APPLICATION OF THE METHOD OF INCOMPLETE SENTENCES TO STUDY THE TERRITORIAL IDENTITY OF SCHOOLCHILDREN

Abstract

Territorial identity, as a basic element of securing youth in their native region, acts as a factor in the economic security and stability of the region. In the context of high migration activity of school graduates from medium and small towns in Russia, an urgent task is to identify markers of territorial identity, elements of schoolchildren's emotional attachment to the territory of residence. The method of unfinished sentences is one of the effective methods for identifying the emotional and cognitive component of territorial identity. The article presents the advantages and disadvantages of using this method. The results of its application to study the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the reasons for leaving the city by students of the city of Cherepovets, one of the centers of the metallurgical and chemical industry of the North-West of Russia in the Vologda region, are presented. To identify the level of territorial identity of schoolchildren, the author's method was used. Information collection method: a survey of students in grades 9-11 of general education schools in Cherepovets, conducted in April 2022. Using the method of unfinished sentences, it was determined that the industrial specificity of the city is the main cluster of the cognitive and value component of the territorial identity. Developed industry seems to be the dominant factor both in the main advantages declared by students (jobs, high salaries) and in the shortcomings of the city (environmentally unfavorable situation, specificity of jobs). Identification with historical heritage is weakly expressed. An important factor in positive identification is the assessment of infrastructure and cultural leisure opportunities.  The main limitations in the formation of territorial identity among schoolchildren in an industrial city are often associated with a narrow perception of the city, a developed stereotypical idea of it as a city with a low level of prospects and self-realization. Identification with the historical past is poorly presented and the underestimation of socio-economic development is clearly expressed.