At the invitation of the Russian Society “Znanie” and the Committee for Education and Science of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the UNESCO IITE is engaged in the elaboration of the occupational standards “Consultant in the field of the public digital competency development (digital curator)”. The core developer of the project is the Russian Society “Znanie”, who works in cooperation with the Moscow City University, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), National University of Science and Technology MISIS and JSC LANIT.
The issues related to definition of occupational activities and types of economic activities, to which the occupational standards refer, were discussed at the meeting of the working group held at the State Duma of the Russian Federation on 16 July 2018. The participants of the meeting also outlined the prospects for the development of an educational course aimed at the training digital curators, and a relevant qualification exam.
The need to develop an occupational standard for specialists, who contribute to building digital competencies among citizens and provide consulting services for the use of digital technologies, is required by the digital economy development in Russia. The training in the basic ICT skills is provided for the secondary school students within the formal education system of the Russian Federation. However, the skills necessary for full participation in and integration into the digital society go beyond the mastery of hardware and software, and include media and information literacy, communication literacy, digital ethics and safety issues as well.
The systemic work aimed to increase the awareness and digital literacy of the general public is a part of the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation programme approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in its resolution No. 1632-r dated July 28, 2017. The Russian Society “Znanie” became one of the entities responsible for the implementation of action plan for the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation programme’s direction “Personnel and education”.