NON-VIOLENT COMMUNICATION AS A MEANS OF DEVELOPING ETHNIC TOLERANCE OF FUTURE SPECIALISTS OF HELPING PROFESSIONS
The article deals with the analysis of the development of ethnic tolerance among specialists of helping or assisting professions. The authors show how some techniques of non-violent communication might serve being the means of developing this type of tolerance. The basis of studying the problem, whether non-violent communication can influence the development of ethnic tolerance, lies in the theoretical background of humanistic psychology and pedagogy. In the experiment university students who are trained to be social work specialists took part. It was organized for two purposes: firstly, to establish non-violent relationship between students and the teaching staff, and, secondly, to run a training course aimed to master students’ non-violent communication skills. As a result, the authors applied mathematical tools to calculate positive changes in the level of ethnic tolerance among university students as well as shifts in students’ intolerant attitude towards representatives of other nationalities and cultures. The authors draw the conclusion that non-violent means of communication stimulate the formation and development of future social work specialists’ ethnic tolerance.