The articles in this cluster explore the past and present trajectories of educational change in Russia from the 18th century to the present day. The authors focus on the multiple social actors, visions, forces, and changes that in combination brought about Russia's modern educational realities. The emphasis in these contributions is put upon the…

The paper traces the level of bilingualism in several highland villages of Daghestan (Northeast Caucasus) through the twentieth century. We show that historically, men were more multilingual than women, but this was not true to the same extent for all languages. Highlanders' repertoires suggest a correlation between the social function of the…

The article analyzes the latest steps taken by Russian authorities in reforming the system of education, and substantiates society's strongly felt need for the reforms to be liberated from bureaucratic dictatorship and secrecy. It demonstrates the close connection between the reform of education and the rapidly dropping quality of education,…

Russian education faces a difficult task in defining what its education system needs to be achieving to maximize its effectiveness in a changing society. Both educational officials and the general public need to be more aware of this challenge and how to deal with it. [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]

Russian society can benefit from the kind of simplified, packaged education that has developed in many countries, since it is a quick way to bring a mass of students to a certain level of competency. But it is not a good basis for creating the kind of specialists and creative thinkers that Russia will need to succeed in the coming years. [This…

From the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, home education (home schooling) by tutors and governesses in Russia was a customary form of schooling for an overwhelming majority of members of the nobility. Social and political transformations of the twentieth century led to substantial changes as the state got actively involved with…

In the last 30 years, major changes have taken place in the public sector worldwide under the rubric of New Public Management [NPM]. The education sector is perhaps one of the key areas drawing an intense interest and discussion in the wake of NPM. The Russian State seems to be no longer an exception to this global trend. In line with this, the…

The possibilities of the school are not unlimited. For this reason, in order to answer the question of what the existing resources ought to be used for there is always the problem of the choice of goals of the school's educational activity. Different schools have different possibilities when it comes to achieving the desired results of educational…

The article examines changes in the sphere of Russian education as a result of the reform of education and the consequences of the use of audiovisual means of mass communication (especially television and the Internet) that foster the formation of consumerist media thinking in school and college students. That kind of thinking carries the threat…

Changes in the kinds of technology used in modern society are changing the ways in which people think. Russian students, like those elsewhere, are increasingly thinking in terms of short, unconnected forms of knowledge and are losing the ability to see connections, to think holistically. This presents a special challenge to education in Russia.

The demographic situation in the Russian Federation is characterized by a steady process of natural population loss; it began in 1992 and coincided with the economic crisis. To a partial extent the loss was made up for by migration, and by early 2008 the number of inhabitants of Russia declined to 142 million compared to 148.6 million in early…

The "Reform of the System of Education" Project got started in 2002 in Samara Oblast and the Republic of Chuvashia. Recently the Iurii Levada Analysis Center, at the request of the National Foundation for Cadre Training, prepared a study of the social consequences of the restructuring of general education institutions in these regions.…

The importance of empirical sociological surveys in providing legal support for Russia's social development has a substantive foundation. Sociology and the juridical sciences share a common viewpoint when it comes to the study of social relations, namely the analysis of normative behavior. Social norms and the norms of law differ a great deal,…

The author has presented a historical review of societal/industrial conditions affecting the development of manual education to determine if a need for change in industrial arts exists at the present time. Societal conditions, industrial conditions, and the resulting educational response are examined in: Russia (mid-19th century), Sweden (19th…

Discusses the development of the system of postgraduate and supplementary professional education in Russia. Focuses on such topics as the strategic guidelines in the implementation of the system and the strategic goals for education (theoretical fundamentalism, cognitive integrality, humanization, methodologism, and pluralism). (CMK)