Noting 75th Anniversary of Prof. L. L. Lyubimov.

The author discusses characteristics of public consciousness in Russia, value orientations of the educational community and institutional structure and infrastructure of Russian schools, traditional behavior of participants of educational process which prevent activity-based paradigm from spreading in Russian education. 

The author analyzes problems and prospects of moral and civic education in Russian schools and considers two different approaches with regard to «value-unfree» or moral education: propaganda, on the one hand, and «open» education — on the other. The first approach involves a simple solution: mass education, integration of verbalized values in school curricula, imposition of unified standards, «spiritual» patterns and imperatives. This paradigm reduces the cultural diversity of society and the differential value orientations and simplifies representations of the structure of the system of values and mechanisms of its formation. The question of educational technologies and methods that would take into account individual experience of students stays behind the scenes. «Spirituality» is identified with religion. The second, «experience-based» approach is grounded on the idea of mediated formation of values — i. e. the formation is a natural process and values are formed through practical activities, experience, thoughts and reflections. The author emphasizes the need to shift the focus from the total forms of moral education to a more dynamic and individualized approach to educational activities.

The authors state that it is necessary to create a new cultural paradigm in education based on responsibility as a core value and explore the specific mechanisms of formation of this culture in school environment. 

The article analyzes one of the major contradictions in the Russian education — the one between growing demands which teachers face in XXI century and very difficult economic and sociopsychological status of teachers in secondary schools. In the context of «pragmatization» and «technocratization» of society, denying the significance of the experience of the Russian intelligentsia as a social stratum and unbalanced relationship between social- and marketoriented elements in education system Russia may lag behind the advanced educational systems based on coherent values and modern teaching techniques. Such a lag would lead (and is already leading) to «dehumanitarization», and then to the dehumanization of society.

The author discusses an idea of composing a list of «100 books of Higher School of Economics» as a university canon for a reader and analyzes a long-term publishing project of the Russian Christian Humanitarian Institute called «The Russian way». 

Michael Fullan. Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform // Centre for strategic education seminar series paper № 204. April 2011. 

The authors discuss models presented in papers which are concerned with peer-effects in higher education, and their limitations. Open questions of educational policy and the challenges that they issue for researchers are formulated. 

Authors present a brief overview of the main results of the international comparative study TEDS-M. Russian final year university students which were going to become qualified primary school teachers and math teachers demonstrated the results in mathematics and methods of teaching mathematics which were above average international rates. Authors show strengths and weaknesses of Russian training programs and reveal differences between graduates results in teacher training colleges and state universities. It was found out that there is a relationship between the quality of education of potential teachers and their attitudes to teaching mathematics — orientation on conceptual models and cognitive-constructivist approach to teaching mathematics or computational model and an approach to teaching which is based on the direct transfer of knowledge.

The authors present results of a study which was conducted by the Institute for development of education (Higher school of economics) in 2009–2011 years. The study was concerned with the problem of inequality in education and its aim was to find out the causes of formation of a segment of schools with persistently low educational outcomes, to develop methods and tools to diagnose their problems and deficits and to design programs which could help such schools to turn to efficient mode. The study was based on statistical analysis of data on human and material resources, children achievements and contextual characteristics of 1500 schools in three Russian regions. It also included an in-depth study of a sample of 20 schools. The focus of this study was school educational strategies. Authors used a model of «effective schools» for analysis of school education policy and strategies. The study was carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Education, University of London.

The authors analyze the concept of academic skills in western pedagogy and its equivalents in Russian education. A hierarchical model of academic skills is proposed, which contains three types of skills: academic reading skills, academic writing skills and academic skills of oral presentations. The authors describe efficient methods of applying the model in practice in Russian context. For instance they examine the scheme of academic skills formation at the chair of foreign languages at the Department of World Economy and International Affairs (Higher school of economics). 

The article describes a possible algorithm of employment of a foreign scientist or technical personnel in the Russian university, academic or industrial laboratories. The description is based on the analysis of the modern migration and labor legislation. The author considers that to restore properly stuffed research centers of Russia a routine mechanism for international scientific recruiting is necessary.

Competence-based approach in secondary vocational education involves determining the type of future specialists or identification competencies which he or she should have. For this purpose functional analysis of a specialist is used. The author consider that the third-generation approach which is inherent in the educational standards of vocational training is not a competence-based approach. Furthermore, the standards are targeted on the type of a specialist that does not meet the requirements of the labor market. This lead to risks of inadequate training.

The article focuses on the basic parameters which describe development of pre-school education in the Russian Federation. Data from the Federal state statistics service (the results of the annual federal statistical observation of the activities of pre-school educational institutions, of consumer prices and construction) is used as a source of information, as well as the Federal Treasury data on the performance of consolidated budget of Russia. Data for 2010 on some indicators are preliminary.

The author uses statistics and empirical data of sociological studies from the 1960s to the 2000s to show the influence of external factors (economical, political, demographical, and also social policy) on functioning of the school. The result is the sum of several components. Changes in percentage of young people involved in schooling which are following changes in society are shown. School enrollment is analyzed on the basis of data on the transfer between the levels of education by age cohorts. Social nature of dropouts is demonstrated. 

The article is focused on the differences between university statutes of 1803–1804 years which were given to Vilna (or Vilnius) university and Dorpat (or Tartu) university and three Russian universities in Moscow, Kharkov and Kazan. The authors analyze not only the management of universities, but also the faculty of different departments, scientific institutions and funds which were allocated to them. 

The author reviews the monograph which is concerned with international experience of application of standards in pre-school, primary and secondary education, and also in teachers’ education. The reviewer identifies the problem of standardization of school education and emphasizes the relevance of the book in the context of the broad discussion of the new standards for high school. The book is evaluated in terms of its contribution to the issues raised in this debate: the role of modern general education and reasonable limits of its standardization, the limits of schools’ freedom in determining the school curriculum, the relationship between the content of educational standards and their application. 

In the current article the author is pushing forward a thesis that supporters and opponents of academic scholarships adhere to different paradigms of education: the western modernist paradigm of education and the Russian paradigm of the state of service class. According to the first one higher education is a right; according to the second — the duty which is imposed by the state and for the fulfillment of which the state is ready to pay. Modern post-soviet higher education system in Russia is an eclectic mix of elements of both models.