'New professions have appeared, for example, content managers in cultural centres'

Practical teachers are needed, especially in rural areas

At the beginning of the meeting, the head of the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan, Irada Ayupova, noted that today there is an acute shortage of practical teachers in cultural institutions, while the theoretical component continues to prevail in the retraining system. This means that it is necessary for university teachers to work with students, undergraduates in terms of developing and defending practice-oriented works, including by order of employers.

“The issue of attracting young personnel to rural areas is particularly acute, for its solution, the government of the republic together with the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan provide support to young specialists in the form of lump-sum payments and monthly supplements, gratuitous allocation of land for the construction of a residential building. Besides, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan initiated the process of developing the federal programme 'Zemstvo Cultural Worker'.”

To solve personnel issues, according to the minister, it is necessary to develop a personnel planning system, organise retraining of specialists focused on the needs of the republican branch of culture, encourage joint projects of cultural institutions and universities, form new competencies of teachers, create an exchange of experience with leading cultural institutions of Russia for heads of cultural institutions.

To stimulate scientific research, a competition of research papers for a scholarship of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan is held annually. In 2021, five people received the scholarship in various categories: Archeology of the Volga Region, Ethnography of the Peoples of the Volga-Ural Region, Language Processes in Tatarstan and the World, Cultural Code of Tatarstan: From History to Modernity. The total amount of benefits amounted to 105 thousand rubles.

The competition of scientific papers for a scholarship of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan among students and postgraduates of the Kazan State Institute of Culture was also held. The winners are nine participants in the following categories: 'Library Science', 'Book Studies and Education', 'Socio-cultural Activities and Pedagogy', 'Musical Art and Education', 'Museology, Cultural Studies and Art History', 'Fine Arts and Design', 'Cinema, Television and Animation'. The total amount of benefits amounted to 162 thousand rubles.

In this vein, a good addition to the minister's report was a message from the director of the Kazan Art School named after N.I. Feshin, Olga Gilmutdinova . The school has graduated 148 specialists over the past 3 years, of which 25% have continued their studies at higher educational institutions, 42,5% work in their specialty on a permanent basis, and 37% of graduates have also remained in the profession as freelancers.

Music education should become more technological

According to the acting rector of the Kazan State Conservatory named after N.G. Zhiganov, Vadim Dulat-Aleev, with regard to the development of human resources, it is necessary, first of all, to talk about the education system.

“It is necessary to look at what the education system gives and can give now, and what we need in real practice. If we put the question in this way, we will see the following: the ratio of traditions and what is really required now. We have long had a three-stage system of music education. I mean a network of music schools, colleges and, finally, the opportunity to get a higher musical education. We see the task — to keep future professional musicians in this system.”

In general, according to him, the task is being solved well. But what students see in the real learning process is already starting to diverge from how they plan their work. The established musical tradition is a symphony orchestra, opera theatre, solo vocal and instrumental performance, ethnic music.

“It's all there and it works well. But there is a serious failure in the field of technology. Music is definitely a product, and this product, like any other, should be competitive. But we do not prepare our students to work with modern information tools, which, of course, is a serious drawback of traditional education," Dulat-Aleev believes.

New trends suggest new competencies

Azat Abzalov, the head of the Department of Culture of the Executive Committee of the City of Kazan, drew the attention of the audience to the complication of the work of cultural institutions. In his opinion, new professions are rapidly emerging in the industry, which are simply not on the official list yet.

“Two thousand people work in the cultural system of our city, and unfortunately, these are not the youngest people by age. I must say that many cultural centres have been built in Kazan in recent years, and for us, one of the most important challenges is those specialists who work there and directly bring culture to the masses. Obviously, new positions, professions, and new competencies should appear today. And they already exist in cultural institutions. For example, these are content managers in cultural centres.”

According to him, there are content managers who are the first to meet a person, tell him about everything that he will not see in the poster and will not read in the ad. “This is required by our strategy of openness and hospitality. But there is no such profession in the official list, and therefore we would like to ask the ministry to contact the federal authorities with the request to supplement the list of professions with the names and competencies that we need today," Abzalov said.

Work plan has been adopted in the field of education, culture, science and national issues

In February next year, the committee will hear information on the implementation of the decree of the Presidium of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan “On the organisation of high-quality hot meals for students in educational institutions in the Republic of Tatarstan”.

In March, it is planned to review the progress of work on the introduction of textbooks in native languages and the inclusion of textbooks in the federal list. During the first quarter, members of the State Council will discuss the process of bringing the laws of the republic into line with federal legislation and the course of consideration of relevant bills sent to the State Duma.

At the moment, the committee has received 11 draft laws, of which the draft law No. 251-6 “On Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Tatarstan 'On Museums and Museum Business in the Republic of Tatarstan” is under preliminary consideration.