Contradictions and barriers to the implementation of the sustainable development paradigm in the training of IT specialists

Abstract

Abstract: The article presents a theoretical analysis of the contradictions and barriers to the implementation of the sustainable development paradigm in the training of future information technology specialists in higher education institutions. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of the IT sector in addressing contemporary economic, social, and environmental problems, as well as by the need to train specialists capable of designing, implementing, and evaluating digital solutions in accordance with the principles of responsibility, inclusiveness, ethics, and long-term social expediency. The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical substantiation and systematization of the main contradictions and barriers to the implementation of the sustainable development paradigm in the training of IT specialists, as well as to identify promising directions for improving this process. The study employs a set of general scientific methods, including analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, and systematization of scientific sources, which made it possible to identify the key trends in the development of education for sustainable development, outline the specific features of IT education, and determine the factors that hinder the integration of relevant ideas into the content of professional training. Results. Based on the analysis of contemporary scientific works, it has been established that the implementation of the sustainable development paradigm in the training of IT specialists is accompanied by a number of significant contradictions: between the societal demand for a responsible IT specialist and the predominantly technocratic orientation of educational programmes; between the interdisciplinary nature of sustainable development issues and the disciplinary organization of the educational process; between the need to develop value orientations, critical thinking, and social responsibility and the dominance of the knowledge- and operations-based approach; between the long-term logic of sustainable development and the short-term orientation of training toward rapid applied results; between the high dynamics of the IT sphere and the inertia of educational programmes; and between the global nature of sustainable development goals and the local character of educational practices. It has been determined that the barriers to the implementation of this paradigm are complex in nature and manifest themselves at the institutional, organizational-pedagogical, content-methodological, and motivational-value levels. The expediency of updating the content of IT education on the basis of interdisciplinary integration, strengthening the ethical, environmental, and social dimensions of professional training, introducing competence-oriented teaching methods, and developing students’ ability to assess the consequences of digital solutions in the context of sustainable development has been substantiated. It is concluded that the integration of the sustainable development paradigm into the training of IT specialists is a necessary condition for the modernization of higher education and for the formation of the professional readiness of future specialists for responsible activity in the context of the digital transformation of society.