Professional training of the future probation personnel

The author considers the issues that deal with peculiarities of professional training of future personnel working in penal institutions. The author suggested some changes in the content of the working programmes on «Penitentiary Pedagogy», «Penitentiary Psychology», «Social Pedagogy», «Criminal executive law» taking into account professional competence of the probation officer. The author gives recommendations as to the training of the future probation personnel as to their work with probation subjects at different stages of their preparation for release in minimum and medium security prisons. The analysis of the modern demands to the probation personnel's competence caused the following conelusions: – It is necessary to make changes in the working programmes and increase a number of practical classes on «Criminal executive law», «Penitentiary Psychology», «Penitentiary Pedagogy», «Social Pedagogy». Practical classed should include special tasks as well as situation analysis, role plays, trainings and soon. – The working programme should be supplemented with the questions that deal with the probation body activity as well as with penitentiary probation. The content of «Penitentiary Pedagogy», «Penitentiary Psychology», «Social Pedagogy» should include such questions as: assessment of the residivism risk; methods of analyzing and collecting information on how criminal factors affect convict's behavior methods of cognitive and behavioural therapy and prosocial modelling: the technique of motivational interviewing the convict; social work, its amount necessary to attain the purposes of the penitentiary probation; forms and methods of the social and educational work with people being on probation; organizing case-management, motivational, interviewing.