Volume 12 - Issue 61
/ January 2023
145
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.61.01.15
How to Cite:
Zhukova, T.A., Bogoslovsky, V.I., Ivashkina, O.A., Kozlovtseva, N.A., & Khalevina, S.N. (2023). Initiatives and the process of the
development of regional students’ cross-cultural communication skills. Amazonia Investiga, 12(61), 145-154.
https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.61.01.15
Initiatives and the process of the development of regional students’
cross-cultural communication skills
Инициативы и процесс развития навыков межкультурного общения у
региональных студентов
Received: January 5, 2023 Accepted: February 11, 2023
Written by:
Zhukova Tatyana Anatolyevna65
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2184-4814
Bogoslovsky Vladimir Ivanovich66
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-244X
Ivashkina Olesya Anatolyevna67
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0229-444X
Kozlovtseva Nina Aleksandrovna68
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2323-0752
Khalevina Svetlana Nikolayevna69
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7458-0015
Abstract
The article states the problem of preparing
students for cross-cultural communication by
some means of initiatives. The authors provide a
detailed series of definitions and determine the
necessity to consider regional specificities during
the development of initiatives aimed at
improving the students’ cross-cultural
communication skills. Thus the following main
prospects outline the design of the initiatives: the
examination of the quantitative and qualitative
analysis, which will enable to identify the
students’ preparedness for the project; the review
of research works and analytical data reflecting
the role and importance of initiatives; the
analysis of the mechanisms for initiatives’
implementation, one of which is a professional
task. The main results are the determination of
the value foundations of the mechanisms for
students’ preparation, justification for the
selection of the region taken for comparison and
analysis, the experience of which is adapted to
the conditions of the local region, consolidation
65
PhD in Education, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and intercultural communication, Financial University
under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia.
66
Dr. of Pedagogy, Professor, Department of digital education, Herzen State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
67
Senior English language teacher Department of Foreign Languages and intercultural communication, Financial University under
the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia.
68
PhD in Culturology, Senior English language teacher, Department of Foreign Languages and intercultural communication, Financial
University under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia.
69
PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Department of Foreign Languages and intercultural communication, Financial University
under the Government of the Russian Federation Moscow, Russia.
146
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
of the main areas of students’ cross-cultural
training implemented within the project
framework, and the design of a predictive model
of the initiative. Systematic and structural-
functional approaches are used to fulfill the goal
set (to expand the right understanding of the
prospects for the design of initiatives during the
development of cross-cultural communication).
Keywords. initiatives in education,
improvement initiatives, educational projects,
cross-cultural communication, regionalization,
comparative analysis.
Introduction
We view it essential within this research to
highlight the regional nature of process
organization. This is determined primarily by the
existing in Russia principle of decentralization in
management, which gives each region the
freedom and openness to its own innovations,
findings, and various initiatives. However,
common problems on all of the lands of the
country create the need for convergence of
regional educational institutions. At the same
time, the concern is relevant due to various
ethnocultural processes occurring in regions. It is
crucial to consider those processes and apply
different forms of organizing education to
develop and further improve cross-cultural
communication.
Theoretical analysis revealed the following areas
of the subject matter under research. The first
area is the study of cross-cultural communication
and the specifics of its implementation at the
regional level (Aniskin et al., 2011).
The second area is the investigations devoted to
the peculiarities of application of initiatives with
the purpose of developing cross-cultural
communication considering regional specifics
(Kozareva, Radionova, and others 2004).
The third area is the works on comparative study
and their role in developing initiatives to improve
cross-cultural communication (Kamenskaya et
al., 2019).
Literature Review
Whenever we speak about cultural interaction,
we mean contacts between large groups of people
(Smirnov, 2002). In present conditions, the
development of cultural links occurs in such
fields of human activity as tourism, sports,
personal contacts, and many other. Besides, the
social, political, and economic changes that have
taken place in the world in recent years have
resulted in large-scale migration of people, their
resettlement, blending, but also conflicts. As a
result of these processes, more and more people
have to overcome cultural barriers which
previously separated them. They not only interact
with other cultures but have to integrate into
them. Thus, in reality, the interaction of cultures
occurs precisely through contacts between
individuals. These contacts represent the process
of cross-cultural communication.
It is a well-known fact that cross-cultural
communication occurs if the sender and the
receiver of a message belong to different cultures
if the communication participants realize each
other cultural differences (Novikova, 2007). In
fact, cross-cultural communication always
means interpersonal communication in a specific
context when a cultural difference is detected
between the participants. It may cause many
problems due to differences in expectations,
prejudice and stereotypes that are natural for each
person and are obviously different in different
cultures. Cross-cultural features can be viewed as
differences in verbal and non-verbal codes in a
specific communication context. Moreover, each
Zhukova, T.A., Bogoslovsky, V.I., Ivashkina, O.A., Kozlovtseva, N.A., Khalevina, S.N. / Volume 12 - Issue 61: 145-154 /
January, 2023
Volume 12 - Issue 61
/ January 2023
147
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
member of cross-cultural communication
possesses the system of rules enabling to code
and decode the incoming and outgoing messages.
It is evident that cross-cultural communication
can be established on both macro and micro
levels (Kurylo, 2019). The regional level and the
process of preparing students for cross-cultural
communication with regional specificity are of
particular interest within this study. Recent
frequent use of such phrases as «regions»,
«regional problems», «regional policy», and
many others give the impression that regional
issues are of high priority in both real life and the
public opinion of the Russians. This process has
an equitable basis. Regionalization as one of the
strategic directions of modern politics is largely
determined by the federal structure of the
Russian State.
Hyperunification and overstandartization were
being implemented for decades in the former
USSR and education in regions ceased to be the
sphere of independent creativity for both
administrative and teaching personnel. The
intensification of the regional issue with self-
identity nowadays is a natural response to these
processes.
Regionalization of education is one of the
principles of global education determined by
modern trends in the socio-cultural development
of a society, the recognition of the uniqueness of
national and regional variants of cultures, their
unity, and integrity. However, several obstacles
and difficulties arise in the development process
of the regionalization of education. They are low
levels of regional awareness of education
necessity among the population; preparedness
and ability of the region to act as education
stakeholder; development of a philosophical,
methodological, and methodical foundation for
integration and differentiation between federal
and regional education components.
The current regional policy in the field of higher
pedagogical education is designed in such a way
as to, firstly, conform to the global trends of
globalization and ensure the adjustment of the
existing ones and the identification of innovative
cultural aims and tasks of education in order to
preserve the national culture and sustain the
cultures of integrated people, taking into account
the ethnocultural peculiarities of the regions.
Secondly, to ensure the preservation of a unified
all-nation educational environment, to expand
integrational ties between various educational
regional institutions in order to intensify the
teachers’ work and find new approaches to
changing the teachers’ training. In other words,
to increase the efficiency of regional educational
systems and maintain the quality of education.
As researchers note, the necessity to manage
regionalization objectively follows from the
social nature of people’s lives. In current
conditions, the problem of management
improvement becomes of particular relevance. It
is associated with a change in relations within
society both vertically and horizontally. In that
connection, the category “management” itself
defines new ways of interaction between
representatives of different regions, establishing
subject-subject relations.
One possible form of organizing regionalization
is the initiative. We will concentrate on the
analysis of initiatives. An initiative is a form of a
research project. It includes research and
developments to solve urgent theoretical and
practical problems of social and cultural
importance. Research projects present
scientifically based solutions to problems of the
particular region under study. Initiatives are
projects provided by an educational institution or
land. They contribute to the increase of openness
and interaction. Their implementation provides
free access to comprehensible information about
the education institution activity, encourages
involvement into work reference groups, public
organizations, and unions (Dyuzhakova, 2022).
Some researchers consider initiatives as follows:
a global, regional problem to be solved by the
project; a particular task within the problem to be
solved by the project; methods and approaches,
as well as a general scenario proposed for the
entire period of work; expected scientific results
(a detailed description with an estimate of the
degree of originality); the current state of
research in the area and comparison of the
forecast results on the national and federal levels;
existing groundwork concerning the project
offered; the results obtained earlier (with an
assessment of the degree of originality); methods
developed (with an estimation of the degree of
novelty); a list of relevant publications which
most relate to the project offered; an inventory
and characteristics of the project support
available (Nieto et al., 2008).
The authors of the current paper will agree with
those researchers who point out that an «initiative
is the achievement of a specific new goal within
a time frame and with the use of limited
resources. This goal demands specific
approaches regarding its achievement and certain
148
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
steps to be followed. The steps include a project
team, management (how to ensure the
implementation of the project considering quality
requirements», expenses and deadlines), an
estimate of the results obtained. They will
undoubtedly make it possible to reassess the
content, existing conditions, and methods of
cross-cultural communication improvement.
Besides, assess the advancement of secondary
operations influencing the developing process.
Also, analyze crisis phenomena, transformation,
and the effectiveness of the experience borrowed
and used in educational practice. Moreover, it
will allow conditions for adaptation and
management of the open, nonlinear self-
organizing systems to update these practices.
Methods
The purpose of this study is to identify the
prospects for the design of initiatives in
developing cross-cultural communication.
In this article, we appeal to a system approach,
which allows us to first study in detail the
existing practices of preparing students for cross-
cultural communication separately, then to
analyze and compare them with each other’s, and
finally, to combine them into a holistic system.
The performed research with the system
approach will make it possible to identify the
structural elements of the components taken for
consideration and determine functional
dependencies between these elements. In this
regard, structural and functional approaches were
used for this study. Since the function is
established as a result of the interaction between
the regional education system and the higher
education system of the Russian Federation and
expresses its involvement in the formation and
functioning of the system components. It mirrors
the value content of these components and,
consequently, it reflects the integrity and
differences during the process of the problem
consideration by researchers from different
regions. Thus, the function reflects the regions'
choices effect, which reveals the features of the
development of cross-cultural communication
through initiatives with the account of the
regional specifics.
The authors use the review literature and analyze
the literature on the problem of the current
research. Moreover, they refer to literature
regarding the specificities of the initiatives in a
real teaching practice. The following review of
literature points to some of the main critical
aspects of the further prospects of the
multicultural initiative’s development. This
review has been helpful in structuring the study
and may serve as the first step towards the
solution of the problem of the paper. The
conceptual framework included phases identifies
obstacles to the instruction for the development
of the initiatives in teaching practice.
Results
The areas considered in this study as prospects
for the design of initiatives in developing cross-
cultural communication of regional students
seem to bear importance which requires further
analysis.
Firstly, it is an examination of quantitative and
qualitative analysis, which will enable us to
identify the level of students’ preparedness for
initiatives. These are primarily such methods as
interviewing (free interview, semi-standardized
and standardized interviews), questionnaires,
participant observation, group conversation,
focus group, expert assessment). A combination
of methods is of equal importance as it provides
the possibility for an unpretentious
understanding of educational reality.
A principal procedure of collecting information
in this regard is working with a focus group,
which should be viewed as a research method of
(semi-standardized) interviews held in the form
of a group discussion and focused on obtaining
information from its participants about their
attitude to a particular problem and the way they
act in a specific situation. Concerning the
problem under study, the people participating in
the work of a focus group must be homogeneous.
As a rule, the focus group is small and consists of
not more than six to ten participants. That enables
to carry out data collection rather quickly.
The main stages of the preparation include
determining the place and time of a focus group,
providing necessary technical equipment,
choosing criteria for the selection of participants,
selecting and inviting the participants, preparing
the scenario for the focus groups, selecting and
training a moderator, selecting methodological
techniques depending on the preplanned level of
discussion of the information to be obtained,
preparing the material required for the specific
techniques, providing recording of the process.
It is important to note that a focus group is not
synonymous with group interviewing, during
which the researcher also asks the whole group a
series of questions, but the participants answer
them individually. During group interviews,
participants are encouraged to discuss and study
Volume 12 - Issue 61
/ January 2023
149
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
the issue among themselves, while the researcher
uses these discussions as information. The
effectiveness of the method is largely determined
by how much the conditions in the discussions
are close to the conditions of everyday
communication between people, how appealing
these conditions are to the participants, and to
what extent they facilitate natural behavior
during group discussion.
A distinctive feature of focus groups compared to
other survey methods is that their participants can
spontaneously express their emotions during the
discussion making it livelier and more attractive.
Besides, they provide essential additional
information. Furthermore, compared to an
individual interview, the advantage of a focus
group interview lies in the fact that every
participant expressing their opinion, judgments,
and arguments stimulates the mental activity of
the others. That allows having a broader and
more thorough consideration of the problem
under study.
Focus groups can consist of target group
members and other people included by the
researchers, as they may possess some essential
information. It could be representatives of the
professional teaching community such as school
principals, members of parents’ associations,
young teachers, and others. At the same time,
experts in assessing professional pedagogical
activity can be participants of one of the target
groups of the focus group discussion. In this
regard, the specifics of using expert assessment
should be considered.
Expert assessment is a method of organizing the
work with experts and processing experts’
opinions. These opinions are usually expressed
partly in a quantitative and partly in qualitative
form. To reach a decision by means of expert
assessment, a working group is created which
organizes the experts’ work on behalf of the
decision-maker. The experts comprise an expert
commission making the expertise examination.
Expertise examination as a research method is
based primarily on the competence and
experience of experts. During expertise, several
techniques are used. Such techniques as
comparisons, ranking, identification of the
progress of specific processes help obtain the
information necessary for the system analysis.
All the information received from various
resources during the expertise examination is
generalized and comprehended by the group of
experts who also define characteristics and
develop the models. The performed analysis is
used to develop the recommendations.
According to the range of experts, the expertise
can be:
• a group one (a group of experts). The group
assessment is more reliable since it ensures
maximum credibility provided that
competent specialists are selected;
• a collective one. It involves cooperative
assessment made by a group of specialists
and provides multidimensional thinking and
consistent perception of several areas within
the framework of the system under
consideration. A new, unusual viewpoint on
the phenomena under analysis allows the
collective expertise to detect some
concealed processes since certain
phenomena appear to be in a wider
knowledge field;
• an individual one (an expert). An
examination of a specific area is carried out
by an individual specialist in accordance
with the existing standards or particularly
developed criteria;
• a reflective one (self-examination).
Secondly, this is the study of research sources and
original analytical materials, which reflect the
role and significance of initiatives:
− documents on the development of higher
professional education including higher
pedagogical education in Russia and abroad.
These consist of programs, projects, and
studies of the Council of Europe, «The
Bologna Process: European and National
Qualifications Frameworks»; «Quality
assurance in education: Glossary», Federal
laws in Education;
− regulatory documents concerning various
aspects of vocational training at a university:
Federal state educational standards
including all amendments; educational
programs of bachelors;
− materials reflecting the needs and changes of
educational practice: experimental work,
competitive research made by teachers,
research and creative work made by students
of pedagogical higher education institutions;
the results of sociological research;
information and teaching materials
including educational programs and
curricula of regional universities («Guide to
the modules at the university», «Comments
on academic disciplines at the university»).
The sources for that information can be
specialized electronic Russian and foreign
150
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
databases (publicly available on the
Internet), specialized magazines,
newspapers, official educational structures,
Ministries, information from external
consultants, experts, analysts from different
countries and regions, and other.
− publications of national and foreign research
work devoted to the problems of improving
cross-cultural communication of university
students: collections of scientific papers,
doctoral studies, abstracts of dissertations,
teaching materials.
Thirdly, it is an analysis of the mechanisms for
the implementation of initiatives, one of which
is a professional task. The examples of the most
significant professional tasks used as an integral
component of initiatives to develop cross-
cultural communication include:
− seeing oneself in the process of cross-
cultural communication – to be able to
determine the motivation and preparedness
to interact with representatives of other
cultures and build tolerant relations with
them;
− establishing interaction with the other
participants of cross-cultural
communication;
− designing and implementing self-education,
improving own analytical and synthetic
skills, which are the basis for the
differentiation and integration of the
knowledge about the characteristics of other
cultures (socio-cultural, professional, and
other.)
Discussion
Unfortunately, little attention is paid in the
regional higher professional education to both
the «cross-cultural content» and the regional
aspect. Although, the latter is widely recognized.
Moreover, we want to highlight that, despite a
large number of studies showing the importance
of the problem, the recent trend to study the
elements of culture based on the results of direct
comparison of formal aspects, such as statements
or actions, remains and has led to the
reinforcement of stereotypes (Zhukova & Shrenk
2016). In this regard, an increasing number of
studies carried out by numerous scientists have
recently emphasized the necessity to borrow the
experience of various regions and countries
solving similar issues (Zair-Bek, 2017).
In this matter, we believe that comparative
studies and the stages of their organization
should play an important role.
It is known that comparative studies enable to
overcome the traditional methodology
contradictions of comparative pedagogy, which
are the following:
➢ on the one hand, the analysis of the
educational systems of various countries is
made through strict differentiation
(separation) of research objects and subjects,
resulting in a lack of understanding the
necessary correlation between general
tendencies of education development and
the development of education in individual
countries;
➢ on the other hand, consideration of the
general trends in the development of
education in the world does not allow us to
fully present the specifics of the current
development uniqueness of each national
education system.
The general purpose of the comparative analysis
of the education systems in different countries is
to give an objective assessment of their
development, identify the development trends
and the best precedents through comparative
studies.
Improvement of cross-country analysis enables
to evolve and modify national practices of
preparing students. Foreign approaches in
education, which are based on the principles of
openness, non-linearity, and social interaction
(Kokarevich, & Sizova, 2015), can be applied.
Students should understand the importance of
continuous and lifelong learning. These tasks are
not possible to achieve only by correcting the
existing national practices of students’ training.
A significant transformation is necessary
utilizing international experience).
The analysis of how researchers view the essence
of certain phases of the process shows that the
organization of comparative pedagogical
research is based on an inductive approach,
which implies that the inferences and
conclusions are drawn by going «from specific to
general». It is the use of the inductive approach
that can serve as the basis for choosing the
following phases for the research: the first phase
is problem-oriented. «It includes a description
and statement of the characteristics of the subject
of the research, thereby turning it into an object
of a study»; the second phase is critical»
(Zhukova, Bogoslovskiy and Klimova 2022). It
contains a discussion and criticism of the
presented and compared knowledge obtained
empirically; the third phase is constructively-
oriented. It is forecasting and designing new
Volume 12 - Issue 61
/ January 2023
151
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
models, approaches, and other, considering the
characteristics of the region and the adoption of
the principle of regionalization as one of the
leading in modern education.
Phase 1 - defining the value basics of the
mechanisms for preparing students for cross-
cultural communication.
The implementation of higher education reforms
is characterized by global and local changes in
education. Among the specific features is
fundamental research on the priorities and values
of education, manifested in the activation of
regional ethnocultural and ethnopolitical
movements. They, in return, are stimulated by
the processes of globalization and integration
(Wu, & Havens, 2005). The close attention to
local differences, the importance of the formation
of cultural identity, the growing interest in the
traditions of ancient times have determined the
demand to form a single but diverse regional-
oriented network that requires maximum
consideration of ethnocultural characteristics in
the region. At the same time, it is obvious that
«the best practice is not an absolute and final
decision, the implementation of which ensures
the improvement of the work of a higher
education institution; rather, «the best practice»
means finding the best approach in a given
situation, since institutions or individual
organizational programs are very different in
their structure and scope» (Nieto et al., 2008).
Although modern education is based on the
adopted competency-based approach, the
purpose of which is the focus on the freedom of
choice for a student, the openness of education,
the new quality of education, in general, and the
mechanisms for the development of cross-
cultural communication, in particular.
Phase 2 – justifying the choice of the region
selected for comparison and analysis. The
experience of the region taken for comparison
is adapted to the conditions of the region of
application.
For a comparative study, it is also essential to
justify the choice of the higher education
institution. It is particularly necessary to study
those universities that have had many years of
positive experience in preparing students for
cross-cultural communication, have a similar
activity area (training bachelors and masters of
education), and have a regional status.
Consequently, the partnership between regional
educational institutions is vital. The result of
such partnership would be natural conditions for
studying the cross-cultural communication
development mechanisms. Another reason for
choosing a specific regional university may be
the access to information about how education is
developing there (Zhukova et al., 2022). The
main task of this stage is the search for the most
successful cases.
A precedent is an option of the system being
modeled (part of its functionality) due to which
an individual can obtain a specific, measurable,
and desired result. It corresponds to a particular
component of the system, defines one of the use
cases, and describes a typical way in which an
individual interacts with that system. Use cases
are usually employed to specify the external
requirements for the system, taking into account
the influence of sociocultural factors.
Some foreign researchers consider a precedent
(Eng. Case) as a specification of the sequences of
actions (variants of sequences and invalid
sequences) that a system, subsystem, or class can
perform when interacting with external actors.
While the precedent describes some integral
fragment of the system and the interaction of the
system with the actors, the case describes an
individual incident. In this process, the main
issue is to establish the relationship between
these concepts. As it is known, the research
strategy of a “case” is defined as an empirical
study of an individual incident. A “case” refers to
methods of “qualitative research”, which means
any type of research when obtaining results is not
achieved by quantifying and processing data
using statistics.
The choice of the research method of precedents
(Case-based Reasoning) allows, in our
understanding, to solve a new, unknown problem
by using or adapting the solution of an already
known problem. Thus, employing already
accumulated experience in solving similar
problems. Whereas, the case itself is a
description of a specific issue (Ziegele, 2006).
The current understanding of the precedent
method enables to determine the possibility of
using the accumulated experience repeatedly; to
reduce the time spent on the search for a solution;
to avoid re-obtaining an invalid solution. As
negative features that define the boundaries of
the precedent, the study indicates the following:
it is problematic to determine the criteria for
comparison; the method is applicable only in
regions where the principle of regularity is
employed and the types of problems are repeated;
insufficient level of generalization of the
precedent under the study.
152
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
In further research, a German university will be
taken as a precedent.
Firstly, because the current system of university
education in Germany has significantly
influenced the development of higher education
in various countries of the world. For more than
two centuries, the Humboldt university model
has been a prototype for universities in Europe
and the world. The model of an ideal university
in Germany, developed by W. Humboldt and
later implemented, expanded the concept of the
university with the following ideas: universities
have become an area for scientific research;
systematic lectures were replaced by seminars;
serious attention was paid to the study of
languages; democratic approach to the
educational and scientific process was
developed.
Secondly, it is no less important to consider for
comparison the fact that in 1998 “a level
structure of instruction was introduced by law in
Germany”, which provided the introduction of
new bachelor’s and master’s qualifications. As a
result, the Russian and German universities have
been solving several common tasks related to the
integration of the Bologna reforms into the
internal university processes.
Phase 3 – summarizing the main programs of
cross-cultural communication training of
students implemented within the framework of
initiatives, carried out from the perspective of
general, specific, and private features.
The authors of this study believe that the model
used for students’ training is of primary
importance. The model of adaptive behavior and
the model of professional development are of
particular attention. The main goal of the
adaptive behavior model is to form the skills of a
person to fit in the surrounding reality. Whereas
the main emphasis in the model of professional
development is on shaping the ability to
transcend everyday routine; see, realize and
evaluate various problems, constructively
resolve them following own value system,
consider any difficulty as an opportunity for
further development. While the adaptive model
is focused on the instant response to external
changes, the professional development model
focuses on the anticipation and consideration of
future changes in training.
According to philosophy, any object unites both
individual features as of a unique identity and
general features as the governing law. The
combination of the general and the individual
composes the specific. While the individual is the
form of existence of the general in reality, the
specific is the general implemented in the
individual. These categories form in the process
of understanding the world. Each object appears
to a person as something individual. In the course
of cognitive activity, several objects discover to
have recurrent features, which allow them to be
combined into «classes», thus determining the
features:
➢ general ones. They reflect national trends in
the development of higher education which
are influencing the development of cross-
cultural communication among students (for
example, focus on rapidly changing
ethnocultural processes in the regions;
implementation of sustainable development
in the field of education; ensuring close
cooperation with the regions);
➢ specific ones. They are of regional nature in
a particular regional higher education
institution under study (ensuring
cooperation with various educational and
social organizations, identifying
development initiatives in terms of ideas for
the development of cross-cultural
communication);
➢ individual ones. They reflect individual
characteristics of students (designing an
“individual educational route” through the
choice of educational programs and
implementation of humanitarian learning
technologies; providing scientific and
research, administrative and informative
activity in order to develop cross-cultural
communication skills).
Phase 4 – designing a predictive model of the
initiative.
It is known, that modeling is one of the most
effective system tools of strategic management.
In the field of education, this method is aimed at
creating the most adequate, detailed vision of the
future object, system, or process, from which all
other components of the change strategy will be
developed. In the study, we talk about the
significance of the predicted changes that allow
us to forecast the course of possible
transformation due to the strengthening of
ethnocultural processes in the region and
determining the specifics of education
development and, accordingly, the teacher
training.
Modeling of the results is part of a whole
analytical complex that makes it possible not
only to carry out a promising examination of
Volume 12 - Issue 61
/ January 2023
153
http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
educational outcomes but also to correct the
practical process of their obtaining. In doing so it
is necessary to focus on innovation and
creativity. Continuity of already existing in the
national science pedagogical theories, as well as
the logic of stage design, should be observed in
building a modeling theory.
A predictive model is a forecast model, the study
of which allows one to obtain information about
possible states of an object in the future and (or)
ways to achieve these states. When building and
evaluating a predictive model, it is impossible to
carry out a direct check of the conformity of the
model with the original version since this check
must relate to the future states of the object. At
the moment, the object itself either does not exist
(the projected object), or it exists, but it is not
known what changes it may have experienced by
a given moment (Vargas, 2000).
Obviously, the predictive model must meet the
following requirements: be complete, adaptable,
and dynamic, provide the ability to include a
sufficiently wide range of amendments,
supplements so that a consistent advance to the
model is possible; be abstract enough to allow a
large number of variables to be used; comply
with the conditions limiting the time for problem
solving; ensure the receipt of useful information
about the object in term of the assigned research
task (Yarovoi, 2007).
The priority types of initiatives should include
the following:
➢ «Cooperation» which involves interethnic
cooperation within multinational
conglomerates (designing initiatives the
purpose of which is to find ways of
enhancing interaction between regions).
➢ «Ideas» to increase vibrancy and creativity
in various fields of knowledge (initiatives
related to the search for ways to develop
education in a multicultural society).
➢ «Personnel» regarding training, mobility
and increase in the quantitative potential of
researchers (initiatives, the purpose of which
is to find ways to improve teachers training).
➢ «Opportunities» to maintain regional
knowledge initiatives and integrated
regional research centers, the potential of
which is not constrained by limited national
frameworks (incentives as anti-crisis
technologies for teacher training).
It is obvious that the implementation of these
projects is possible within modular education.
Modular learning system implies the division of
disciplines into relatively small components
called modules. A module contains learning
material grouped in accordance with the
professional tasks to be solved. Each topic can be
studied to a particular extend. For example, by
in-depth study of the problem tasks and
application of typical methods to arrive at the
solution or by special approach to the problem-
solving with own choice and justification of
actions. That allows students to choose their
individual training route and ensures the
sustainability of the learning process. In further
work the authors of the article plan to develop
these initiatives and introduce them into
educational practice.
Conclusion
Thus, summarizing the above, we may note the
following: pursuing the stated goal of this article,
the authors have identified several prospects for
the design of initiatives in the development of
cross-cultural competence of students in the
regions. These are the analysis of quantitative
and qualitative analytics, which will enable to
examine the students’ preparedness for the
implementation of the initiatives; the study of the
research sources and authentic materials, which
reflect the role, and significance of initiatives; the
analysis of the mechanisms for the
implementation of initiatives one of which is a
professional task. In the future, the authors of this
article plan to implement the indicated promising
areas.
It is without a doubt that knowledge about ways
to improve students’ training is very short-term,
quickly becoming obsolete, requiring constant
flexibility and precise refocusing which demands
integration both at the level of states and state
regions. This reveals the compensatory nature of
teacher training, which implies the removal of
institutional and personal barriers that prevent
the full and equal participation of all citizens in
the life of a society.
This means that special conditions may be
required during a transitional period in the
process of teacher training, determining further
changes. The changes may involve the rejection
of linearity, initiation of practice-oriented and
individual teacher training routes, reinforcement
of sustained learning. They should be reflected in
the future in the process of designing and
implementing initiatives.
We believe that this study opens up new
perspectives for the improvement of mechanisms
for preparing students for cross-cultural
communication and the implementation of
154
www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
initiatives. In particular, it is beneficial to study
such problems as technologies for improving
initiatives; technologies for organizing an
integrative space in an educational institution in
order to improve initiatives; anti-crisis
technologies for managing initiatives/
Bibliographic references
Aniskin, V.N., Bogoslovsky, V.I., &
Zhukova, T.A. (2011). Socio-cultural
competence of a teacher in a higher school:
features of development: a study guide for
teachers and students of pedagogical
universities. St. Petersburg – Samara:
PGSGA publishing, 1724. (In Russian)
Dyuzhakova, M.V. (2022) Polycultural
education and the migration processes:
Monograph. Voronezh: VGPU publishing.
172. (In Russia)
https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=499845
20
Kozareva, V.A., & Radionova, N.F. (2004)
Competence-based approach in teacher
training Collective monograph. Saint
Petersburg: Herzen State Pedagogical
University, 391. (in Russian)
Kamenskaya, N.V., Chevtayeva, N.G., &
Kachanova, Ye.A. (2019). Success factors in
the implementation of initiative projects in
the activities of state (municipal) institutions
of the social sphere. Management issues,
№ 5(60), pp. 20-29.
Kokarevich, M.N., & Sizova, N.Z. (2015).
Model of tolerance of intercultural
communication. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 166, 621-625. (In
Russian)
Kurylo, O.V., (2019). The specificities of the
multicultural education system. In the guide:
Psychology in the system of social training
relations. Material of the international
Scientific and Practical Conference. 2019.
10-13. (In Russian)
https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=412192
59
Nieto, S., Bode, P., Kang, E., & Raible, J. (2008).
Identity, Community and Diversity:
Retheorising multicultural curriculum for the
postmodern era. The Sage handbook of
curriculum and instruction, 225.
Novikova, L.A., (2007). Development of cross-
cultural competence of students of a
pedagogical university based on the use of
telecommunication technologies (Author’s
abstract of a dissertation of a candidate of
pedagogical sciences). Omsk State
Pedagogical University, Omsk, 226. (In
Russian)
Smirnov, L.V. (2002). Regionalization of
education – improving the quality of training
of specialists. Influence of educational
technologies on the development of Russian
regions. Vologda: Legia, 141-143. (In
Russian)
Vargas, C.M. (2000). Sustainable development
education: Averting or mitigating cultural
collision. International Journal of
Educational Development, 20(5), 377-396.
Wu, K., & Havens, W.S. (2005): Modelling an
academic curriculum plan as a mixed-
initiative constraint satisfaction problem,
Heidelberg, 231.
Yarovoi, G.O. (2007) Regionalism and cross-
border cooperation in Europe. Saint
Petersburg.: Norma, 280.
Zair-Bek, Ye. S. (2017). The current
methodology of project researches and
innovation in education. Theoretical
foundation for teaching pedagogical design.
Saint. Petersburg. Herzen State Pedagogical
University, 15-23. (In Russian)
https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=349157
58
Zhukova, T. A., Bogoslovskiy, V.I., &
Klimova, I.I. (2022). Predicting changes in
teacher preparation for intercultural
interaction in regions. Tomsk. Education and
Pedagogy Journal, №2 (4), 78-87
Zhukova, T.A., & Shrenk, M., (2016). The
principle of regionalization in the
development of higher education in a
multicultural society. In the digest: Actual
problems of natural science and mathematical
education. Materials of the International
Scientific and Practical Conference. 151-159.
(In Russian)
Ziegele, F. (2006). Konzeption eines neuen
Modells der staatlichen Mittelvergabe an die
Hochschulen in Brandenburg. result report,
51, Guetersloh., 100.