online courses, the dropout rate of which is quite high, has been noted. The question arises about the importance of self-education practices in the educational process. The central theme of the article is the analysis of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the concept of “self-education” as accumulated experience and practice necessary in any educational process and especially providing a competitive advantage in modern educational realities. The analysis of russian and foreign studies of self-education allowed us to compare various research traditions, find common ground and expose contradictions in the interpretation of such a social phenomenon as “self-education”, “self-directed learning” etc., when one concept refers to various social educational practices determined by the historical background, socio-economic context and features of specific educational systems. The results of the theoretical and methodological analysis have analytical potential for the practice of sociological research and for social management and forecasting in the field of professional online education.
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