ESSENCE AND CONTENT OF THE CONCEPT «VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION»

n the paper the essence of the concept «vocational and technical education» is disclosed and its content analyzed. The place of vocational and technical education in the theory of learning is determined. The differences between general, professional, and vocational education are shown. It is ascertained that the task of vocational and technical education is to prepare professional talents of all levels and types for society, and its goal is to enable students to master one or more specific knowledge in the sphere of production and work skills necessary for a certain working profession or professional group. Vocational and technical education is a specialized education, which is one of the main characteristics that distinguishes it from general education. Unlike general or comprehensive education, which is associated with the acquisition of advanced knowledge, the discovery of objective patterns, and engagement in spiritual creativity, vocational and technical education is a narrow specialized education that trains primary, secondary, and senior level workers employed in real production. Vocational and technical education refers to specialized education aimed at developing and improving technical business knowledge and practical work skills and covers all areas except those related to science, research, design, planning, and other occupations, the main feature of which is intellectual activity. Vocational and technical education is obtained after leaving a secondary school at vocational schools of various types, higher vocational colleges, higher vocational and technical colleges, multidisciplinary technical colleges, etc. and involves training courses in specialized professional theory and practice. Thus, it includes both vocational and technical education and vocational training. The main forms of organizing the learning process are training in an educational institution, training in an enterprise, and the “dual system”. Vocational and technical education is an integral part of the lifelong education system and an indispensable form of education that is important both for the economic and social development of society and for combating poverty, as it can meet people’s needs for preparation for employment and become a stage and center of lifelong education.