Pedagogical potential of student work brigades in developing transferable competencies

Abstract

The article examines the pedagogical potential of student work brigades in secondary vocational education as a resource combining real work experience, professional socialization and educational support. The topic is relevant because employers increasingly associate graduate success not only with professional knowledge and technical skills but also with transferable competencies that are difficult to develop through classroom instruction alone. The study is based on the analysis of Russian and international scholarly publications, the generalization of the college experience and the processing of data obtained from a full survey of student brigade participants. The empirical part made it possible to identify the structure of students’ motivation to join brigades, their assessment of transferable competency development, the influence of brigade participation on career choice and the character of interaction with employers. The findings show that a student brigade functions simultaneously as an environment of early professional immersion, a form of labor education and a channel of recruitment cooperation between the college and employers. At the same time, the results reveal that a high educational effect of brigade activity does not eliminate the deficit of mentoring and the weak institutionalization of pedagogical support. It is concluded that student work brigades should be viewed as a structural element of practice-oriented training in secondary vocational education, while their effectiveness increases when they are integrated into the educational and upbringing system of the college.