The dynamic model of correlations between the content and formats of moral education and extra-curricular provision in higher educational institutions and students’ needs and demands

Introduction. The problem of the article is the lack of relevant model ideas about the correlations between the content and formats of moral education and extra-curricular provision in higher education institutions and students’ needs and demands. The aim of the research is to provide theoretical substantiation of the dynamic model of correlations between the content and formats of moral education and extra-curricular provision in higher educational institutions and the needs and demands of students. Materials and Methods. The research methodology is based on the system-activity and research-constructive approaches, on the basic provisions of the theory of educational modeling. Theoretical (analysis, synthesis, comparison, and classification), as well as empirical methods (survey - semi-structured interview, questionnaire; quantitative analysis of annual plans for moral educational and extra-curricular events and applications for the Contest of best practices in the implementation of moral educational and extra-curricular activities and youth policy; content analysis of syllabi of moral education and extra-curricular activities in higher education institutions of the Russian Federation) were used to build the model. Results. The main results consist in the construction of two versions of the dynamic model of correlations between the content of moral educational activities at higher education institutions and students’ demands for extracurricular activities - model-state and model-project. The model-state demonstrates two zones: synchrony and asynchrony. The first zone is characterized in general by the coincidence of students’ demands and the university's offer (1-2 year students), and the second one (3-5 year students) reveals the existing gaps in this field. The model-state reveals the problem of cyclic annual character of moral educational and extra-curricular activities with the prevalence of artistic and creative content, mass formats and lack of professionally oriented events. The model-project is based on the idea of replacing the annual cycle with cyclic one based on the duration of the degree program (4-6 years). The dynamics of the content and formats of moral educational and extra-curricular activities in the model-project is based on two factors: the dynamics of professional and social formation of personality and the dynamics of social and state requirements to the student, the fulfillment of which provides an effective social transit of youth. The content basis of the model-project is a consistent change of types and formats of extracurricular activities. Conclusions. The study concludes that the dominant practices of moral educational and extra-curricular activities in higher educational institutions can be significantly optimized by abandoning the repetitive annual cycle of activities and events, provision of professionally-oriented content, using small group formats based on interaction in horizontal communities of students, considering moral educational and extra-curricular practices as effective mechanisms for building social capital, obviously applicable to the development of social competences, as well as to the development of a new educational system for students.