Organizational and pedagogical forms of social care for orphans in China and Ukraine

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Organizational and pedagogical forms of social care for orphans in China and Ukraine

Doctor of Sciences in Pedagogy, Full Professor, Svetlana Hryshchenko Taras Shevchenko National University “Chernihiv CoUehium”,

Doctor of Sciences in Pedagogy, Full Professor, Irina Buzhina Kostyantyn Ushinskyi South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes the organizational and pedagogical forms of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China: children's villages-communes, Children's Towns - SOS, boarding schools, boarding schools of religious orientation. It is proved that the commune-settlement named after V. Korolenko was taken as a model for the creation of children's settlements-communes. Children's villages are located in the countryside, in nature. In children's villages there are children of different ages (from 3 years to 16-18), who must take care of each other. Children's villages are considered a personnel reserve for China's agricultural sector. SOS Children's Villages is a charity project to support orphans, children left without parental care and children at risk of losing their families. It is a charitable organization that exists solely at the expense of sponsors. The organization is united in a mini-community of 11-15 houses, in each of which live 6-8 children of different age together with the SOS-mother. In China, there are boarding schools organized by local communities opened at the initiative of the local community in rural economically backward areas. Subjects taught in the boarding schools are Chinese, Local Language, Mathematics, Basics of Agriculture or Handicrafts, Basics of Politics and Laws of the People's Republic of China. Children between the age of 5 and 12 live permanently on the boarding school, and older children attend Sunday lessons and receive additional education in their free time.

Keywords: orphans, children's settlements-communes, SOS Children's Villages, system of social care, boarding schools.

АНОТАЦІЯ

ОРГАНІЗАЦІЙНІ ТА ПЕДАГОГІЧНІ ФОРМИ СОЦІАЛЬНОГО ПІКЛУВАННЯ ПРО ДІТЕЙ-СИРІТ В КИТАЇ ТА УКРАЇНІ

У статті проаналізовано організаційно-педагогічні форми соціального піклування про дітей-сиріт в Китайській Народній Республіці: дитячі селища- комуни, Дитячі містечка - SOS, школи інтернатного типу, школи інтернатного типу релігійної спрямованості. Доведено, що за зразок створення дитячих селищ- комун була взята комуна-поселення імені В. Короленка. Дитячі селища розташовані в сільській місцевості, на природі. В дитячих селищах знаходяться діти різного віку (від 3 років до 16-18), які повинні піклуватися один про одного. Дитячі селища вважаються кадровим резервом для аграрного сектору Китаю. «Дитяче містечко - SOS» (англ. SOS Children's Villages) - це благодійний проєкт з підтримки дітей- сиріт, дітей, які залишилися без піклування батьків, і дітей, яким загрожує втрата сім'ї. Це благодійна організація, яка існує виключно на кошти спонсорів. Організація об'єднана в міні-комуни 11-15 будинків, у кожній з яких живуть 6-8 дітей різного віку разом з SOS-мамою. В Китаї існують школи інтернатного типу, організовані місцевими громадами, які відкриваються за ініціативою місцевої громади в сільських економічно відсталих районах. Предмети, які викладаються в інтернаті: китайська мова, місцева мова, математика, основи землеробства або ремесла, основи політичного ладу та законів Китайської Народної Республіки. Діти віком від 5 до 12 років постійно проживають на території інтернату, а старші діти відвідують недільні уроки й отримують додаткову освіту у вільний від роботи час.

Унаслідок аналізу праць вчених, що вивчали проблему соціального піклування про дітей-сиріт в Китайській Народній Республіці, можемо констатувати, що основними формами соціального піклування про дітей-сиріт в Китаї є: дитячі селища-комуни, «Дитячі містечка - SOS», школи інтернатного типу, дитячі будинки та інтернати, що мають релігійну спрямованість.

Ключові слова: діти-сироти, дитячі селища-комуни, Дитяче містечко - SOS, система соціального піклування, школи інтернатного типу.

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of the third decade of the 21^st century, it is important to analyze the main forms of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China. Chinese science and government do not recognize the country's problem of social orphanhood, although the number of children who due to various circumstances, such as parental divorce or unemployment, are not raised in a biological family ranges from 15% (in large cities) to 65 % (in provinces) (Wang, 2008).

Under Chinese law, only children whose parents have died are officially recognized as orphans. The People's Republic of China reserves the right to build its own policy on orphans based on its own historical traditions and economic situation (Lian, 2010).

N. Zhgun in his scientific works analyzes the specialization among graduates of Chinese pedagogical institutions of higher education (primary school teachers, high school teachers, social educators) (Zhgun, 2012). Chinese practice of training young teachers involves their 2-year internship as a junior teacher. Their responsibilities include attending lessons in the subject, maintain supervisory documentation on the psychological and pedagogical situation in the classroom, perform the duties of a teacher's assistant for selection and practical development of lesson materials, and conduct educational work with students. All of them can be fully attributed to the institutions working in the field of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the article is to theoretically analyze the organizational and pedagogical forms of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH METHODS

The problem of studying organizational and pedagogical forms of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China is the subject of research by a Chinese scholar professor Wang Itao (2008) on the organization of education for “children raised” (analogous to the Ukrainian term “social orphans”). Important for our study is the scientific research of Wang Xuetai (2006), who reveals in his works the main directions of Chinese education and upbringing. Among Ukrainian researchers, the scientific works of the team of M. Yevtukh, M. Nosko, S. Hryshchenko (2016) on the study of care for orphans and their education and upbringing in orphanages in modern China should be singled out. Also, important are the studies of N. Zhgun (2012) on the organization of the system of training future teachers for educational work at school and scientific research of modern Ukrainian scientist L. Kalashnik (2013, 2014) on the system of education and upbringing of orphans in modern China Republic.

According to the Ukrainian scientist S. Gala, it is important to study the experience of reforming Chinese higher education (Gala, 2011), which allows us to characterize important aspects of teacher training to work with social orphans. Many domestic scholars study the development trends of school education in the EU, USA and China at the present stage (Lokshina et al., 2021).

Ukrainian scientists T. Zavgorodnya and I. Strazhnikov in their works studied the main problems of education and training in China in their scientific research (Zavgorodnya & Strazhnikova, 2019). Among the documents regulating education and upbringing of orphans in Ukraine in our study we rely on theses on the protection of children in need of special attention of society (Child Protection, 2018). We also consider important the works of L. Slyusar on the current state of the problem of social orphanhood in Ukraine and ways to solve it (Slyusar, 2014).

The research was carried out with the use of general scientific methods (study, analysis and synthesis of reference, overview of scientific educational print and on-line sources), as well as systematization and generalization.

RESULTS

The term “people's commune” appeared in the Chinese press in early July, 1958. The commune was conceived as a universal form of social organization of society in China in the middle of the twentieth century. It was planned to spread to both rural and urban areas. During the same period, modern children' s villages appeared, mostly on the site of former agrarian communes. In that area there was an infrastructure for coexistence and work of groups of people.

V. Korolenko's commune-settlement was taken as a model. On the initiative and with the help of V. Korolenko in Poltava in October 1918 the charitable public organization “League for the Salvation of Children” was founded. The tasks of this organization were to take care of orphans and homeless people, save them from hunger, promote physical, mental, moral education, and develop issues of legal and social protection of children. “To solve these problems, the Salvation League was to supply children with food and clothing, organize shelters, colonies, hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, nurseries and kindergartens, open reference labor offices” (Yevtukh et al., 2016).

The League declared the creation of agricultural and industrial children's communes as a form of work with children. In the People's Republic of China, the creation of children's settlements-communes is considered a promising form of maintenance for orphans. The advantage of this model of care for orphans over the traditional boarding school is that children' s villages are located in rural areas. Children live in nature, in a clean ecological zone. It was also considered positive that children do not see all the temptations offered by the city that lead to an increase in juvenile delinquency in the country. Children are surrounded by their peers, and therefore, they do not develop a complex of inferiority in relation to their own orphanhood. Important is the fact that in children's villages there are children of different age (from 3 years to 16-18), who are to take care of each other. According to Chinese educators, this is what instills in children responsibility for the younger ones, the ability to live and build relationships in the team. Researchers claim that children' s villages are located in rural areas and children, working on the land from an early age, get used to agriculture and remain working in the agricultural sector. Sometimes children' s villages are under the patronage of law enforcement agencies (Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Army). It should be noted that as a result, these structures receive a highly motivated personnel reserve.

Our scientific research has shown that the form of social care for children in the form of children' s villages is not a purely Chinese invention. As a form of work with children, staying in children's villages is also common in correctional institutions in Norway, Finland, Germany, but is used mostly in the penitentiary practice of these regions. So-called “difficult” adolescents, who do not pose a threat to society, may be temporarily housed in special educational centers, which are usually located in remote regions of the country. There, these children are placed in the conditions of “self-survival”, when they have to take care of their own lives, find a common language between themselves and the locals, and so on. It is believed that being in such centers has a positive effect on the values of adolescents, their self-esteem and behavior. Norwegian social services also use stays in such Centers as a measure to influence the family as a whole. The idea of social partnership is quite successfully implemented in the practice of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China. All institutions described in our study are part of the state system of social care for certain groups of the population as social partners.

Ukrainian scientist L. Kalashnyk states that “in addition to the craft specialty, children's villages usually develop creative abilities in their pupils. The most prominent teachers, artists, musicians, high-ranking civil servants consider it a matter of honor to give lectures and hold master classes in children's villages. In total, 8,750 orphans are brought up in children's settlements-communes (there are currently 15 of them in the People's Republic of China). Their lives are built on the principle of being in a labor camp: children are divided into groups according to their age, share meals in canteens, live in dormitories. Each detachment is assigned an agricultural plot, the harvest is collected to feed the Communards, and the surplus is sold. Children from 4-5 to 14-15 years old are brought up in communes. To ensure the proper level of education in the villages there are schools that give graduates certificates of state education” (Kalashnik, 2014).

However, it should be noted that the level of education provided by schools in communes is quite low and does not allow its graduates to continue their studies.

Usually, there are also craft shops in the villages, which provide the commune with everything they need and give the pupils basic knowledge and skills in working specialties. In recent years, there has been a practice of using agricultural settlements- communes for the needs of the penitentiary system in cases where the juvenile offender is not a threat to society, as well as to influence difficult adolescents.

Important for our study is the fact that children's villages are considered a human resource reserve for China's agricultural sector. Accustomed to working on the land from an early age, the former Communards, with extensive practical experience, remain almost 100 % in the countryside. In the modern People's Republic of China, children's settlements are created not only by the state, but also by local communities and non-governmental organizations. Over the past 10 years, there have been children's villages designed by Home of Hope, Shepherd's Field Children's Village, and Research-China.org. For the most part, these children' s settlements, based on the principle of children' s lives, copy children' s settlements created by the state, but there are some differences. We must state that “such institutions are financed by donations from both Chinese and foreign citizens and organizations”. Researchers of the problem also state that “not only orphans are admitted to such a village, but all children who find themselves in difficult life circumstances”. The Government of the People's Republic of China does not object to this form of child care, but notes that “such shelters and orphanages are a forced transitional form of state care for orphans, which today has the right to exist in economically backward regions” (Yevtukh et al., 2016; Kalashnik, 2014).

As a form of social care for orphans in the People's Republic of China, within our scientific research we will consider “SOS Children's Villages” - a charity project to support orphans, children left without parental care, and children at risk of losing their families (Yevtukh et al., 2016).

The independent, non-governmental international development organization of the same name works to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children. The acronym SOS in the name of the organization is an abbreviation of the phrase “social support”, which also corresponds to the international symbol of the SOS danger signal and symbolizes the urgent need of the most vulnerable members of society - children - for help and protection. The international form of the organization, “SOS Children's Villages” - “SOS-Kinderdorf International” - was founded in 1960, after national associations were established in France, Germany and Italy in addition to the basic Austrian one. “SOS Children's Villages” is a charity that exists solely at the expense of sponsors, but accepts not only monetary donations, but also material (children's furniture, appliances etc.). “SOS Children's Villages” is a group of 11-15 houses united in a mini-community, in each of which 6-8 children of different age live together with SOS-mother. As in a normal family, the SOS-mother takes care of and raises children, teaches them everything she can and what they need in independent adult life - from cooking and cleaning the house to budget planning and shopping. Children from “OS Children's Villages” go to regular kindergartens and study in regular schools, which help them to adapt to society at an early stage. In addition, each of the two houses has an “aunt” - a nanny, mother's assistant. To become a “mother” in a children's camp, that is to take responsibility for several children living in one of these institutions, candidates must undergo special introductory courses lasting 7 months. First, the woman is offered to work as an aunt. Women are paid and have days off for their childcare work. Mom and aunt take turns on weekends and holidays. Another important difference between “SOS Children's Villages” and traditional children's orphanages or family-type orphanages is the attention to the child's biological family. It is important that siblings are never separated, as is often the case with the distribution of orphans of different age in orphanages. Children's connections with the biological family are also maintained: relatives can visit them and spend time with them in the SOS Children's Campus. The first “SOS Children's Villages” opened in 1949 in Imst (Austria) for children who lost their parents during World War II. The founder of the organization and the first town is Hermann Gmeiner (1919-1986). The first prominent supporter of the ideas of “SOS Children's Villages” was Beatrice von Boch, a Briton of German descent, the wife of the largest shareholder of the concern for the production of ceramics “Villeroy&Vosn”. In 1959, she donated part of her personal fortune to the organization of the first children's town “SOS Kinderdorf' in Germany. She also used her husband's political connections to promote the idea of “SOS Kinderdorf' among both British and German industrialists and local government. Today, there are more than 500 “SOS Children's Villages” in 133 countries around the world, as well as 1,500 different programs and projects to help children in difficult life situations (including humanitarian disasters), strengthen the family and prevent social orphanhood. Under the auspices of the Project there are SOS Youth Homes, programs to strengthen family relationships, help families from different risk groups, train foster parents and help orphanage graduates, protect the rights of orphans and SOS KDI educational programs, launch 192 schools in in all developing countries, medical centers and programs for homeless children, child soldiers and victims of disasters. The first Chinese orphanages under the “SOS Children's Villages” project were established in Tianjin and Yantai (Shandong Province) in 1985. In the last 20 years, thanks to the joint efforts of the Chinese government and the international organization “SOS Children's Villages”, the organization of such orphanages and compact living of such families has grown into the construction of children's camps, which currently number 9 and raise more than 1,500 orphans.

According to statistics, among the orphans living in the “SOS Children's Villages”, about 300 have reached adulthood, and the rest are still in school. The children's camps of the Children's Campus SOS differ in their organization from the children's settlements-communes traditional for the People's Republic of China because they are actually family-type orphanages (families with one parent in which all children in the family must be of the same sex). There are now boarding schools organized by local communities in almost all around China. As a rule, such orphanages and boarding schools are opened at the initiative of the local community (self-government bodies) in rural underdeveloped and economically backward areas, among settlements of national minorities, as well as where communication with large and medium-sized cities is difficult. The rural community may decide to establish a boarding school for children from remote areas, single-parent families and those families who are in a difficult economic situation. Such boarding schools are fully funded by the community or donated. Children are recommended by the local community to enter the boarding school. As a rule, an enthusiast who has a basic higher pedagogical education runs the boarding school. The teaching staff is formed of graduates of pedagogical educational institutions (not lower than the level of a pedagogical college). They are natives of this area who entered educational institutions out of competition, belong to a local community and graduated from education department of the appropriate level. Vacancies are willingly filled by graduates of higher education institutions, who, after 3-5 years of work in such a school, will have great employment benefits in more prestigious areas of China. Once a decision has been made to establish a boarding school, the community must obtain permission to open a boarding school at the appropriate level and apply for school staff. The list of subjects taught in such boarding schools is usually not large - Chinese, Local Language, Mathematics, Basics of Agriculture or Handicrafts, Basics of Politics and Laws of the People ' s Republic of China. If a parent or community wants a full course of school subjects for a particular child, the child is sent to the nearest public school. As a rule, children aged 5 to 12 live permanently on the territory of the boarding school, and older children attend Sunday lessons and receive additional education in their free time.

There are also orphanages and boarding schools in the People's Republic of China. Today, there are officially only two children's educational institutions in China that have a strong religious orientation - the Tibetan Children' s Town and the Shelter for Orphans of the Temple of the Heart of God. In 1959, Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, fled into exile in the Indian city of Dharamsalu, accompanied by 100,000 of his followers, many of whom left children in their homeland to follow their spiritual leader. Dalai Lama established a shelter for such children, the Tibetan Children' s Village, and made his sister, Jetsun Pemu, known as the “Mother of Tibet”, responsible for the settlement. In this “resort of Tibetan culture and tradition” and its branches (some of which are located abroad), more than 7,000 children live and study the Tibetan language and beliefs, as well as professions and crafts. The Church of the Sacred Heart belongs to the Anglican Church and was built in 1869 in the village of Damin, Handan District, Hebei Province. The same year, a shelter was opened at the Temple for orphans and children of peasants who wanted to send their children to school. The only condition for entering the school was acceptance of the Catholic or Anglican faith. The institution in the village of Damin continued to operate even during the Cultural Revolution (it served as a “business card” that proved the loyalty and religious tolerance of the New Chinese government). Today, Damin religious boarding school educates 25 orphans who complete their schooling, take exams and remain in theology for further work as pastors, where they work with Chinese Diasporas. Representatives of the Anglican Church in the People's Republic of China elect new students to the school (Kalashnik, 2013).

However, many schools and boarding schools organized by local communities also pay close attention to the religious and traditional beliefs that exist in the area. The government is loyal to such manifestations, considering them part of the campaign to ensure constitutional norms of religious freedom and the preservation of life and beliefs of national minorities of the People's Republic of China.

For our study, the thesis defended by the Chinese researcher Wang Xuetai, is very important. He states that “education reforms in the late 80s - early 90s of the 20^th century make the pedagogical science of China meet the need to create a unique system of education, which would take into account three important factors: borrowing international experience, maximizing the use of traditional Chinese pedagogy and taking into account the official ideology of the country. The main focus in the country is not on training but on education, as the priority is still to master the vast majority of the population in working professions” (Xuetai, 2006).

CONCLUSIONS

In the result of the analysis of scientific works dedicated to the issue of social care for orphans in the People' s Republic of China, we can state that the main forms of social care for orphans in China are children's villages, “SOS Children's Villages”, boarding schools, orphanages and boarding schools with a religious orientation.

We consider the study of the system of upbringing orphans with the use of traditional pedagogy to be the prospects of further scientific research.

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