Natalia Maloshonok – Candidate of Sciences in Sociology, Senior Research Fellow, Director of the Center of Sociology of Higher Education, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: nmaloshonok@hse.ru

Evgeniy Terentev – Candidate of Sciences in Sociology, Senior Research Fellow, Center of Sociology of Higher Education, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: eterentev@hse.ru

Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation.

In the era of knowledge-based economy, improving the quality and efficiency of doctoral programs is a key aspect of ensuring economic growth and national competitiveness in the global arena. Doctoral education in Russia today is redefining its goals and organizational models in light of global challenges as well as the revised Federal Law On Education in the Russian Federation and the new Regulations on Awarding Academic Degrees. This transitional period, complicated with low completion rates and institutional problems, contributes to the urgency of devising improvement practices for doctoral education. Interviews with doctoral students and graduate program administrators are used to analyze Russian universities’ practices designed to enhance doctoral studies. Those practices are grouped in accordance with the traditionally identified aspects of doctoral education that are directly related to its success: admissions, graduate curriculum, advising/mentoring, monitoring progress, financial support, institutional climate, practices and procedures. The article also discusses the opportunities for disseminating best practices to improve doctoral education as well as the restrictions that must be taken into account.

Vera Maltseva – Candidate of Sciences in Economics, Associate Professor, Department of World Economy, Ural State University of Economics. Address: 62 Vosmogo Marta St, 620144 Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation. E-mail: maltsevava@gmail.com

Skill mismatch implies discrepancy between the skills of job candidates or employed workers and job requirements. Types of mismatch are identified based on three criteria: quality of mismatch (surplus vs shortage), reporting party (employer vs worker/candidate), and type of skills (cognitive vs technical). Differences in types of skill mismatch account for considerable variation in qualitative interpretation and quantitative measurement. The problem of skill mismatch has been widely debated across the OECD countries, yet it remains understudied in Russian research literature. The issue raises concerns among education and labor market researchers as well as practitioners, so this article analyzes the available findings from the prospective of their potential use by educational institutions being the key consumers of data on skill mismatch and the ones that should tackle the problem.

Five types of skill mismatch are identified, along with the specific challenges of measurement and interpretation. The article describes three methods of skill mismatch measurement to be selected as a function of which type of skill supply and demand data is used: indirect, objective direct, and subjective direct measurement. It also classifies methods of measuring the cognitive skills gap in the major cross-national studies: PIAAC, STEP, and OECD Skills for Jobs Database. It transpires that cross-national comparisons of cognitive skills mismatch mostly have to use a mixed approach due to limitations typical of cross-country research, such as the lack of objective data on skills demand and relying on subjective or indirect data alone. For this reason, the results of most cross-national skills mismatch assessments cannot be implemented by educational institutions.

Tatiana Khavenson – PhD in Education, Research Fellow Educational Innovations Laboratory, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: tkhavenson@hse.ru

This article investigates into the reform of national school curriculum in Russian-language schools in Latvia and Estonia. We assess how well the reform-related regulations have been integrated into everyday schooling practices and reflected in educational outcomes in order to measure the success of the education reform in terms of adopting the new learning standard and improving the PISA results. The study exploits the situation of natural experiment that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, with countries that used to have a common education system taking different reform paths and achieving different outcomes. National school curriculum is analyzed at three levels: as intended (stipulated in documents), as implemented (taught by school teachers), and as attained (reflected in test results). Such three-level analysis required studying the documents that described the key reform provisions, conducting a series of in-depth interviews in Russian-language schools to investigate the process of integrating the proposed innovations in teaching practices, and analyzing how PISA results in Latvia and Estonia had changed between 2006 and 2015. It is shown that the gap between the curriculum as intended and as attained has reduced in both countries. Schools have been actively integrating the changes proposed, and PISA results have been improving consistently, yet the methods of achieving those results differ between the countries. The natural experiment study design allowed to explore educational reform processes in the two countries as well as to assess the effects of the reforms introduced.

Evgeniia Shmeleva – Junior Research Fellow, Center of Sociology of Higher Education, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: eshmeleva@hse.ru

Tatiana Semenova – Junior Research Fellow, Center of Sociology of Higher Education, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: tsemenova@hse.ru

Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation.

Academic dishonesty among college students is often associated with low academic motivation, which has been confirmed by multiple international findings. However, the role of academic motivation may be overestimated, as such studies do not normally control for contextual factors such as faculty and peer behavior. This study utilized the theoretical framework of Eric M. Anderman and Tamera B.Murdock to identify the factors of academic dishonesty and the self-determination theory of Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan to measure academic motivation. Longitudinal data on students of four Russian universities participating in the Project 5–100 (N= 914) is used to measure the ability of academic motivation to predict academic cheating and plagiarism rates while controlling for contextual factors. Regression analysis shows that learning motivation becomes insignificant as a predictor as soon as perceived consequences and peer effects come into play. The best predictor of both plagiarism and cheating is students’ perception of contextual factors, i. e. perceived prevalence of relevant behaviors among peers. Unlike with cheating, plagiarism rates are not contingent on the probability of punishment.

Vladimir Navodnov – Doctor of Sciences in Engineering, Professor, Director of the National Centre for Public Accreditation. Address: 206a Volkova Str., 424000 Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El Republic, Russian Federation. E-mail: director@ncpa.ru

Galina Motova – Doctor of Sciences in Pedagogy, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Public Accreditation. Address: 206a Volkova Str., 424000 Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El Republic, Russian Federation. E-mail: g.motova@ncpa.ru

Olga Ryzhakova – Graduate Student, Department of Applied Mathematics and Information Technology, the Volga State University of Technology. Address: 3 Lenina Sq., 424000 Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El Republic, Russian Federation. E-mail: olgaryzh@yandex.ru

A new technique called Method of Analysis of Leagues (MethALeague) is proposed for comparing performance of higher education institutions measured by different assessment methods. The MethALeague uses the convolution operations from the theory of small-group decision making to create aggregate charts of university leagues based on the performance indicators obtained with different assessment techniques. Specifically, researchers are given the opportunity to bring widely divergent university performance indicators into unified assessment charts and carry out comparative analysis of different assessment approaches. The MethALeague was applied successfully to compare the performance indicators of the Project 5–100 universities reflected in three major global rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS World University Rankings, and Times Higher Education World University Rankings. A formalized concept of “world ranking” proposed in the article makes it possible to visualize the performance dynamics of Russia’s top universities and compare it to that of the top universities in other countries (United States, Great Britain, Australia, Germany, and China). Suggestions are made on using a modified version of the MethALeague at the national level to analyze the results of university performance monitoring and compare them to the universities’ global ranking positions. The method described in the article could be applied by educational authorities, researchers and higher education institutions to determine the frameworks of strategic development, both for specific universities and for Russia’s higher education system as a whole.

Branka Radulović – PhD, Scientific Associate, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics. E-mail: branka.radulovic@df.uns.ac.rs

Maja Stojanović – PhD, Full Professor, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics. E-mail: maja.stojanovic@df.uns.ac.rs

Address: Trg Dositeja Obradovića Sq. 3, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia.

The main goal of the research is to determine how certain teaching instruction methods affect the achievement and mental efforts of high school students needed for learning Fluid Mechanics topic in Physics. Determining mental effort or cognitive load as a wider concept helps obtain important data, which can be used to identify teaching instruction menthods, which result in higher performance and motivation. This research is aimed to examine the efficiency of three approaches to teaching physics, which are most common in the Republic of Serbia. These are: an approach based on the use of laboratory inquiry-based experiments (LIBE), an approach based on the use of interactive computer-based simulation (ICBS) and a traditional teaching approach (TA). The article describes an experimental study conducted with two experimental and one control groups. The research was conducted on a sample of six high school classes in a gymnasium with advanced study in Natural Science and Mathematics in Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia. The total sample count was 187 students (mean age 16 years). The main conclusions of the research are that there is a causal link between the teaching instruction method applied and the achievement, or the self-perceived mental effort, of a student. Students, who were learning the teaching content through LIBE or ICS approach, have achieved better results in the knowledge test and estimatd their mental effort to be lower compared to the students, who were learning the same content through traditional teaching approach applied. The reasearch also showed, that LIBE or ICBS teaching approaches achieve higher levels of instructional efficiency and instructional involvement compared to the traditional teaching approach.

Ulyana Zakharova – Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Head of Science and Methodology Department, Institute of Distance Education, National Research Tomsk State University. E-mail: uzakharova@hse.ru

Kristina Tanasenko – Career Advisor, Institute of Distance Education, National Research Tomsk State University. E-mail: tanasenko@ido.tsu.ru

Address: 36 Lenina Ave, 623049 Tomsk, Russian Federation.

The article explores the advantages and pitfalls of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as reported by participants of professional development programs on creating and using online courses sponsored by the Institute of Distance Education of Tomsk State University during a brainstorming session within one of the programs and during communication in a nonpublic online course forum within the other. It is established that instructors see MOOC advantages in the opportunity to provide better organization of the learning process and additional study materials, higher education accessibility and academic mobility, realization of instructors’ career and personal goals, and resource efficiency. MOOC pitfalls are associated by the participants with pedagogical imperfection of the format, special requirements for the education system, resource intensiveness, and career risks for instructors.

Alla Andreeva – Candidate of Sciences in Psychology, Senior Research Fellow, Head of The Science of Practical Child Psychology Laboratory, Psychological Institute (Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution), Russian Academy of Education. E-mail: alladamirovna@yandex.ru

Olga Moskvitina – Candidate of Sciences in Psychology, Associate Professor, The Science of Practical Child Psychology Laboratory, Psychological Institute (Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution), Russian Academy of Education. E-mail: mskvn-lg@yandex.ru

Address: Bld. 4, 9 Mokhovaya Str., 125009 Moscow, Russian Federation.

Psychological well-being of children in elementary school and during the transition to middle school is analyzed in the sociocultural context of the post-industrial society from the perspective that Russian psychology has on the social situation of development, its objective and subjective components, and its influence on school students’ educational outcomes and mental health. Level of aspiration, self-esteem and age satisfaction serve as integral indicators of students’ psychological well-being in this study, providing the basis for judging whether the social situation of development meets children’s age-specific needs. The method of comparative-historical research allows observing the dynamics of a child’s psychological life as a function of the social situation of development. It is shown that the age structure of both self-esteem and the level of aspiration in contemporary first to fifth-graders differs dramatically from that of their age-mates observed in studies of the last quarter of the 20th century, while age satisfaction has remained positive throughout the age period analyzed. Age crises adequate to the current social situation of development are found to bring down all the analyzed parameters of school students’ psychological well-being in Grade 4, which then rebound in Grade 5. The findings illustrate psychological well-being of contemporary school students in the context of the drastically changing social situation of development of the post-industrial society. Some gender differences have been observed in psychological readiness for middle school. The temporal structure of age satisfaction shows that girls prefer retaining their familiar social position in the teacher–student system, while boys experience the end of elementary school as a crisis of relationship that cannot foster their personal development anymore.

Ekaterina Klopotova – Candidate of Sciences in Psychology, Associate Professor, Chair of Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology, Department of Developmental Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. E-mail: klopotova@yandex.ru

Elena Yaglovskaya – Candidate of Sciences in Psychology, Professor, Chair of Preschool Pedagogy and Psychology, Department of Developmental Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. E-mail: yaglovskaya_ek@mail.ru

Address: 29 Sretenka Str., 127051 Moscow, Russian Federation.

The article presents the results of an experimental study designed to identify the age peculiarities of taking initiative in learning among preschool children. Empirical data was obtained through non-participant observation of a teacher-guided group of children performing various productive tasks. A total of 480 preschoolers aged between 3 and 7 years were observed. Since teacher-guided peer learning prevails in preschool classrooms, we assume that child initiative could be determined as behaviors directed at co-participants in such learning. In this study, children’s initiative during interaction with adults and peers is defined as questions and suggestions that children raise in connection to the learning process, instigated by the need to coordinate joint actions. Analysis of the empirical data obtained allows determining the age dynamics and age-specific characteristics of preschoolers taking initiative while interacting with teachers. The number of self-initiated statements made by children is found to decrease and change in both direction and content throughout the preschool years.

Elena Chernobay – Doctor of Sciences in Pedagogy, Professor, Professor of the Department of Educational Programms, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: echernobaj@hse.ru

Daria Tuchkova – Analyst, Center for the Study of 21st Century Curricula and Teaching Practices, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: d.tuchkova@yandex.ru

Address: 20 Myasnitskaya Str., 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation.

Expected learning outcomes have changed following the adoption of the new Federal State Educational Standards of General Education. New organizational forms, teaching methods and tools are required to achieve the new learning outcomes, which affects functionality of conventional learning aids, school textbooks in particular. New interrelation mechanisms are being developed between the textbook and the other components of learning environment, transforming the textbook from the “communicator of ready-to-consume knowledge” into a “navigator for independent learning”. Under such circumstances, it is important to evaluate teachers’ attitudes towards the textbooks used, their perception of the changing role of textbooks in the learning process, and their satisfaction with textbook content, namely the methodological apparatus and its potential for achieving the new learning outcomes.

This article presents the results of a survey assessing school teachers’ perceptions of the system of learning tasks in some widely assigned social studies textbooks from the series edited by Leonid Bogolyubov, Anatoly Nikitin and Tatyana Nikitina, Gennady Bordovsky, and Yevgeniya Korolkova. The survey covered thirteen regions of the Russian Federation: Moscow Oblast, Voronezh, Tambov, Bryansk, Tver, Smolensk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Rostov-on Don, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Saransk. The interview questionnaire included six themed modules: target audience profile analysis, teachers’ usage of different textbooks, the role of social studies textbooks in the learning process, textbook influence on the achievement of the new learning outcomes (formation of key 21st century competencies), teachers’ assessment of teaching guidebooks, and availability of social studies teaching packages in schools.

The article only explores the findings obtained for one questionnaire module, which explored how the methodological apparatus of social theory textbooks affected the creation of conditions for achieving metadisciplinary learning outcomes by school students, and offers recommendations on improving this apparatus.

Tatiana Pashkova – Candidate of Sciences in History, Associate Professor, History and Social Sciences Department, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. E-mail: tatianapashkova22@gmail.com

Ekaterina Kameneva – The third-year student, History and Social Sciences Department, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. E-mail: kameneva.katya777@gmail.com

Egor Karasev – The third-year student, History and Social Sciences Department, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. E-mail: karasev. e. a.2ip@gmail.com

Nikita Kutsevalov – The third-year student, History and Social Sciences Department, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. E-mail: rainnick0@gmail.com

Darya Russkova – The third-year student, History and Social Sciences Department, the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. E-mail: dascha.loli@yandex.ru

Address: 48 Reki Mojki Naberezhnaya, 191186, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

The article is devoted to the study of the prerequisites and historical context of the emergence of a special type of official documentation of the Ministry of Public Education of the Russian Empire — catalogues of textbooks for secondary schools. The lists of study guides and manuals approved by the Ministry have become an important control instrument of the teaching of school subjects. Their content and structure were drawn up gradually from about the 1830s. An important stage in the process of reviewing and cataloging textbooks has been reached in 1865, when the first complete catalogue appeared, based on new rules.

Alexey Lyubzhin – Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Research Fellow at the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the Science Library, Moscow State University. Address: 9 Mokhovaya Str., 103073 Moscow, Russian Federation. E-mail: vulture@mail.ru

The article speculates on the concept of “different school”, as illustrated by Alexander Murashev through the example of certain teachers, schools, school networks and systems that he studied by means of personal visits and face-to-face interviews with employees and students. The school model proposed by the author could take its small but rightful place in a schooling system that offers a choice of education patterns. “Different school” is a good option for highly sensitive children who shrink from facing the harsh social reality of regular schools and have limited ambitions and capabilities. However, as the only schooling system available, or even as a regular one, this model would have huge unwanted effects.