Developing Inclusive Competence in Future Socionomic Professionals: Psychological and Educational Perspectives under Constrained Conditions

Abstract

The relevance of the problem under study is due to the need to consider the readiness of future specialists to work in an inclusive environment and to identify factors that contribute to developing their competence. It is crucial to understand the psychological and pedagogical features of training future specialists in the socionomic sphere under limited conditions. The study aimed to determine the psychological and pedagogical features of forming inclusive competence in future socionomic workers under limited conditions. The study used surveys, observation, and qualitative data analysis. The study results have identified the main aspects of forming inclusive competence of future socionomic specialists. The article presents the respondents’ data on the understanding of the concept of inclusion, readiness to work in an inclusive environment, acceptance of a child with special needs, tolerance, empathy, and readiness for self-development. It is established that modern challenges, such as military aggression and pandemics (COVID-19), social and economic inequality, technological progress, and demographic changes, significantly affect the development of inclusive competence of future specialists in the socionomic sphere. The paper identifies factors that are important in the formation of inclusive competence, namely, understanding of the concept of inclusion and inclusive education, positive attitude to inclusion, empathy training, knowledge of methods and approaches of inclusive education, support, creation of a barrier-free environment, support and counselling, ease of innovative changes, resilience, preparation for limited conditions.The work’s materials are of scientific and practical importance for training future specialists in the socionomic sphere and for forming their inclusive competence.