Mathematics
History of primary education in the USSR. Education system in the Soviet Union. Thaw as a premonition

History of primary education in the USSR. Education system in the Soviet Union. Thaw as a premonition

Public education system in the USSR- the education system that existed in the Soviet Union.

Education in the Soviet Union was closely connected with the upbringing and formation of personality traits. The Soviet school was called upon not only to solve general educational problems, teaching students knowledge of the laws of development of nature, society and thinking, labor skills and abilities, but also to form on this basis the communist views and beliefs of students, to educate students in the spirit of high morality, Soviet patriotism and proletarian internationalism .

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In total, by 1920, 3 million people were taught to read and write. The 1920 census on the territory of Soviet Russia recorded the ability to read in 41.7% of the population aged 8 years and older. However, this census was not universal and did not cover such territories of the country as Belarus, Volyn, Podolsk provinces, Crimea, Transcaucasia, mountainous regions of the North Caucasus, part of Turkestan and Kyrgyzstan, the Far East, as well as some areas of European Russia and Ukraine, Khiva and Bukhara .

Average number of years of education for the population over 9 years of age:

1797	1807	1817	1827	1837	1847	1857	1867	1877	1887	1897	1907	1917	1927	1937	1947	1957	1967	1977	1987
0,127	0,148	0,179	0,222	0,270	0,320	0,367	0,435	0,516	0,592	0,762	0,930	1,112	1,502	3,376	5,442	6,048	6,974	7,861	8,833

1920s

In area primary education The main problem in the 1920s remained the elimination of illiteracy. In 1923, by decree of the People's Commissariat of Education, the “Down with Illiteracy” Society was created. Over 1.2 million people were united by urban patronage organizations designed to help the village in raising culture. In order to speed up education, it was necessary to increase the load on suitable school premises: despite the fact that by 1924 the number of students (with an absolute reduction in the population) was brought almost to the level of 1914 (98%), the number of schools was only 83% of the pre-war level. The main influx of students during this period were street children, whose number reached 7 million people in these years. In 1925-28, as access to education was ensured for all school-age children, universal compulsory primary education was introduced by orders of local Soviet authorities. This is how laws on universal education were adopted: in 1924 in the Ukrainian SSR; in 1926 in the Belarusian SSR; as well as in the TSFSR and in some republics of Central Asia in the late 1920s. But only after the elimination of homelessness as a mass phenomenon (by 1928 - already only 300 thousand), by September 1930, there were grounds to state that universal primary education of children had actually been introduced.

Soviet schools are being rebuilt in accordance with the “Regulations on the Unified Labor Polytechnic School”. In the history of the formation of the USSR, the 1920s are characterized as years of searching for bold and original solutions. Integrated training, the laboratory-team method, and the project method are being widely introduced in schools. The languages of the majority of the population of the republics are taught in schools. In the 1920s, secondary education in the USSR lasted seven years. The next stage was vocational education, which included vocational schools, technical schools and institutes. In fact, the Soviet school system took shape by 1922: primary school (4 years of study), basic seven-year comprehensive school and senior level of comprehensive school (9-10 years of study in total).

Great damage was caused to the public education system and the spread of literacy by the First World War and the Civil War. Due to persistent shortages of funds, by the 1922–23 school year the number of schools had dropped to 88,588 and the number of students had dropped to 7,322,062 (it was not until 1926 that the number of schools had increased to 111,046 and the number of students to 10,219,529). The situation was aggravated by hunger and devastation in many areas of the economy; full funding for the education system was restored only by 1924, after which spending on education grew steadily.

Year	Expenses on education (in rubles)	Percentage of budget
1925-26	520 000	12,36 %
1926-27	691 000	11,96 %
1927-28	895 000	12,42 %
1928-29	1 123 000	12,78 %
1929-30	1 781 000	13,37 %

Changes in the number of primary schools and students enrolled in them in the 1920s:

	Number of primary schools	Number of students
1914-15 1	104 610	7 235 988
1920-21	114 235	9 211 351
1921-22	99 396	7 918 751
1922-23	87 559	6 808 157
1923-24	87 258	7 075 810
1924-25	91 086	8 429 490
1925-26	101 193	9 487 110
1926-27	108 424	9 903 439


1. Within the borders before September 17, 1939

By the 1927/28 academic year, the number of students in the USSR increased to:

There are 11,589 thousand students in secondary and primary schools of all types.
In the same year, 189 thousand studied in secondary specialized educational institutions.
There are 169 thousand students in higher educational institutions.

Significant successes have been achieved in the fight against illiteracy; in total, up to 10 million adults were taught to read and write in 1917-1927 (for more details, see the article “Educational Education”). The USSR Population Census of 1926 revealed 56.6% of the literate population aged 9 to 49 years (80.9 among urban and 50.6 rural). Overall, the number of students and teachers increased significantly during this period.

The number of teachers increased from 222,974 in 1922/23. to 394,848 in 1929/30 The number of students in all schools in the USSR increased from 7,322,062 in 1922/23. to 13,515,688 in 1929/30 Of them:

in primary schools from 5,993,379 in 1922/23. to 9,845,266 in 1929/30
in junior high schools from 736,854 in 1922/23. to 2,424,678 in 1929/30
in secondary schools increased from 591,645 in 1922/23. to 1,117,824 in 1929/30

The number of students in higher educational institutions increased from 127,000 to 169,000 in 1927/28 compared to pre-war 1914. In 1930 there were 272,000 students in the USSR. The number of higher education institutions increased from 91 in 1914 to 148 in 1927/28 (272,000 in 1930).

Moreover, although the country's scientific potential was seriously damaged during social upheaval, it began to recover from the 1920s. The number of scientific workers has increased significantly. By 1927 there were 25 thousand of them, that is, twice as many as before the revolution. In 1929, 1,263 scientific institutions (including 438 and their branches) were already operating in the USSR.

In 1932, unified ten-year labor schools were introduced in the USSR.

In 1933-37, compulsory 7-year education was implemented in cities and workers' settlements. Already in the 1938/1939 academic year in the USSR, 97.3% of children who completed primary school went on to secondary school.

In total, during this period the number of students in the USSR in all schools increased from 13,515,688 in 1929/30. to 31,517,375 in 1938/39 Of them:

in primary schools from 9,845,266 in 1929/30 to 10,646,115 in 1938/39.
in junior high schools from 2,424,678 in 1929/30. to 11,712,024 in 1938/39
in secondary schools from 1,117,824 in 1929/30. to 9,028,156 in 1938/39

Overall, significant progress has been made in public education. Thus, the number of students in the USSR in the 20 years after the October Revolution in 1937 compared to the pre-war year of 1914 increased by 3.5 times (in secondary schools by 20.2 times), and the number of higher educational institutions increased by 7.7 times.

By the end of the 1930s, significant success had also been achieved in the fight against illiteracy: according to the 1939 census, the percentage of the literate population was 87.4%, and the gap in literacy between the rural and urban population had significantly decreased. In just 16 years (from 1923 to 1939), more than 50 million illiterate and about 40 million semi-literate people of different ages studied in the USSR. Among the recruits, literacy was no longer a problem. And the share of conscripts with higher and secondary education in 1939-1940. accounted for a third of the total number of conscripts.

Statistics on changes in the percentage of the literate population:

		1917	1920	1926	1937	1939	1959	1970	1979
Rural population:	Husband.	53 %	52,4 %	67,3 %	-	91,6 %	99,1 %	99,6 %	99,6 %
	Women	23 %	25,2 %	35,4 %	-	76,8 %	97,5 %	99,4 %	99,5 %
	Total	37%	37,8%	50,6%	-	84,0%	98,2%	99,5%	99,6%
Urban population:	Husband.	80 %	80,7 %	88,0 %	-	97,1 %	99,5 %	99,9 %	99,9 %
	Women	61 %	66,7 %	73,9 %	-	90,7 %	98,1 %	99,8 %	99,9 %
	Total	70,5 %	73,5 %	80,9 %	-	93,8 %	98,7 %	99,8 %	99,9 %
Total:	Husband.	58 %	57,6 %	71,5 %	86 %	93,5 %	99,3 %	99.8 %	99.8 %
	Women	29 %	32,3 %	42,7 %	66,2 %	81,6 %	97,8 %	99,7 %	99,8 %
	Total	43 %	44,1 %	56,6 %	-	87,4 %	98,5 %	99,7 %	99,8 %

In the 1930s, the following regulations were issued concerning the Soviet education system:

1940s

In total, 34,784 thousand people studied in USSR schools in the 1940/41 academic year. Of them:

In the initial ones - 10,060 thousand.

For seven-year-olds - 12,525 thousand.

In the 1940/41 academic year in the USSR there were 3,773 secondary specialized educational institutions with 975,000 students. Higher education in the USSR in the 1940/41 academic year was represented by 817 educational institutions, in which 812,000 students studied.

In 1940, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree “On establishing tuition fees in senior secondary schools and in higher educational institutions of the USSR and on changing the procedure for awarding scholarships.” . According to this decree, from September 1, 1940, paid education was introduced in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools, pedagogical schools, agricultural and other special secondary institutions, as well as higher educational institutions.

For students in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools, pedagogical schools, agricultural and other special secondary institutions, the fee ranged from 150 to 200 rubles per year. Education in higher educational institutions cost from 300 to 500 rubles per year. Tuition fees averaged approximately 10% of the family budget in 1940 (with one worker), in 1950 and further until the abolition of fees in 1954 - about 5%.

To encourage outstanding figures in science, technology, culture and organizers of production, the Stalin Prizes, awarded annually since 1941, were established in 1939, on the 60th anniversary of Stalin.

Taking into account the increased level of material well-being of the working people and the significant expenses of the Soviet state on the construction, equipment and maintenance of the continuously growing network of secondary and higher educational institutions, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR recognizes the need to assign part of the costs of education in secondary schools and higher educational institutions of the USSR to the working people themselves and to In connection with this, it decides:
1. Introduce tuition fees in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades of secondary schools and higher educational institutions from September 1, 1940.
2. Establish the following tuition fees for students in grades 8-10 of secondary schools:
a) in schools in Moscow and Leningrad, as well as in the capital cities of the Union republics - 200 rubles per year;
b) in all other cities, as well as villages - 150 rubles per year.
Note. The specified tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools will be extended to students of technical schools, pedagogical schools, agricultural and other special secondary institutions.
1. Establish the following tuition fees in higher educational institutions of the USSR:
a) in higher educational institutions located in the cities of Moscow and Leningrad and the capitals of the union republics - 400 rubles per year;
b) in higher educational institutions located in other cities - 300 rubles per year...

Number of students in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War:

	Schools	Higher education institutions	Secondary specialized institutions
1941/42	17 765 000	313 000	415 000
1942/43	14 036 000	227 000	316 000
1943/44	17 966 000	400 000	503 000
1944/45	24 656 000	585 000	812 000
1945/46	26 094 000	730 000	1 008 000

1950s

In the 1949/50 school year, there was a decrease in the number of students, as children born during the war years were enrolled in schools, when the birth rate in wartime conditions (especially in enemy-occupied territory and in the front line) decreased significantly.

In 1956, 35,505 thousand people studied in various educational institutions in the USSR (this number does not include 14.9 million students in retraining and advanced training schools). Of them:

In general education schools - 30,127 thousand. In schools of the labor reserve school system - 1,365 thousand people.

In technical schools and secondary specialized educational institutions - 2012 thousand. In higher educational institutions - 2001 thousand.

The number of teachers in 1950/51 was 1,475 thousand; in 1955/56 - 1733 thousand.

In 1950, there were 162.5 thousand scientists in the USSR. By 1955, their number had grown to 223.9 thousand and 2950 scientific institutions (1180 of them were research institutes and their branches).

The USSR population census conducted in 1959 demonstrated that illiteracy among the country's population had been almost completely eradicated.

In 1958, there were 29 polytechnic institutes, 30 mechanical engineering, 27 civil engineering, 7 aviation, 27 mining and metallurgical, 18 transport, 15 electrical engineering and communications institutes, 13 fisheries and food industries, 10 chemical engineering, 2 meteorological and hydraulic engineering and 2 shipbuilding .

1960s

In 1975, there were 856 universities (including 65 universities) operating in the USSR, with more than 4.9 million students studying. In terms of the number of students per 10 thousand population, the USSR significantly exceeded such countries as Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan and others.

As of January 1, 1976, there were 6,272 vocational and technical educational institutions in the USSR, with 3.08 million students enrolled.

At the beginning of the 1975/1976 academic year, there were 167 thousand secondary schools in the USSR, with 48.8 million students. As of 1975, the training of teachers and educators was carried out at 65 universities, 200 pedagogical institutes and 404 pedagogical colleges.

Vocational Education

The activities of out-of-school institutions were based on the general principles of communist upbringing and education: free education, education in a team and through a team, continuity of the education process, connection with life, with the practice of communist construction, scientific nature of education, taking into account age and individual characteristics, development of initiative and amateur performances. For example, the children's club "Young Leninist" of the city of Tomsk, organized in 1923, included a bookbinding, carpentry, shoemaker's workshop, a cinema, a pioneer drama theater, a shooting range, a radio workshop, a technical station and a technical library, a photo circle, modeling and drawing clubs

At the beginning of 1971, there were 4,403 palaces and houses of pioneers and schoolchildren in the USSR, over 7,000 children's sectors at palaces and houses of culture, 1,008 stations for young technicians, 587 stations for young naturalists, 202 excursion and tourist stations, 155 children's parks, 38 children's railways, about 6,000 children's choreographic, art and music schools, 7,600 children's libraries, as well as pioneer camps, labor and recreation camps, sanatorium-type rest homes for children, and so on.

Correspondence education

In the Soviet Union, in order to ensure accessibility of education for all categories of citizens, for the first time in the world, a system of correspondence education was created, covering all educational levels and to date having no precedents in the world.

International assessment

The Soviet education system, especially in engineering and technical specialties, despite its shortcomings, occupied a leading position in the world according to political opponents of the USSR.

Notes

THE USSR. Public education- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
Universal education // Russian Pedagogical Encyclopedia. T. 1. M., 1993 URL:www.otrok.ru/teach/enc/index.php?n=3&f=82
Literacy // Great Soviet Encyclopedia M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978.
Myshko N. S. Growth of the educational level of the population of Kazakhstan during the period of building socialism (1917-1937) / dis. Ph.D. ist. Sci. Ust-Kamenogorsk 1984-201 p.
History of Russia of the XX - early XXI centuries / A. S. Barsenkov, A. I. Vdovin, S. V. Voronkova; edited by L. V. Milova - M.: Eksmo, 2006 P. 330, 400
Literacy / Russian Pedagogical Encyclopedia. T. 1. M., 1993; URL: www.otrok.ru/teach/enc/txt/4/page95.html

To live no worse than in America or at least like in Europe, you must have a high level of education comparable to Europe. In terms of education, America falls out of the range of highly educated countries, because... school education there has long been in decline, and higher education and science are based on the import of brains from all over the world.

The local culture, which is glorified and copied by our creative elite, is in a corresponding state. Western Europe and America maintain a relatively high standard of living due to the centuries-old robbery of other countries and peoples and due to the merciless exploitation of their own and other people's workers and peasants.

For three hundred years, capitalist England plundered the whole world, and yet the poverty and hunger of some British people were constant companions of the wealth and luxury of others. An example that struck me was from English life at the end of the 19th century. Little Charlie Chaplin's sick mother Hannah could no longer perform in the music hall and lost her job and livelihood. There was nothing to pay for a rented apartment. Her children Sid and Charlie fed their sick mother with whatever they could get by begging. One day Charlie started playing on the street and did not bring his mother the bread he begged from passers-by. The mother went crazy from hunger and was placed in a psychiatric hospital. The children were sent to a school for orphans. They visited their mother in the hospital. When consciousness returned to her, Hannah said to Charlie: “Why didn’t you bring me bread? I wouldn’t have gone crazy then.” How many such Charlies, Seeds and Hannahs were and are there in rich democratic Great Britain?

Russia has a different story. She did not rob other countries and peoples, but, on the contrary, defended and preserved “every language that exists in her” and, more than once, all of Europe and the world as a whole. She could achieve this only by relying on her own strength and resources. As the writer and historian Yu. Mukhin notes: “the mind of a people is transformed into its culture - into the ability to use the knowledge accumulated by all humanity and obtained by a specific people. And high culture leads to the fact that a given people acquires very high labor productivity, giving them the opportunity to live materially better than less cultured peoples.” Here, the culture of a people is a generalized concept that includes all aspects of the life of a given people and country. Those. achievements of science, education, art, technology, production, crafts, traditions, beliefs, history, politics, economics, land development, interaction with other countries and peoples, etc.

It is quite obvious that the transmission of culture and its development over generations is impossible in the modern world without high-level education. Moreover, the existence of the people themselves is impossible. The Bolsheviks who came to power in 1917 clearly understood this. Immediately after the October Revolution, the implementation of a grandiose program for the cultural and general educational development of the people began, systematic work to create a truly popular education system. Already in November 1917, the Council of People's Commissars created the “State Commission for Education.” Education and upbringing are transferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat for Education. In the first year of Soviet power alone, about 200 decrees and government resolutions on education issues were issued. In March 1919, the Eighth Congress of the RCP(b) adopted the second party program, which sets the task of “transforming the school from an instrument of class rule of the bourgeoisie into an instrument for the complete destruction of the division of society into classes, into an instrument for the communist degeneration of society.”

The program provided for: the provision of free and compulsory general and polytechnic (introducing in theory and practice all the main branches of production) education for all children of both sexes up to 17 years of age; full implementation of the principle of a unified labor school, with teaching in the native language, with joint education of children of both sexes; unconditionally secular, drawing a close connection between learning and socially useful work, preparing fully developed members of communist society.

All the available cultural forces of the country were thrown into the fight against illiteracy, which we inherited from tsarism. Public education becomes the “third front” of the struggle for socialism. On December 26, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted the decree “On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR.” According to this decree, the entire population of the republic between the ages of 8 and 50, who could not read and write, was obliged to learn to read and write in their native language or Russian, as desired.

Students' working day was shortened by two hours and various benefits were provided. Persons who prevented illiterate people from attending school were subject to criminal prosecution. A wide network of schools and literacy centers was created in the country. So the Soviet state, without delay or ostentatious charity, immediately began to solve a problem that neither the monarchy nor the bourgeoisie could solve. To eliminate illiteracy, not only teachers are involved, but also all more or less educated citizens. To coordinate joint work, a voluntary society “Down with Illiteracy” is being created under the leadership of M.I. Kalinina. The measures taken, however, are recognized as insufficient, and in July 1920 the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Elimination of Illiteracy was established.

Soon the efforts made yielded the first results. Already in 1926, 56% of the country's adult population was literate. By the end of the 1930s, illiteracy was largely eliminated. From 1921 to 1940, about 60 million people were educated in educational schools and schools for the illiterate. Eliminating illiteracy is only the first, extremely necessary step in building a socialist society. To build socialism and to develop the country, it was necessary to significantly increase the general educational, professional, technical and cultural level of people. Only on this basis was it possible to overcome the economic lag behind developed capitalist countries and reliably protect oneself from external and internal threats. At the same time, the task set in education was higher than in bourgeois countries, where it is limited only to general educational and professional training. Culture, traditions and spiritual and moral education remain outside the bourgeois education system, since capitalists need qualified performers in production, and not comprehensively developed individuals. Why does the bourgeois state spend extra money on the cultural needs of people? Let them cultivate themselves as they wish at their own expense. Therefore, simultaneously with the elimination of illiteracy in those most difficult conditions for the country, persistent and difficult work was going on to create an extensive network of secondary schools, workers' faculties, technical schools and universities. In the first decade of Soviet power alone, 7,780 secondary schools with more than a million student places were built.

The beginning of industrialization and collectivization required an increase in the level of general education and technical training, especially for young people. On July 25, 1930, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted the resolution “On universal compulsory primary education,” which was immediately introduced from the 1930/31 academic year, and on August 14, 1930, it was adopted by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Thanks to these decisions, an additional 10 million children sat down at their desks. About 60 thousand new teachers were sent to schools. Buildings for schools and funds for repairs were sought, funds were organized to help students, hot meals were organized, transportation for children was carried out, and explanatory work was carried out among parents.

In 1934, the transition to universal seven-year education began, with special attention paid to the village, since in the city this problem had been solved by that time.

Relying on the already created base of the socialist economy, the Soviet state was able to increase spending on schools by 3.5 times from 1933 to 1937. During this period, 18,778 schools were built for 5.5 million student places, including 15,107 rural schools for 3.4 million places. This made it possible to eliminate the backlog in the enrollment of children in seven-year education in rural areas. At the same time, much attention is paid to improving the educational process at school. Resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks were adopted: August 25, 1931 “On primary and secondary schools”; August 25, 1932 “On curriculum and regime in primary and secondary schools”; February 13, 1933 “On textbooks for primary and secondary schools”, etc. Successes in the cultural and educational level of the population are enshrined in the Constitution of the USSR of 1936 as the basis for the construction of socialism in the country, as the most important factor in economic growth and a condition for its security and defense capability. These achievements were especially evident during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war restoration of the national economy.

By 1939, 81% of all women under the age of 49 became literate, which allowed them to actively participate in the socio-political life of the country. The literacy rate of the population in the RSFSR was 89.7%, in Ukraine - 88.2%, in Belarus - 80.8%, in Uzbekistan - 78.7%, in Kazakhstan - 83.6%, in Kyrgyzstan - 79.8%, in Tajikistan - 82.8%, in Turkmenistan - 77.7%.

The famous popularizer of science and teacher Ya.I. spoke about the unprecedented desire of Soviet youth for knowledge at that time. Perelman the following: “Not only among students, but even more among working youth, intensive self-educational work is underway, invariably growing and bringing noticeable results. Numerous letters from readers and, in particular, conversations with active readers of a number of large factories, Leningrad and Moscow, convince me of this. We readily read books that are too difficult in the eyes of the average foreign reader.”

At the XVIII Party Congress in 1939, the task was set of transitioning to universal secondary education in the city in the third five-year plan and completing it by 1938-1942. organization of seven-year education in the village. These measures made it possible, already on the eve of the war in the 1940/41 academic year, to more than double the number of students in grades VIII-X compared to 1938, and triple in rural areas. The national economy and army received the opportunity to quickly train highly qualified specialists, which was extremely important at that time. On the eve of the war in the Red Army, even 94% of battalion commanders had secondary or higher education. From the end of 1939 until the start of the war, 77 additional military schools were opened.

The war caused enormous damage to education. The Nazi invaders destroyed 84 thousand schools, technical schools and universities. The number of students in middle school decreased by half, and in high school by 2.5 times. Despite enormous difficulties and hardships only in 1941-1945. 687 school buildings were built in the country, about half of them in liberated territories. At the same time, universal compulsory education for children from the age of seven was introduced. On April 30, 1944, the USSR adopted a decree on the creation of schools for working youth.

After the war, between 1946 and 1950, 18.5 thousand new schools were built for 2.4 million student places. By 1952, the transition to compulsory seven-year education was completed. On December 24, 1958, the law “On strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the USSR” was adopted. This law provided for the transition to universal compulsory eight-year education.

In the sixties, in the Soviet Union, thanks to the achieved high level of education of people, profound qualitative changes were taking place in the technology and technology of social production. The scientific and technological revolution is developing rapidly. Comprehensively mechanized and automated workshops and enterprises are being created, equipped with CNC machines and high-performance technological equipment. In 1971, there were already 5 thousand such enterprises and 18 thousand workshops. New production, in turn, requires an increase in the training of qualified workers and specialists with secondary specialized and higher education. Entirely new professions are appearing and the nature of work is changing. At that time, the industry already employed 700 thousand specialists with a diploma as engineers and technicians in the workplace. According to forecasts, their share was expected to increase to several million in the next 15 years!

On June 20, 1972, a resolution was issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the completion of the transition to universal secondary education of youth and the further development of secondary schools.” On July 17, 1973, at the sixth session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the “Fundamentals of Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics on Public Education” were adopted. This large, multifaceted document consolidated the basic principles of building a public education system, codified the most important decisions in the field of education, reflected the richest pedagogical experience in our country, formulated the tasks facing public education, and created a solid legal basis for all types of educational institutions in the Soviet Union.

As noted in Article 1, the “Fundamentals of Legislation...” regulate social relations in the field of public education in order to most fully satisfy the demands of Soviet citizens and the needs of a developed socialist society in the education and communist upbringing of the younger generation, providing the national economy with workers and specialists of appropriate qualifications.

In accordance with the Constitution of the USSR, Soviet citizens have the right to education. This right is ensured by compulsory eight-year education, the implementation of universal secondary education for youth, the broad development of vocational, secondary specialized and higher education based on the connection of learning with life, with the practice of communist construction, education in schools in the native language, expansion of the network of preschool and out-of-school institutions, free all types of education, a system of state scholarships and other types of financial assistance to pupils and students, the organization of various forms of industrial training and advanced training for workers. Appropriate benefits are established for pupils and students.

Ten years later, the education reform of 1984 provided for the following: to carry out the reform of secondary and vocational schools means solving the following main tasks:

improve the quality of education and upbringing; to ensure a higher scientific level of teaching of each subject, a solid mastery of the fundamentals of science, improvement of ideological, political, labor and moral education, aesthetic and physical development; improve curricula and programs, textbooks and teaching aids, teaching and educational methods; eliminate overload of students, excessive complexity of educational material;

radically improve the organization of labor education, training and vocational guidance in secondary schools; strengthen the polytechnic, practical orientation of teaching; significantly expand the training of qualified workers in the vocational training system; make the transition to universal vocational education for young people;

strengthen students' responsibility for the quality of their studies, compliance with academic and labor discipline, increase their social activity based on the development of self-government in student groups;

to raise the social prestige of teachers and industrial training masters, their theoretical and practical training, to fully meet the needs of the public education system for teaching staff; increase wages and improve living conditions for teaching staff;

strengthen the material and technical base of educational institutions, preschool and out-of-school institutions;

improve the structure of general education and vocational schools and the management of public education.

The reform was called the Brezhnev-Chernenkov reform. In practical terms, it envisaged “bringing students close to choosing a profession.” Schools provide training in various working specialties. Students get acquainted with production directly at enterprises. Machine tools, equipment, cars, and agricultural machinery are arriving. In schools, under the guidance of experienced craftsmen and chefs from enterprises, production teams and machine units are created. Graduates, along with the certificate, receive certificates for their specialty: turner, electrician, driver, tractor-combine operator, milking machine master, seamstress, etc.

However, the “production” part of the reform faces great difficulties from the very beginning. Enterprises are extremely reluctant to interact with schools and vocational schools. They have their own tasks and plans that need to be fulfilled. There are no special personnel and funds for organizing practical training for students. The issue of child labor protection at enterprises is becoming acute. Fearing accidents, enterprise managers, instead of practicing, limit themselves, at best, to excursions. There are also shortages of production specialists in schools. The practice is organized and conducted by teachers and class teachers, who are already overloaded with educational work. The introduction of a full-time work day disrupted the normal rhythm of the educational process in schools, which led to a decrease in academic performance. At the same time, education was introduced from the age of six, and in schools, already suffering from a shortage of classrooms, part of the classrooms was seized for classrooms and dormitories for six-year-olds. Schools are switching to two or three shifts.

Assigning to the school functions unusual for it - vocational training - was erroneous. The very vagueness of the wording “to bring students close to choosing a profession” gave wide scope for its understanding and implementation. It was unclear: to what level should it be “brought up”? Where is this limit of “summing up”? Should I give a profession and what kind? Where can we get qualified industrial training specialists, appropriate premises, machines and equipment for this? School budgets could not handle all this.

A way out of this situation was proposed by the Minister of Vocational Education A.P. Dumachev. He tried to expand the network of vocational schools, equip their training facilities with the latest modern production equipment, and assign vocational schools to enterprises, making them divisions of plants and factories. Attract the best engineering and teaching staff to vocational schools. Ensure their training at universities. But the main thing is to radically change the existing principle of recruiting students, when poor students, low achievers and hooligans entered vocational schools. Now the best school students and graduates had to enter the vocational school through a competition. It was the modernized vocational schools that could provide the country with the necessary workforce. To increase the prestige and authority of vocational school teachers, Dumachev even proposed introducing a uniform for them!

The reform was not implemented. Gorbachev’s “perestroika” began, and the country’s leadership had no time for schools and vocational schools. A course was set for the destruction of the Great Power. The Soviet Union became the "Evil Empire". All the achievements of the Soviet people were declared to be an endless series of troubles and misfortunes, and the Soviet school was a breeding ground for criminal ideology, an enemy of universal human values.

But no matter how spiteful the anti-Soviet democrats may be, it was the Soviet system of education and collectivist upbringing that made the USSR the second power in the world in a very short historical period - less than 70 years (if we take into account the years of the revolution, the Civil and Great Patriotic War, when the increase in the well-being of citizens was simply impossible). The Americans also recognized this. “It took the launch of the Russian satellite, however, to raise the issue of school improvement as a whole to the top of national priorities,” writes American educational scientist Ernest L. Boyer. For decades now, Americans have been unsuccessfully trying to reform their education, following their own path. And it still remains of poor quality and defective. Therefore, the United States is forced to attract large numbers of specialists from other countries, including from Russia.

The education system in the USSR in official documents was called the public education system. Since its inception in 1917, its main task has been to educate and educate the younger generation in accordance with the communist ideology that determined the life of society. The main moral goal of Soviet education at all levels - from kindergarten to university - was considered to be the preparation of a worthy member of the work collective, together with the entire country, building a “bright future”. Throughout the entire period of the existence of the Soviet educational system, the teaching of not only the humanities, but also the natural and even exact sciences was subordinated to these guidelines.

Preschool

The first stage of the state public education program was preschool institutions. They opened throughout the USSR from the first years of its existence: the country of Soviets under construction required millions of workers, including women. The problem of “who should a young working mother leave her child with” was not relevant - it was successfully solved by kindergartens and nurseries that accepted babies from the age of two months. Later, preschool institutions were an important part of the system of universal secondary education, compulsory for every Soviet citizen since 1972.

There were no private kindergartens in the Soviet Union. All institutions were municipal (state) or departmental - belonging to enterprises: factories, collective farms, factories, etc. They were supervised by local education and health authorities.

The state not only built preschool institutions everywhere, but also almost completely financed the maintenance of children and the educational process. Parents were partially reimbursed for food costs, which were calculated taking into account the total salaries of the baby’s father and mother. There were no “voluntary-compulsory” contributions for curtains, blankets, carpets, books, pots, and so on. Large and low-income families were exempt from paying for kindergarten services.

The extensive system of preschool institutions in the USSR consisted of:

from the nurseries - the smallest ones were brought up in them - from two months to three years;
kindergartens - they accepted three-year-olds and, until the age of seven, prepared them for entry into first grade, gradually moving them from the junior group to the middle, senior and preparatory groups;
nurseries and kindergartens - plants that united the two previous types of institutions under one roof.

Experienced teachers and nannies worked with preschool children. Children were taught a healthy lifestyle, and cultural development kept pace with the directives of the Communist Party and government regulations that governed the entire education system in the USSR.

School

During the existence of the USSR, the secondary school was transformed several times in accordance with the realities of changing life, all modifications were aimed at increasing the level of education of new generations.

In the first years of Soviet power, general and vocational education were not separated: in the unified nine-year labor schools of the RSFSR, mastering the basics of theoretical knowledge and crafts took place in parallel. Training was conducted in two stages: the first - five years, the second - four years. Additionally, in 1919, workers' faculties were opened at secondary specialized and higher educational institutions - workers' faculties that prepared illiterate proletarians and peasants for studying at universities. They existed until the mid-30s and were abolished as unnecessary.

In 1932, secondary education in the USSR became ten years and three stages:

primary - from 1st to 4th grade;
incomplete secondary - from 5th to 7th;
middle - 10 classes.

During the Great Patriotic War, two types of specialized schools appeared in the USSR education system:

Suvorov and Nakhimov schools, which trained applicants to higher military educational institutions;
schools for working and rural youth, created so that workers could receive secondary education in the evening and by correspondence.

In 1958, the structure of secondary education changed: the first three became primary grades, the fourth to eighth grades became secondary, and the ninth and tenth grades became senior.

In the same year, the first technical schools opened, and factory apprenticeship schools (FZU), which trained skilled workers on the basis of primary education, were replaced by vocational schools (vocational schools), where one could enroll after 8 grades to acquire a labor specialty.

To provide support to single-parent, large and low-income families, a system of boarding schools was developed, in which children lived during the working week, studying as in a regular school, and were sent home on weekends. Extended day groups have been introduced in all secondary schools so that children without grandparents can stay at school after school until the evening, eating well and doing homework under the supervision of teachers.

The secondary education system in the USSR, reformed in 1958, remained unchanged until the collapse of the country and was recognized by many foreign authoritative educators as the best in the world.

Higher

The pinnacle of the education system in the Soviet Union is a complex of higher educational institutions that produced highly qualified and comprehensively developed specialists for every sphere of the national economy. More than eight hundred universities and institutes operated successfully in the country:

polytechnics;
agricultural;
pedagogical;
medical;
legal;
economic;
arts and culture.

The institutes trained personnel mainly for industry, and the universities were mainly engaged in training specialists in the humanities and natural sciences.

Universities produced competent professionals and at the same time served as a base for scientific work, since they were equipped with research classes and laboratories where experiments were carried out and the development of production equipment and household appliances was carried out. Students actively participated in innovative activities, but their main activity was systematic study. Young people were paid a stipend, the amount of which depended on their academic performance and social work load.

In order to increase the accessibility of higher education to all segments of the population, the USSR began to use correspondence education for the first time in the world.

Despite the ideological nature of the education system in the USSR, its effectiveness, especially the quality of engineering and technical training, was noted even by political opponents of the Soviet Union.

Education in the USSR

Public education system in the USSR- an education system that began to take shape in Soviet times (Soviet Russia, USSR).

In 1973, in the USSR, expenditures from the state budget (without capital investments) on higher educational institutions amounted to 2.97 billion rubles, on technical schools, colleges and schools for training secondary qualified personnel - 1.79 billion rubles, on vocational education - 2, 09 billion rubles.

In 1975, there were 856 universities in the USSR (including 65 universities), where more than 4.9 million students studied. In terms of the number of students per 10 thousand people, the USSR significantly exceeded countries such as Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan and others.

As of January 1, 1976, there were 6,272 vocational and technical educational institutions in the USSR, with 3.08 million students enrolled.

At the beginning of the 1975/1976 academic year, there were 167 thousand secondary schools in the USSR, with 48.8 million students. As of 1975, the training of teachers and educators was carried out at 65 universities, 200 pedagogical institutes and 404 pedagogical colleges.

Education in the Soviet Union was closely connected with the upbringing and formation of personality traits. The Soviet school was designed not only to solve general educational problems, teaching students knowledge of the laws of development of nature, society and thinking, labor skills and abilities, but also to form on this basis the communist views and beliefs of students, to educate students in the spirit of high morality, Soviet patriotism and socialist internationalism.

Story

The basic principles of education in the Soviet Union were formulated back in 1903 in the RSDLP Program, announced at the Second Congress of the RSDLP: universal free compulsory education for children of both sexes up to 16 years of age; elimination of class schools and restrictions in education based on nationality; separation of school and church; training in native language, etc.

A serious problem was the illiteracy of a significant part of the population, especially the peasantry, while in Europe, this problem was solved back in the 19th century. The Soviet leadership considered achieving universal literacy one of its priorities. As Vladimir Lenin said - “We need a huge increase in culture. it is necessary to ensure that the ability to read and write serves to improve culture, so that the peasant has the opportunity to use this ability to read and write to improve his economy and his state.”.

Average number of years of education for the population over 9 years of age:

1797	1807	1817	1827	1837	1847	1857	1867	1877	1887	1897	1907	1917	1927	1937	1947	1957	1967	1977	1987
0,127	0,148	0,179	0,222	0,270	0,320	0,367	0,435	0,516	0,592	0,762	0,930	1,112	1,502	3,376	5,442	6,048	6,974	7,861	8,833

1920s

In area primary education The main problem in the 1920s remained the elimination of illiteracy. In 1923, by decree of the People's Commissariat of Education, the Down with Illiteracy Society was created. More than 1.2 million people were united by city patronage organizations designed to help the village in raising culture. In order to speed up education, it was necessary to increase the load on suitable school premises: despite the fact that by 1924 the number of students (with an absolute reduction in the population) was brought almost to the level of 1914 (98%), the number of schools was only 83% of the pre-war level. The main influx of students during this period were street children, whose number reached 7 million people in these years. In 1925-28 As access to education was ensured for all school-age children, universal compulsory primary education was introduced by orders of local Soviet authorities. Thus, laws on universal education were adopted: in 1924 in the Ukrainian SSR; in 1926 in the BSSR; as well as in the TSFSR and in some republics of Sr. Asia in the late 1920s. But only after the elimination of homelessness as a mass phenomenon (by 1928 - already only 300 thousand), by September 1930, there were grounds to state that universal primary education for children had actually been introduced.

Great damage was caused to the public education system and the spread of literacy by the First World War and the Civil War. Also, a large number of educational institutions were lost, along with a number of territories with the highest level of literacy and education of the population (Poland, Finland, the Baltic states). Due to the constant lack of funds, by the 1922/23 academic year the number of schools had decreased to 88,588 and the number of students had decreased to 7,322,062. Only by 1926 the number of schools had increased to 111,046 and the number of students to 10,219,529). The situation was aggravated by hunger and devastation in many areas of the economy; full funding for the education system was restored only by 1924, after which spending on education grew steadily.


1. Within the borders until September 17, 1939

Overall, the number of students and teachers increased significantly during this period.

in primary schools from 5,993,379 in 1922/23. to 9,845,266 in 1929/30
in junior high schools from 736,854 in 1922/23. to 2,424,678 in 1929/30
in secondary schools increased from 591,645 in 1922/23. to 1,117,824 in 1929/30

The number of students in higher education institutions compared to pre-war 1914 increased from 127,000 (including Poland) to 169,000 in 1927/28. In 1930 there were 272,000 students in the USSR. The number of higher educational institutions increased from 91 in 1914 to 148 in 1927/28. (272,000 in 1930)

Moreover, although the country's scientific potential was seriously damaged during social upheaval, it began to recover from the 1920s. The number of scientific workers has increased significantly. By 1927 there were 25 thousand of them, that is, twice as many as before the revolution. In 1929, there were already 1,263 scientific institutions operating in the USSR (including 438 research institutes and their branches).

In 1932, unified ten-year labor schools were introduced in the USSR.

In 1933-37, compulsory 7-year training was carried out in cities and workers' settlements. Already in the 1938/1939 academic year in the USSR, 97.3% of children who completed primary school went on to study at secondary school.

In total, during this period the number of students in the USSR in all schools increased from 13,515,688 in 1929/30. to 31,517,375 in 1938/39 Of them:

in primary schools from 9,845,266 in 1929/30 to 10,646,115 in 1938/39.
in junior high schools from 2,424,678 in 1929/30. to 11,712,024 in 1938/39
in secondary schools from 1,117,824 in 1929/30. to 9,028,156 in 1938/39

The number of teachers increased from 384,848 in 1929/30. to 1,027,164 in 1938/39

The number of higher educational institutions in 1932/33 was 832, with 504,000 students.

By the end of the 1930s, significant success had also been achieved in the fight against illiteracy: according to the 1939 census, the percentage of the literate population was 87.4%, and the gap in literacy between the rural and urban population had significantly decreased. In just 16 years (from 1923 to 1939), more than 50 million illiterate and about 40 million semi-literate people of different ages studied in the USSR. . Among the recruits, literacy was no longer a problem. And the share of conscripts with higher and secondary education in 1939-1940. accounted for a third of the total number of conscripts. .

Statistics on changes in the percentage of the literate population:

		1917	1920	1926	1937	1939	1959	1970	1979
Rural population:	Husband.	53%	52,4%	67,3%	-	91,6%	99.1%	99.6%	99.6%
	Women	23%	25,2%	35,4%	-	76,8%	97,5%	99,4%	99,5%
	Total	37%	37,8%	50,6%	-	84,0%	98,2%	99,5%	99,6%
Urban population:	Husband.	80%	80,7%	88,0%	-	97,1%	99,5%	99.9%	99.9%
	Women	61%	66,7%	73,9%	-	90,7%	98,1%	99,8%	99,9%
	Total	70,5%	73,5%	80,9%	-	93,8%	98,7%	99,8%	99,9%
Total:	Husband.	58%	57,6%	71,5%	86%	93,5%	99,3%	99.8%	99.8%
	Women	29%	32,3%	42,7%	66,2%	81,6%	97,8%	99,7%	99,8%
	Total	43%	44,1%	56,6%	-	87,4%	98,5%	99,7%	99,8%

In the 1930s, the following regulations were issued concerning the Soviet education system:

1940s

In total, in the 1940/41 academic year, 34,784 thousand people studied in USSR schools. Of them:

In the initial ones - 9786 thousand.

For seven-year-olds - 12,525 thousand.

In the average - 12,199 thousand.

Number of teachers in 1940/41 amounted to 1237 thousand.
In the 1940/41 academic year in the USSR there were 3,773 secondary specialized educational institutions with 975,000 students. Higher education in the USSR in the 1940/41 academic year was represented by 817 educational institutions, in which 812,000 students studied.

For students in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools, pedagogical schools, agricultural and other special secondary institutions, the fee ranged from 150 to 200 rubles per year. Education in higher educational institutions cost from 300 to 500 rubles per year. Tuition fees averaged approximately 10% of the family budget in 1940 (with one worker), in 1950 and further until the abolition of fees in 1954 - about 5%.
1. Introduce tuition fees in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades of secondary schools and higher educational institutions from September 1, 1940. 2. Establish the following tuition fees for students in grades 8-10 of secondary schools: a) in schools in Moscow and Leningrad, as well as in the capital cities of the union republics - 200 rubles per year; b) in all other cities, as well as villages - 150 rubles per year.

Note. The specified tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools will be extended to students of technical schools, pedagogical schools, agricultural and other special secondary institutions. 1. Establish the following tuition fees in higher educational institutions of the USSR: a) in higher educational institutions located in the cities of Moscow and Leningrad and the capitals of the union republics - 400 rubles per year;
B) in higher educational institutions located in other cities - 300 rubles per year...

Number of students in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War:

1950s

Since the 1949/50 school year, there has been a decrease in the number of students, because children born during the war years entered schools, when the birth rate in wartime conditions (especially in enemy-occupied territory and in the front line) decreased significantly.

In 1956, 35,505 thousand people studied in various educational institutions in the USSR (this number does not include 14.9 million students in retraining and advanced training schools). Of them:

In general education schools - 30,127 thousand. In schools of the labor reserve school system - 1,365 thousand people.

In technical schools and secondary specialized schools. institutions - 2,012 thousand. In higher educational institutions - 2,001 thousand.

Number of teachers in 1950/51 amounted to 1,475 thousand; in 1955/56 - 1,733 thousand.

In 1950, there were 162.5 thousand scientific workers in the USSR. By 1955, their number had grown to 223.9 thousand and 2950 scientific institutions (1180 of them were research institutes and their branches).

In 1958, there were 29 polytechnic institutes, 30 mechanical engineering, 27 civil engineering, 7 aviation, 27 mining and metallurgical, 18 transport, 15 electrical engineering and communications institutes, 13 fisheries and food industries, 10 chemical engineering, 2 meteorological and hydraulic engineering and 2 shipbuilding .

Notes

essay “How I spent my summer”
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Senyavskaya E. S.

During the Soviet period (1917-1991), school reforms took place under

direct leadership of the party and government. Development

The school system was strictly regulated by party and government regulations. The task of restructuring the education system was put forward from the very first days of Soviet power. In Bolshevik policy, the school was given a special place as a means of promoting Bolshevik ideas and communist ideology. The concept of the new school, the goals and objectives of school education were formulated in a number of documents: “Appeal of the People's Commissar for Education” (1917), “Basic principles of a unified labor school” (1918), “Regulations on the unified labor school of the RSFSR” (1918). The various types of schools of pre-revolutionary Russia were to be replaced by a new model of school education - a unified labor school, which involved two levels: 5 years and 4 years. The abolition of curriculum by the Bolsheviks, the abolition of the class-lesson system and grades (1918) could not but lead to the destabilization of the work of the school. Language learning was reduced to a minimum, but the time allocated to mathematics and science increased. Among the figures of the People's Commissariat for Education (N.K. Krupskaya, A.V. Lunacharsky, etc.), the ideas of American pedagogy (the project method, the Dalton plan), which served as the basis for restructuring the school's activities, were very popular. Social competition among students was encouraged.

The formation of the new school was accompanied by discussions and meetings on educational issues, which took place from 1919 to the end of the 20s. The discussions centered on the structure of the school, its levels, types of educational institutions, and the content of school education. In the first decades after October, the school as an educational institution entered into a period of radical reform. The work on reorganizing the school was headed by the People's Commissariat for Education (1917); theoretical problems of school education are being developed by the scientific and pedagogical section of the State Academic Council (GUS). The priority task is to construct a new content of education, highlight and select its leading ideas, and determine its structure. The search in this direction often proceeds through trial and error. The turning point came only in 1923 with the introduction into practice of the school of comprehensive GUS programs, the ideological basis of which was Marxism and the Bolshevik interpretation of its ideas. The educational material was not structured by subject, but was concentrated around three main topics: nature, work, society. The GUS programs were the first attempt to create a real Soviet school program. The introduction of complex programs immediately revealed their shortcomings: unsystematic nature, lack of solid knowledge acquisition, wasteful use of educational time. The idea of an integrated design of the content of secondary education did not justify itself: the school was not ready for the innovation, and the majority of teachers did not accept the integrated system.

In the 20s XX century An important area of reform is the work of experimental demonstration institutions, in which a search was carried out for new curricula, forms and methods of educational work. Pedagogical science is on the rise. A positive attitude towards innovation, attention to foreign experience, involvement of authoritative scientists in the development of documents - all this leads to active experimentation in the field of training and education.

In the 30s In the USSR, a radical reorganization of the school education system is being carried out. The resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) “On the structure of primary and secondary schools in the USSR” (1934) determined the unified structure of school education: primary school (4 years) + incomplete secondary school (4+3), complete secondary school (4+3+3 ). This model, with minor amendments, existed until the 80s. XX century.

In 1934, subject instruction, standard programs and textbooks, a unified class schedule, and a grade system were introduced in schools. There is a return to old principles, the conservative traditions of the pre-revolutionary school are being revived. The director again becomes the head of the school, and the pedagogical council plays the role of an advisory body under him. According to the new Regulations on Internal Regulations, the school allowed the exclusion of students from its walls. A uniform school uniform becomes mandatory again. The internal rules are streamlined: the duration of lessons and the intervals between them, the procedure for conducting transfer and final exams. One cannot but agree with V.I. Strazhev, who notes that 17 years after the October Revolution, the pre-revolutionary gymnasium, of which I.V. was a supporter, triumphed again. Stalin. This return to pre-revolutionary traditions was observed in subsequent years: the restoration of awards for academic success in the form of gold and silver medals, regulation of the activities, rights and responsibilities of pedagogical councils, parent committees.

Experts identify two main periods in the evolution of the Soviet school: rise (mid-40s - late 50s) and decline (70s - late 80s).

In the first period, the development of the Soviet school was ascending. By all accounts, the Soviet education system of the 50s. in terms of its effectiveness it was considered one of the best in the world. It was distinguished by originality, pragmatism, post-Stalin conscious discipline, and clear work of all structures. However, by the end of the 50s. It became clear that deep changes were needed.

In 1958, the “Law on strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the USSR” was issued, which marked the beginning of a new education reform, which was carried out along the lines of integration of general and vocational education. At the same time, the task of restructuring the school was solved. The period of compulsory education was increased from seven to eight years. The secondary school became eleven years old and received a new name: “general education polytechnic labor secondary school with production activities.” The main emphasis in preparing students was on labor training, the volume of which increased to 15.3% of the time in an eight-year school. In senior grades (9-11), a third of school time was allocated to general technical academic disciplines and participation in productive work. It was planned that students would work twice a week in training workshops, factories, factories, and agricultural production and, along with a matriculation certificate, would receive certificates of working qualifications.

In addition to structural reorganization and the introduction of primary vocational training at schools, it was envisaged to expand the network of preschool education and upbringing, create boarding schools in rural areas, and overcome repetition.

By the 1961/62 academic year, the reorganization of 7-year schools into 8-year ones was completed. However, structural transformation did not solve school problems. In the early 60s. It became obvious that the goals of the reform were unrealistic and impossible to achieve under the conditions of that time: schools and communities were not ready for the primary vocational training of students. The results of entrance exams recorded a sharp decline in the level of general education, primarily in the humanities, of students, and the prestige of education in society was steadily falling. In the summer of 1964, a decision was made to return to a ten-year school from the 1966/67 academic year. Soon, vocational training at school was canceled, and the academic discipline “Labor” reappeared in the school curriculum.

Throughout the 50-80s. XX century Several unsuccessful attempts were made to modernize the school. Domestic experts unanimously agree that all attempts at reform were doomed to failure from the very beginning. Each subsequent reform led to the replication of errors and an even greater aggravation of problems. From the point of view of E.D. Dneprov, the ineffectiveness and often ineffectiveness of the reforms being carried out is explained by the fact that they set goals for the school that were either obviously impossible to achieve at this historical stage, or unusual for it. P.G. Shchedrovitsky sees the reasons for the failure of school reforms in the fact that education always performs the socio-cultural function of preserving and reproducing the existing social structure. An attempt to reform the education system in the country in isolation from the entire social organism, the existing system of production and social relations, is doomed to failure from the very beginning. Almost all reforms were characterized by ill-conceivedness, poor scientific validity, unsatisfactory level of preparation, haste in implementation, race for coverage indicators, and lack of necessary financial and personnel support. The high pace of reform initially set by the party and the government, and the specific deadlines for implementation, were obviously impossible to achieve.

In the 70s XX century The decline of the Soviet school begins, the main reason for which is the departure from pragmatism to projectism, the setting of unrealistic tasks and the impossibility of solving them. In an effort to solve the problems set by the party and the government, the school tried to operate as before. Specialized schools were opened, separate teaching teams and teachers developed and implemented original work systems. But, as rightly pointed out by academic researchers of the Soviet reform period (E.D. Dneprov, V.A. Kovanov, V.I. Strazhev, etc.), these oases of advanced pedagogical experience could not significantly influence the general situation in Soviet education. A situation was created in which the country knew the names of innovative teachers and was familiar with their achievements, but advanced experience existed on its own in isolation from mass practice.

In the 80s XX century The Soviet school began to talk openly about the crisis. Never before has the prestige of a school in society fallen so catastrophically low. She was criticized from all sides and at all levels. The objects of criticism were the incompetence of governing bodies, percentage mania, bureaucracy, over-centralization in management and financing, focus on the formation of a given personality type, ignoring the individuality of the student, low professional level of teachers, lack of government funding and material and technical support. The decline that the school experienced was akin to the general situation in the country. The command-administrative principle of school management, its unification and nationalization led to the separation of the national school from the processes in line with which the world school system developed. In the 80s The potential of the Soviet general education system was exhausted. In 1983, at the June 11th lenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the idea was expressed about the need for school reform. In 1984, the draft reform was published and after discussion (3 months) it was taken as the basis for a document on entitled “Main Directions of the comprehensive school reform”. During the 1984 reform, it was proposed to implement a set of measures:

Changing the terms of schooling (introduction of 11th summer school) and the structure of school education (4+5+2).

Providing students in grades 8-11 with the opportunity to specialize in such disciplines as physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and the humanities.

Introduction of a single type of vocational technical school: SPTU based on the merger of general education and vocational training.

Streamlining the student workload: 1st grade. - 20 hours; 2 classes - 22; 3-4 grades - 24; 5-8 grades - 31; 9-11 grades - 31 hours

Reducing class sizes to 30 students (grades 1-9) and to 25 (grades 10-11).

Improving the situation and increasing remuneration of teachers.

Conceived in ministerial offices, unprepared reform

It started slipping almost immediately. The reform was not well thought out and was conceived and implemented in a hurry. It lacked a clear concept, strategy, and implementation mechanisms. The reform provided for the professionalization of secondary schools, the merger of general and vocational education, and the establishment of a new educational institution SPTU - a secondary vocational school. As time has shown, many of the goals of the reform were simply wrong.

This was so obvious that it was recognized from high stands. During the Plenums of the CPSU Central Committee in 1986-1987. There have been repeated criticisms of the reform. In 1988, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education, and the State Committee for Public Education were merged into the State Committee for Public Education of the USSR.

By 1986, public discussion about the future of the school began. In the Teacher's Newspaper (1986-1988), a number of publications appear devoted to the search for ways to renew the school, signed by innovative teachers V.F. Shatalov, S.N. Lysenkova, Sh.A. Amonashvili, E.N. Ilyin, M.P. Shchetinin and others. The speeches of innovative teachers at meetings before the pedagogical community and in the press caused a great public outcry and marked the emergence of a new direction in Soviet pedagogy, known as “pedagogy of cooperation.” It was this group of teachers, who tested new teaching methods and proved their effectiveness, that became the catalyst for the socio-pedagogical movement to search for a concept for school development in new socio-economic conditions. The rejection of new ideas by official pedagogy only spurred public interest. In the wake of the social and pedagogical movement, creative associations of teachers and original schools have developed greatly. In order to prepare the reform, independent research teams were created: the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR and the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute "School", headed by E.D. Dneprov (later Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, I 990-1992)

In 1988, the All-Union Meeting of Public Education Workers was held in Moscow, during which the proposals of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute “School” on school reform received support. In September 1989, the USSR State Committee for Public Education approved a new school curriculum, in which the humanitarian component was significantly strengthened (from 41 to 50%). During this period, a shift away from the unified model of school education began. By 1989, the first gymnasiums and lyceums appeared in the USSR.

In the BSSR, the first lyceum was created in 1990 (lyceum at the BSU). Created on the basis of specialized schools, they were intended for in-depth study of subjects and were mainly of a humanitarian nature. From this period, the polarization of educational institutions began in the education system: along with the mass school, schools with in-depth study of subjects, gymnasiums, and lyceums began to operate in the education system.

With the collapse of the USSR in the 90s. XX century deep transformation processes are taking place in the post-Soviet educational space. The private education sector is developing. The secondary school curriculum is being reworked. They have three components: federal, regional and school. Legislative activity in the field of education is intensifying, documents and laws are being adopted that reflect new realities. An important area of school policy is the activity of experimental schools, on the basis of which new school models and educational technologies are tested, attempts are made to transfer the experience of foreign schools to Russian soil (Waldorf school, Jena-plan, ) Dalton plan, etc.). In recent years, the Russian education system has increasingly gravitated towards the American educational model, which is seen as a role model.

History of primary education in the USSR. Education system in the Soviet Union. Thaw as a premonition

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At the beginning of the 1975/1976 academic year, there were 167 thousand secondary schools in the USSR, with 48.8 million students. As of 1975, the training of teachers and educators was carried out at 65 universities, 200 pedagogical institutes and 404 pedagogical colleges.

Vocational Education

Correspondence education

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