Rubric: Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva: chronicle of work. Olga Vasilyeva - "Komsomolskaya Pravda": We need to comprehend everything that has been done in pedagogy Recent speech by the Minister of Education Vasilyeva

The attack by system liberals on Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva, which began against the backdrop of the presentation of the new federal educational standard (FSES) in Russian language and literature, continues to gain momentum. The company’s customers, the Higher School of Economics and the Alexey Kudrin Center for Strategic Research, no longer even consider it necessary to hide their “ears”, as well as their goal - to “leave” Vasilyeva and put in her place a person controlled by the globalists, for example, the director of the Sirius center Elena Shmeleva -which will continue the line of Fursenko and Livanov on the “variability” of education, adjusted for the total digitalization of education and “individual development trajectories.” The other day, a project for another education reform from Kudrin and the Higher School of Economics worth 8 trillion rubles even appeared in the media.

The battle for the future of Russian children is entering its final phase. At a meeting of the public council under the ministry that took place two days ago, Vasilyeva made it clear that a mandatory minimum of classical works with the task of educating patriots, with the key role of the Russian language and Russian culture, will be introduced into our schools in the near future. The new Federal State Educational Standard, among other things, is intended to deal a powerful blow to the notorious “variability”, serving to restore the single educational space destroyed by the liberals.

Despite the persecution launched by the liberals, Vasilyeva did not dwell on the Federal State Educational Standard for Russian and Literature. The other day she encroached on the holy of holies of our globalist “elite” - the digitalization of all spheres of life, calling it “game”: “It is impossible to introduce “digital” in school without knowing how it will influence children of a certain age. This cannot be done. It’s impossible to do this without knowing how it affects children at an early age,” Vasilyeva said. A little more and Olga Yuryevna will begin to abolish the “variability” of teaching history and then, God willing, she will get to the Unified State Exam.

Citizens of the Asmolovs and other Fursenks, of course, could not tolerate this: they did not faithfully serve the interests of the American metropolis for 20 years, so that Vasiliev and Co. would take and destroy all their “conquests.”

It is no coincidence that Telegram channels specializing in political insights have been filled with rumors about Vasilyeva’s imminent resignation for several months now. Someone writes that by June of this year the Ministry of Education and Science will be transformed into two departments: the Ministry of Education (primary and general education) and the Ministry of Science (higher education), and Vasilyeva’s candidacy as their head is not even being considered. And someone directly says that Olga Yuryevna will be replaced in the new government in May of this year by the director of the Sirius center, Elena Shmeleva. Shmeleva is a 46-year-old sociologist, a graduate of St. Petersburg State University, and the head of the Talent and Success educational foundation, which oversees the Sirius innovative educational center for gifted children in Sochi. At Sirius, selected children receive an education according to Western “modular” standards (for example, combining classical ballet classes with an English lesson), while the territory of the center-camp is carefully guarded, and a mandatory condition is that children 10-17 years old are sent there alone , without the possibility of visiting by parents. On the board of trustees of Sirius are Vasilyeva’s predecessors, former ministers of education Andrei Fursenko and Dmitry Livanov (which in itself says a lot), and Shmeleva herself has recently been increasingly seen at official events next to the President...

In such a situation, the conservative forces of Russian society are trying to unite to support Olga Vasilyeva. “Katyusha” has already reported on a letter from academicians from the Civil Committee for the Revival of Education and Science, on speeches by representatives of parent organizations, etc. Recently, a similar appeal in support of Vasilyeva was sent by the secretariat of the Union of Writers of Russia

“Literature (as well as history!) was excluded from the compulsory final exams, the number of hours for studying this subject was reduced to a minimum, and a huge number of classical works were removed from the required literary works,” the writers are outraged. - And today, when for the first time in many years documents began to appear in the Ministry of Education and Science that return the meaning to the word “education” itself, in particular the new Federal State Educational Standard for Literature, the initiator of these processes O.Yu. Vasiliev received a barrage of criticism bordering on hysteria.

So what's behind these claims? It seems to us that this is an attempt at liberal revenge in a strategic area - education. For decades, educational policy has moved in only one direction: modernization, pluralization, formalization, technologization, segregation and pragmatization. In many ways, the deplorable current state of Russian education is the fruit of precisely this policy. Now a specific reason (addition to the Federal State Educational Standard) and an important political moment (on the eve of the formation of a new cabinet of ministers) have been chosen in order to prevent the opportunity to take real steps to correct the situation.

Behind these claims and behind the organized indignation of the “professional community” are those who have been at the helm of all educational reforms of recent decades: the liberal “public” associated with the Higher School of Economics and the Federal Institute for Educational Development. The Guild of Literature Writers, a small but very active in the public space, speaks on behalf of “ordinary teachers.” In fact, the overwhelming majority of ordinary literature teachers support the idea of ​​a single list of literary works required for study. And the writers who speak to schoolchildren are well aware and feel this,” reads the statement of the Russian Writers’ Union.

Ordinary teachers join the writers, and they do it at the call of their hearts, and do not take them “under the hood”, like the “Guild of Literature Writers”, which works in close conjunction with the Higher School of Economics. One of them created a petition in support of Vasilyeva on the website change org, which at the time of writing was supported by more than 11 thousand people. It would be appropriate to provide the full text of this open letter addressed to the President of Russia:

“Dear Mr. President of the Russian Federation, dear State Duma deputies and members of the government!

We, teachers of secondary and higher schools, categorically disagree with the letter distributed today from a number of literature teachers protesting against the introduction by the Ministry of Education of new literature standards proposed by Minister Vasilyeva. In our opinion, the introduction of these standards could not be more timely.

Firstly, the argument about overloading children is untenable here. Many teachers note (and practice has long shown) that overload arises not so much from the amount of knowledge, but from a violation of the didactic and methodological principles of education, which is the fault of modern Federal State Educational Standards, which continuously replace each other.

Secondly, it is well known that serious classical literature has a highly beneficial and irreplaceable influence on the formation of not only the general culture of the younger generation, on its civic and moral education, but also on the development of thinking, speech, and memory, which has already been confirmed by many studies.

Thirdly, the “multivariability” of educational programs, which has been asserted in recent years, must nevertheless, like a solid building, rest on an unshakable foundation. Otherwise, instead of “polyvariability,” we get chaos and unsystematicity. For literature as an academic discipline, it is the works of the classics that serve as such a foundation. Let us recall in this regard that Hegel also called classical the state of society in which a balance is achieved between the individual and the social - and from these positions, the art that contributes to this goal can be called classical. Therefore, it cannot “become obsolete”: it is timeless.

Based on the above, we kindly ask you to support the initiative of Minister Olga Vasilyeva to recreate the once unified educational space with high quality content of school curricula in Russia.”

Meanwhile, a description of the strategic plans of Vasilyeva’s opponents has already appeared in the media. As RBC writes, HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov and the head of the “Human Capital” direction at the Kudrin Center for Strategic Research Liliya Ovcharova (who is now writing a section on education in the “10-year childhood plan” as part of a working group under the Russian government), presented a certain report “12 solutions for new education”, which proposes to create a system to support early development for all children from zero to three years old, introduce educational complexes based on artificial intelligence in schools and build 40 new educational centers based on the Sirius model.

Experts estimated the cost of this program at 8 trillion rubles.

The essence of the proposals, if you think about it, is quite cannibalistic. The “Early Development Support System” proposes nothing more than the introduction of compulsory juvenile patronage over all families by creating an escort service for all children from zero to three years old, who must monitor the child monthly and advise parents (any normal person understands that in such At an early age, children do not yet know how to speak and do not need supervision from Mr. Kuzminov and others like him, but maternal affection and love) The goal of this system is to compile the same “individual development trajectory.” Some girl from the Higher School of Economics will assign your child to be a janitor at the age of three, and that’s it, he will be a janitor - all roads outside the “educational trajectory” outlined by the globalists will be denied to him...

Other proposals from Kuzminov’s comrades are no better. Total digitalization of the educational process is a “joy” that is very dubious. If only because replacing normal paper textbooks with monitors (as well as replacing paper diaries with electronic ones) deprives the child of clarity and demotivates him. We’re not even talking about replacing live communication with a teacher with “tutors” and “communication” with artificial intelligence... As for the construction of quantoriums and Siriuses, this may not be bad, but it’s a drop in the bucket. Moreover, a drop that system liberals can grow only at the expense of the absolute majority of the remaining children who are not among the “chosen ones.” “Katyusha” recently spoke about the true authors and customers of this ideology: the World Bank, the Soros Foundation, the Ford Foundation, etc.

In general, it’s time for patriots and all sensible people to unite and openly oppose experimenters from the Higher School of Economics - and it’s easier to do this by supporting Olga Vasilyeva. Activists of parent organizations in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg and other cities are preparing pickets and rallies in support of the minister’s statist initiatives and against the continuation of liberal experiments on children. The process of coordinating dates and places with the authorities is currently underway. RIA Katyusha will definitely report on these promotions. In the meantime, we invite our readers to write letters and telegrams to the President on their own, using, if desired, the same letter from the VOIN Group of Companies as a sample.

Andrey Tsyganov, Ivan Vaganov

Olga Yurievna Vasilyeva- Russian statesman, Doctor of Historical Sciences (1998), professor (2005), Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (2016−2018), Minister of Education of the Russian Federation (since May 18, 2018). Olga Vasilyeva is the first woman in history to be the Minister of Education. Vasilyeva is the head of the department of state-confessional relations at the Institute of State Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (since 2002), honorary professor at the Moscow State University for the Humanities and Economics.

The early years and education of Olga Vasilyeva

Olga Vasilyeva was born on January 13, 1960 in the city of Bugulma (Tatar ASSR, RSFSR, USSR).

Father of the Minister of Education - Yuri Vasiliev- a mathematician, held a high position and was constantly under close public attention. But this did not prevent him from remaining Orthodox and performing the baptism ceremony on his daughters in Georgievsk, located in the Stavropol region, according to Olga Vasilyeva’s biography on Wikipedia.

Almost nothing is known about the mother of the future Minister of Education; Olga Vasilyeva often says in interviews that everything she knows now was instilled in her by her beloved father.

Vasilyeva has a younger sister.

Olga’s parents moved to Tatarstan due to assignment after graduating from a higher educational institution.

Already at the age of three, Olya learned to read and write. Naturally, everyone considered her a child prodigy. And although the girl was a sickly child and suffered from frequent sore throats, she graduated from school at the age of 14. Olga Vasilyeva loved not only to study, but also to sing and dance.

As a result, after graduating from school, Vasilyeva was able to receive three higher educations almost simultaneously.

Olga Vasilyeva graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture, the Moscow Pedagogical Institute, and the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nevertheless, Vasilyeva connected her life with pedagogy.

In 1990, at the Institute of History of the USSR, Olga Vasilyeva defended her candidate’s dissertation on the topic “The Soviet State and the Patriotic Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Great Patriotic War” (specialty - “history of the USSR”).

In 1998, Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva defended her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences on the topic “The Russian Orthodox Church in the politics of the Soviet state in 1943-1948.”

Labor activity and career of Olga Vasilyeva

Olga Vasilyeva began her work biography by working in a regular school. Olga Yuryevna worked for a long time as a singing and history teacher in Moscow.

In the early nineties, Vasilyeva worked at the Center for the History of Religion and Church at the Academy of Sciences. Soon she headed this center. Since 2002, Olga Vasilyeva was the head of the department at the Russian Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation, and later taught at the theological seminary.

Vasilyeva’s career as a politician began back in 2012, when Olga Yuryevna took the post of first deputy director of the department of culture of the government of the Russian Federation, and then deputy head of the department for public projects of the department of culture.

Then Olga Vasilyeva became a state adviser. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin dated September 16, 2014, Vasilyeva was awarded the class rank of “Actual State Advisor of the Russian Federation, 2nd class.”

Olga Vasilyeva’s biography on Wikipedia states that in 2014, Olga Vasilyeva was one of the initiators of the discussion about conservatism on the platform of the All-Russian Popular Front. Olga Vasilyeva was a member of the council for the preparation of programs for the course “National History” under the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Commission for the Affairs of Religious Associations under the Government of the Russian Federation and the working group of the Presidential Commission for the Affairs of Disabled People - on issues of creating conditions for the participation of people with disabilities in the cultural life of society . Olga Vasilyeva was a member of the Council for Coverage of Religious Topics in Electronic Media under the Ministry of Press, Television and Radio Broadcasting and Mass Communications.

Olga Vasilyeva as minister

On August 19, 2016, at a working meeting in Crimea, the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev proposed to the Russian President Vladimir Putin for changing Dmitry Livanov appoint as head of the Ministry of Education and Science “a woman - Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva, who has a good track record.”

Since August 2016, Olga Vasilyeva took the post of Minister of Education.

On May 18, 2018, Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva joined the new Government of the Russian Federation. The structure of government has undergone changes. The Ministry of Education was divided into two departments: the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Vasilyeva was appointed Minister of Education, while Minister of Science was appointed Mikhail Kotyukov. Now Vasilyeva’s department is responsible for general school and special education.

Views of Olga Vasilyeva

Olga Vasilyeva is convinced that Russians should study in Russia. Your first higher education should be obtained in Russia; you should go abroad to study only if necessary. According to her, Russian education is one of the most powerful in the world, and therefore “the basics, the first higher education,” should be obtained in Russia, and “only then improved abroad.”

Olga Vasilyeva stated the need to return to a single font in the CIS.

“Now we must return to a single font in the CIS - this is the Cyrillic font, because, as surveys show, our population, the neighboring countries, still speaks of the attachment and need for the Cyrillic font,” Vasilyeva said at the III Livadia Forum.

She emphasized that over the past twenty years, Russia’s position on the issue of distributing the Cyrillic font has weakened a little, although it needs to be “kept very clearly”

After the collapse of the USSR, a transition from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet was carried out in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

Criticism and scandals with Olga Vasilyeva

Critics of Olga Vasilyeva believe that she failed to propose a clear program of reforms in the educational sector of the Russian Federation. The draft of new educational standards (FSES), developed by Vasilyeva’s department, was criticized by many literature teachers, says Wikipedia.

During the period of leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science, Olga Vasilyeva began to be accused of having connections with the Prosveshcheniye publishing house, which in recent years began to rapidly increase its share in the domestic market of educational literature, mainly through government contracts for the purchase of textbooks included in the unified federal list of textbooks. For some reason, the publishing house's market share today already exceeds 31% and continues to grow. The company's net profit is also growing by leaps and bounds. In 2016, it increased by 30% and amounted to 4.4 billion rubles, and in 2017 it already exceeded 6 billion rubles. The total circulation of products produced during the year amounted to over 90 million copies in 2017 versus 79.1 million copies in 2016. After the final monopolization of the market, net profit may increase to 12-15 billion rubles.

Olga Vasilyeva’s biography on Wikipedia says that her focus on religious issues and her desire to introduce relevant topics into the educational process caused a number of negative assessments. A journalist is a critic of Vasilyeva’s activities as minister Alexander Nevzorov, who believes that “unfortunate children” will now face 11 years of torment at school after all the innovations of the Ministry of Education.

In June 2018, Olga Vasilyeva supported the reform of the pension system introduced by the authorities, which caused a sharply negative reaction from Russian society.

Personal life of Olga Vasilyeva

Olga Vasilievna was married. Divorced. In 1985, her daughter Vera was born. Vera Vasilyeva Graduated from the Gnessin Academy of Music. She lives in the capital.

Olga Vasilyeva's family was complete, religious and intelligent. Olga Yuryevna is also an Orthodox person and a deeply religious person.

In addition, Olga Yuryevna, as a real teacher, considers schoolchildren, whom she taught history and musical literacy for a long time, to be her children.

Olga Yuryevna published 240 works of a scientific nature, she constantly gave patriotic lectures, including to members of the United Russia party. Under the leadership of Olga Vasilyeva, 3 doctoral and more than 25 candidate dissertations were prepared and defended.

Olga Vasilyeva’s research interests include the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century, state-church relations in the Soviet period, international relations, problems of religious and political extremism, etc.

In the coming years, the administration of the unified state exam may be entrusted to a computer; it is planned to introduce online lessons in rural schools, and to study robotics and virtual reality in labor classes. Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva spoke about this in an interview with Izvestia. She also said that school psychologists in the near future may begin to accompany students on the Internet.

Portrait of a schoolboy

In the past year, there have been several cases of students attacking schools. What measures are being taken to prevent such cases?

This is a global problem, but if we talk about our country, it does not fit into the general psychological portrait; here we are talking about the characteristics of a particular child. And this is a question not only of the school, but also of the family, of the teenager himself.

On January 15, two schoolchildren came to school No. 127 with knives and stabbed 11 students and a school teacher.

We are conducting a study of the psychological portrait of a modern schoolchild. The last research of this kind was done 30 years ago, and we need to know who our teenagers are. After all, the world is changing, conditions are changing, children are changing.

It is already clear that the role of psychological services in schools is now increasing. As you know, a psychological concept has been adopted (the Concept for the development of psychological services in the education system in the Russian Federation for the period until 2025 was approved in December last year - Izvestia). A federal resource center for psychological services has been created. The number of places in psychological specialties at universities has increased; they will train more psychologists for educational institutions, including schools.

Schoolchildren talk with psychologists as part of a voluntary examination to detect drug use

- What will the creation of a psychological portrait of a schoolchild give?

This will help us strengthen the influence of the educational process on the child, will allow us to adjust pedagogical methods, and will certainly affect the content of education. Already today we understand that there are risk groups, there are those who require special individual approaches. But we must have responses, there must be a legal framework that allows psychologists to work on the Internet if necessary. Today we do not have them, and we are talking about this with experts, with representatives of the deputy corps.

Research is fundamental in nature, so creating a portrait of a schoolchild is a long story. This will be the scientific basis on which we will rely in our work. It is very important for us that the results are objective.

Get into the top ten

- According to the president’s instructions, our school education should be among the top ten in the world. How is this problem solved?

Our primary school is already practically ahead of the entire planet. As for older children, according to international studies, one of the three main indicators suffers - functional reading (a skill that is tested in the international tests PISA and PIRLS is the ability to extract key information from a text to solve specific problems. - Izvestia ). Today, 23–25% of the adult population does not have functional reading skills, not just students. But there are methods to improve this skill, they are known.

According to international studies, not all schoolchildren have functional reading skills

In any breakthrough forward - in education including - there must be a trinity of tasks. These are the material and technical base, the content of education and people - that is, teachers who work with our children. In all areas, within the framework of the national project “Education”, significant financial support is allocated (about 800 billion rubles for six years - Izvestia), and there are proposals on how to do this.

As part of the national project, there is a federal project that is entirely aimed at helping teachers. This is the development of a national system of teacher growth, a significant update of the content of advanced training programs, internships, programs for exchanging experiences and best practices. By 2024, we plan to cover at least half of our teachers with advanced training processes.

- What new skills will they have to learn?

You know, probably, not many countries on earth can boast of such rich pedagogical traditions as our country. We have wonderful teachers who live by their work, and I say this not only as a former teacher, but also as a person who, due to his work responsibilities, regularly visits regions, schools and communicates with a lot of teachers in person. They are not afraid of any changes, knowing full well that the core of national pedagogy will not disappear or change.

As for new approaches, first of all, this is, of course, information technology, which should become a toolkit for our teachers. We must learn to work with them correctly, and we will provide all the necessary assistance with this.

Stand of the “Electronic School” at the Moscow International Forum “City of Education”

Some universities are now introducing online lectures for students. Is it possible to switch to online lessons in schools? Let’s say that in severe frosts, children still don’t study.

Yes, we already have an educational platform for this - the Russian Electronic School. Already at its launch, it contains over 92 thousand unique tasks and activities available online. There are laboratory assignments, library and archival materials, theater and musical performances. For teachers, such a platform is very useful: you can watch the best lessons and create your own lesson plan from the proposed material.

Many schoolchildren study in remote regions; we have 26 thousand rural schools. And here the possibility of online learning is quite obvious, and it is really important for such regions. But nothing can replace a teacher.

In the new May decree, the president instructed to change the content of the “Technology” subject. Previously, in labor classes they learned to sew, burn, etc. What will schoolchildren of the 20s of the new century do?

We are currently working on this task together with WorldSkills Russia (an international non-profit movement whose goal is to increase the prestige of blue-collar professions - Izvestia) and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. The course will be constantly updated, because these are new technologies. The new “Technology” implies synchronization with the additional education program, which makes it possible to broaden one’s horizons. And here it is assumed that children will be actively involved in applied activities.

Participant of the V national championship of cross-cutting working professions in high-tech industries WorldSkills Hi-tech 2018

As part of the national project, we will be able to create children's technology parks in all cities with a population of more than 60 thousand people, where schoolchildren will be able to study robotics and virtual reality technologies. We already have 89 sites in 63 regions. Where there are no stationary quantoriums, mobile ones will work. We already have three of them, and more will appear.

- What innovations await school graduates?

Starting in 2019, for the first time, ninth-graders will participate in a final interview in the Russian language. It will take place on February 13th. If someone, due to illness or other valid reasons, is unable to participate on this date, two more are provided - March 13 and May 6. On these days, those who fail to do so the first time will also be able to re-pass the interview.

Among the foreign language exams, Chinese has now been added to choose from. In addition, in 2019 graduates will choose mathematics at either a basic or advanced level. If you retake the level, you can change it.

From 2022, the Unified State Examination in a foreign language will become mandatory.

From 2022, the Unified State Examination in a foreign language will be added to the mandatory ones. By analogy with mathematics, the exam can be taken at two levels - basic and specialized.

Speaking about technical formats for certification, in the future we are considering the possibility of strengthening the role of digital technologies. But this work requires serious detailed discussions.

Recently, we approved new procedures for conducting final certification, making them even more understandable and comfortable for our students. Each stage is described, all possibilities for delivery are indicated, including reserve deadlines. Psychologically, it is very important that the child knows and understands that even in the event of some force majeure, he always has the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge.

Information about the activities of the Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva

Successful failure of the “mathematics of success” How the Ministry of Education turns failures into achievements

On July 21, the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), held this year in the UK, ended. Russian Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva commented on the results of our country’s national team’s performance at the event: “Having entered the top six teams in the world in mathematical literacy, our schoolchildren and their coaching staff once again confirmed the high level of preparation of Russian schools in the exact sciences.”

WHO WILL PROTECT THE TEACHER?

Text from the website “FOR THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION”

Update dated November 19, 2018.What math was included in this math test?

Much has been said about the experiment to evaluate teachers using EFOM tests (see. https://vk.com/wall-62604527_20697), but the widespread dissemination of the scandalous “sensation” by news agencies and “patriotic analysts” forces us to return to this topic again.

“The initiators of the abolition of the five-point grading system should be judged for the collapse of Russian education”

The dismantling of traditional Russian education is happening at kaleidoscopic speed. The Ministry of Education has actually turned into an appendage of the Higher School of Economics, whose “expert modernizers,” without fear of God or popular protests, are introducing a crowd-elite caste system of education in Russian schools.

The division of the Ministry of Education and Science requires the “abolition” of the Unified State Exam: the State Duma was proposed to change the law on education

Enlightenment is separate, science is separate. Why was the Ministry of Education and Science divided?

Ministry of Education and Science no more. Vladimir Putin by recommendation Dmitry Medvedev divided the country's main educational department into two parts: Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The first will be responsible for schools and secondary education, the second – for the development of science, innovation and the activities of universities. The same presidential decree abolishes Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (FANO), its functions will be transferred to the Ministry of Science, and Education Supervision Agency will become subordinate to the Government. Who needed the division of the Ministry of Education and Science and whether it will be beneficial - read the material Nakanune.RU.

What didn’t Rector Kuzminov and Minister Olga Vasilyeva share?

Monopolization in education is carried out under the brand of “variability” and the influence of one lobby group

Recently the report of the Center for Strategic Research and the Higher School of Economics “Twelve Solutions for New Education” was published. The document was published against the backdrop of an unprecedented information campaign against the current Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva. Her “fault,” from the point of view of her opponents, is that the minister encroached on the foundations of educational reform, which for 20 years has been promoting “variability,” “competencies,” educational business orders and a movement toward paid “educational services.” Meanwhile, the result of such reform is a catastrophic drop in the level of knowledge and even basic literacy of citizens who have been trained over the past 20 years.

Teachers are fighting for Russian classical literature Teachers spoke out against the Guild of Literature Writers, which criticized the new federal state standards

The story continues with the new federal state standards (FSES). In response to the demarche of literature teachers (the Guild of Literature), who rebelled against the new Federal State Educational Standards in their subject, secondary and higher school teachers began collecting signatures in support of the document. More than 13 thousand signatures have already been collected.

— On behalf of the country’s President Vladimir Putin, a unified educational space is being formed. Could you tell us more about what this idea is?

— Thank you very much for such an important question. Education has always, in all periods of our history, worried both the leadership and the citizens, because there is not a single person who is not associated with education. Of course, the issue of a single educational space is directly related - and has always been related - to a very important problem: national security. The question facing the country here is who we are preparing, who we are teaching, who we are educating, to whom we can hand over the country tomorrow. That is, today a student, today a child, and tomorrow a citizen on whose shoulders responsibility for the country will fall.

The concept of a unified educational space includes several directions. But the most important thing is what we put into our training, what we put into our upbringing. Because education is training and upbringing, this is a dualism that is difficult to break, no matter what anyone says. At the most basic level, what is this initiative for? To know for sure that a child, having left one school and moved to another, sat down at his desk, opened a textbook, say, mathematics, and began from the place where he finished reading in the previous school.

At the same time, a single educational space requires several steps. The first step, of course, is creating the content—what and how we teach. There were standards that we all knew about and lived by that were good for their time. But each time requires certain adjustments. When we talk about educational content, we must know the core of what we will teach.