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Внешкольное образование в зарубежных исследованиях: определения и характеристики
Despite the growing focus on extracurricular education, there are currently no commonly used definitions and theoretical frameworks in foreign research and practice. The non-obligatory nature of this type of education has long created a sense of the non-obligatory nature of the search for general and clearer definitions and theoretical frameworks if such is possible in principle. The article attempts to determine the general characteristics of children's extracurricular activities. To solve the problem of “sifting” the theoretical field and finding common characteristics of the definition of extracurricular education, the authors of the article use the methods of cluster analysis (analysis of the “joint use” of words (co-word analysis)), followed by exploratory research. These methods allow you to organize objects into groups that are homogeneous in their composition. The analysis was carried out using the VOSviewer program, which allows you to group bibliographic data based on citation relationships, keyword matches, or co-authorship relationships. The analysis of text data in this work included two stages: the compilation of a semantic search dictionary, the selection of sources, the aggregation and preparation of data, and cluster analysis methods to group the selected data. The analysis is based on clustering about 12 thousand publications from periodicals that are part of the core of Web of Science, published from 1928 to 2020 inclusive. As part of the exploratory analysis, about 1000 publications were studied. As a result of the research, some commonly used characteristics of extracurricular education are identified. A number of their own interpretations related to the theoretical understanding of extracurricular education are put forward. The found characteristics relate to the organization, content, and nature of interaction with students, making it possible to distinguish between extracurricular education and, for example, educational leisure and tutoring. The found common characteristics allow us to reconstruct the definition of extracurricular education, which is a structured, voluntary activity of children aimed at developing personal and social skills, in its content that goes beyond the school curriculum. The conducted research can be useful as one of the bases for cross-country comparative studies and the theoretical development of extracurricular education and improving the level of program development and implementation in the practical field, both among providers and managers.