Potential of the Social Calendar project as a resource for students’ social and psychological training
The article examines the significance of the social work profession and public awareness campaigns, which are important in organising psychosocial work with vulnerable individuals and social groups. Russian people have poor awareness of socially vulnerable individuals and their challenges, as traditional information sources are irregular and haphazard. The lack of awareness leaves untapped human resources in the rest of the population that could be used to help those in need. To participate in the 2020-2021 edition of “My initiative to the region” contest traditionally held at the RSU named after S.A. Yesenin, students developed and presented a project titled “Social calendar” (a public awareness campaign). This project would achieve the following sub-goals: (1) broader awareness will act as a motivating factor to enhance socially-oriented activities and professional (socio-psychological) competences of future social workers; (2) solving certain issues of socially vulnerable groups (leisure time, “communication deficit”, legal illiteracy, social loneliness, financial difficulties, prevention of deviant behaviour, etc.). The project is designed for a calendar year and begins with the search and selection of relevant information on socially significant dates and social topics from various sources by students of the Department of Social Psychology and Social Work. The selected information is then spread through social networks, university website, university notice boards, brochures, etc. Thanks to polls and reactions on social media, project developers can analyse the target audience as well as the value, relevance and necessity of the information they are spreading. The project also includes concrete socially-oriented activities (social events and volunteer activities, poster exhibitions, creation of information booklets, etc.) by student volunteers. Regular text and photo reports from the events and further adjustment and planning of activities should contribute to the effectiveness of the project. The expected results include: increase in students’ interest in socially significant dates, social and psychological knowledge, professional and general cultural competences, civic-patriotic feelings and spiritual and moral values; increase in public awareness to solve certain challenges of socially vulnerable groups; establishment of interaction between educational and social institutions of different profiles to solve socially significant problems.