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Book Educational Reform in Post Soviet Russia

Download or read book Educational Reform in Post Soviet Russia written by Ben Eklof and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume consists of a collection of essays devoted to study of the most recent educational reform in Russia. In his first decree Boris Yeltsin proclaimed education a top priority of state policy. Yet the economic decline which accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union dealt a crippling blow to reformist aspirations, and to the existing school system itself. The public lost faith in school reform and by the mid-1990s a reaction had set in. Nevertheless, large-scale changes have been effected in finance, structure, governance and curricula. At the same time, there has been a renewed and widespread appreciation for the positive aspects of the Soviet legacy in schooling. The essays presented here compare current educational reform to reforms of the past, analyze it in a broader cultural, political and social context, and study the shifts that have occurred at the different levels of schooling 'from political decision-making and changes in school administration to the rewriting textbooks and teachers' everyday problems. The authors are both Russian educators, who have played a leading role in implementation of the reform, and Western scholars, who have been studying it from its very early stages. Together, they formulate an intricate but cohesive picture, which is in keeping with the complex nature of the reform itself. Contributors: Kara Brown, (Indiana University) * Ben Eklof (Indiana University) * Isak D. Froumin, (World Bank, Moscow) * Larry E. Holmes (University of South Alabama) * Igor Ionov, (Russian History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences) * Viacheslav Karpov & Elena Lisovskaya, (Western Michigan University) * Vera Kaplan, (Tel Aviv University) * Stephen T. Kerr, (University of Washington) * James Muckle, (University of Nottingham) * Nadya Peterson, (Hunter College) * Scott Seregny, (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) * Alexander Shevyrev, (Moscow State University) * Janet G. Vaillant, (Harvard University)

Book Politics  Modernisation and Educational Reform in Russia

Download or read book Politics Modernisation and Educational Reform in Russia written by David Johnson and published by Symposium Books Ltd. This book was released on 2010-05-17 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The chapters in this volume give an account of the process of modernisation and educational reform in Russia, variously considering the cultural and political dilemmas provoked by democratisation, the structural and policy challenges associated with the reform of higher and vocational education, and the deep divisions exposed as socio-cultural activity is brought into alignment with the new discourse of freedom and choice. The volume stimulates an important debate about the methods that inform cross-national and cross-regional work on educational change. This is particularly salient in a study of educational reform in Russia, and begs the question, ‘whose way of thinking, of constructing meaning, and of experiencing the world’ is used to judge the weight and the direction of change? Each chapter shows that a thorough understanding of the nature of change and the direction of reform is only achieved through the ability to decentre - or take on board - the ‘other’ worldview. It argues, therefore, that it is worldview, rather than culture or nation-state, that is the most valid unit of analysis. This book pays tribute to K.D. Ushinsky (1824-70), ‘the Russian pioneer of comparative education’, each chapter in it broadly in agreement with his conclusions that: Public education does not solve the problems of life by itself; it does not lead history; rather, it follows the historical development. It is not the pedagogies or the teachers who create the future, but the people themselves and their great men. Education only follows this road and, in combination with other public (social) factors, helps the individual and the rising generation on its way.

Book Globalization of Knowledge and Its Impact on Higher Education Reform in Transitioning States

Download or read book Globalization of Knowledge and Its Impact on Higher Education Reform in Transitioning States written by Katherine Kuhns and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2011 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this dissertation is to try and understand the mechanisms that the Russian State uses to reform higher education, and thus help ensure its legitimacy, within the context of the new global knowledge economy. Most of the discussions to-date on the globalization of knowledge, the role of higher education, and their combined impact on states' competitiveness, focus on developed or developing countries. Very little discussion surrounds the issues faced by countries in economic and political transition. Countries in transition are frequently torn in two opposing directions: it is necessary for them to focus inward for their own internal stability and growth, yet they are very cognizant of the need to integrate into the world economy and correctly direct their internal growth towards international competitiveness. Often, the pull between authoritarian tendencies and liberal economic necessities paralyzes such a State's ability to definitively choose the most appropriate path for growth. Contemporary Russia exemplifies these contradictory tendencies and necessities. While all of the countries in the former Soviet Union participated in the same economic and social system for a good part of the last century, Russia is possibly the closest to the innovation centers in the West in terms of research culture and history, its current educational and technological capabilities, and its professed desire to compete equally in the new global economy. Given Russia's long history and strong tradition of higher education, particularly in the sciences, the country stands to gain from participating in this new global arena. Yet the result will depend on the future of its higher education system. Because of Russia's apparent uncertainty about its political direction, the Russian higher education system faces important questions about how institutional reform will take place and the future of the system's relationship with a State that is itself going through complex changes. The globalization of knowledge required by an integrated world economic system has ramifications for each country's system of higher education. In light of these new global demands and expectations, how does a traditionally authoritarian and nationalistic state in economic and political transition respond to these new global demands for improving higher educational quality, and to internal demands for greater institutional autonomy? Is an authoritarian state able to rationalize its financial constraints with the societal expectation of mass equitable access to higher education, against the pressure to make the national economy more globally competitive? To answer the aforementioned questions requires a theoretical framework that takes into account the relationship between State governance structures and higher educational institutions, while simultaneously taking into consideration how the State reacts to increasing global pressures and expectations. The Russian State is defined in this dissertation as an arena in which political power is contested by the country's economic and political elites. At the same time the State realizes it must represent a majority of the populace in order not to jeopardize its hold on power. It does this primarily through legitimation of its actions by providing social services. Contestation takes place when a State is trying to recreate its power at the same time it is trying to be legitimized. The main contestation therefore is not necessarily within and among the elites, but between the elites and the population as a whole. To be seen as legitimate, the State will try and provide good services for the populace to satisfy their demands and thus minimize contestation. However, this provision of services is only for as long as the populace does not attempt to interfere with the State's version of power. The provision of social goods serves as a "social contract" between the ruling elites and the larger population. The educational system and the State have a relationship of "compensatory legitimation" -- the State attempts to purchase legitimacy by providing public goods such as education. Legitimation becomes even more important in a global environment. Where domestic legitimation would have sufficed in the past, now the need for legitimation extends to the international realm as well. To be considered an educated society, a State must provide a strong educational system that meets international standards. Yet as the State tries to exert control over the higher education system in order to maintain quality, contestation takes place between the State and the intellectual leaders in educational institutions and higher education consumers, both of which have a large stake in the reform process. To ascertain the relationship between the Russian State (e.g., political and economics elites) and administrators of institutions of higher education, and the efficacy of the State's rationalization of the reform process, a series of interviews was conducted with over 60 university, regional and local governmental officials, and Ministry of Education and Science officials. The institutions were chosen from a larger study of universities undertaken by State University -- Higher School of Economics (Moscow), 2008-2011. While evaluating my interviews with Russian higher education administrators, I looked for four identifiers of Russia's willingness to reform higher education for international competitiveness: symbols of domestic legitimacy (academic standards reform and quality improvement); symbols of international legitimacy (accession to Bologna Process); the professionalization of Russian HE (creation of elite institutions); and symbols of institutional autonomy (institutional mergers and closures). One might imagine that the State would attempt to assert control over all aspects of the reform process, most especially in the creation of new academic standards and institutional autonomy. However, the evidence for assertion of control over the higher education system becomes apparent through the indirect financial levers that the State can employ (e.g., direct funding of elite institutions and institutional mergers). The higher education system in Russia is State funded and centrally overseen from Moscow, which already gives it enormous leverage over higher educational institutions. But the control mechanism is through funding (or lack thereof) and not direct coercion. Thus, only part of what we observe in the actual reform process of the Russian higher education system is about modernization and globalization. The remaining thrust of the reform effort revolves around the rationalization of financing balanced against the need to create "world class" universities. This rationalization is important because of the possibility of a decline in demand for higher education in the near term due to the changing demographic situation. It also serves as a mechanism by which the State can regain more effective central control of the higher education system, and ensure a quality system that will be able to further the country's economic development. Despite the fact that the Russian State takes very seriously the need for higher education reform, the State reforms might not work because of the reluctance of university intellectuals, the lack of financing should the global economy and the price of oil decline, the public outcry at mass institutional closures, and the ineffectiveness of the State itself. If this were to happen, the State might have to revert to direct coercion, which might make things worse in the long run both domestically and internationally. As history has demonstrated, the State is ultimately not the most efficient and effective reformer. This inability leads to chaos in the reform process and further undermines the reforms.

Book Globalization of Knowledge and Its Impact on Higher Education Reform in Transitioning States

Download or read book Globalization of Knowledge and Its Impact on Higher Education Reform in Transitioning States written by Katherine Marie Kuhns and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this dissertation is to try and understand the mechanisms that the Russian State uses to reform higher education, and thus help ensure its legitimacy, within the context of the new global knowledge economy. Most of the discussions to-date on the globalization of knowledge, the role of higher education, and their combined impact on states' competitiveness, focus on developed or developing countries. Very little discussion surrounds the issues faced by countries in economic and political transition. Countries in transition are frequently torn in two opposing directions: it is necessary for them to focus inward for their own internal stability and growth, yet they are very cognizant of the need to integrate into the world economy and correctly direct their internal growth towards international competitiveness. Often, the pull between authoritarian tendencies and liberal economic necessities paralyzes such a State's ability to definitively choose the most appropriate path for growth. Contemporary Russia exemplifies these contradictory tendencies and necessities. While all of the countries in the former Soviet Union participated in the same economic and social system for a good part of the last century, Russia is possibly the closest to the innovation centers in the West in terms of research culture and history, its current educational and technological capabilities, and its professed desire to compete equally in the new global economy. Given Russia's long history and strong tradition of higher education, particularly in the sciences, the country stands to gain from participating in this new global arena. Yet the result will depend on the future of its higher education system. Because of Russia's apparent uncertainty about its political direction, the Russian higher education system faces important questions about how institutional reform will take place and the future of the system's relationship with a State that is itself going through complex changes. The globalization of knowledge required by an integrated world economic system has ramifications for each country's system of higher education. In light of these new global demands and expectations, how does a traditionally authoritarian and nationalistic state in economic and political transition respond to these new global demands for improving higher educational quality, and to internal demands for greater institutional autonomy? Is an authoritarian state able to rationalize its financial constraints with the societal expectation of mass equitable access to higher education, against the pressure to make the national economy more globally competitive? To answer the aforementioned questions requires a theoretical framework that takes into account the relationship between State governance structures and higher educational institutions, while simultaneously taking into consideration how the State reacts to increasing global pressures and expectations. The Russian State is defined in this dissertation as an arena in which political power is contested by the country's economic and political elites. At the same time the State realizes it must represent a majority of the populace in order not to jeopardize its hold on power. It does this primarily through legitimation of its actions by providing social services. Contestation takes place when a State is trying to recreate its power at the same time it is trying to be legitimized. The main contestation therefore is not necessarily within and among the elites, but between the elites and the population as a whole. To be seen as legitimate, the State will try and provide good services for the populace to satisfy their demands and thus minimize contestation. However, this provision of services is only for as long as the populace does not attempt to interfere with the State's version of power. The provision of social goods serves as a "social contract" between the ruling elites and the larger population. The educational system and the State have a relationship of "compensatory legitimation"--The State attempts to purchase legitimacy by providing public goods such as education. Legitimation becomes even more important in a global environment. Where domestic legitimation would have sufficed in the past, now the need for legitimation extends to the international realm as well. To be considered an educated society, a State must provide a strong educational system that meets international standards. Yet as the State tries to exert control over the higher education system in order to maintain quality, contestation takes place between the State and the intellectual leaders in educational institutions and higher education consumers, both of which have a large stake in the reform process. To ascertain the relationship between the Russian State (e.g., political and economics elites) and administrators of institutions of higher education, and the efficacy of the State's rationalization of the reform process, a series of interviews was conducted with over 60 university, regional and local governmental officials, and Ministry of Education and Science officials. The institutions were chosen from a larger study of universities undertaken by State University -- Higher School of Economics (Moscow), 2008-2011. While evaluating my interviews with Russian higher education administrators, I looked for four identifiers of Russia's willingness to reform higher education for international competitiveness: symbols of domestic legitimacy (academic standards reform and quality improvement); symbols of international legitimacy (accession to Bologna Process); the professionalization of Russian HE (creation of elite institutions); and symbols of institutional autonomy (institutional mergers and closures). One might imagine that the State would attempt to assert control over all aspects of the reform process, most especially in the creation of new academic standards and institutional autonomy. However, the evidence for assertion of control over the higher education system becomes apparent through the indirect financial levers that the State can employ (e.g., direct funding of elite institutions and institutional mergers). The higher education system in Russia is State funded and centrally overseen from Moscow, which already gives it enormous leverage over higher educational institutions. But the control mechanism is through funding (or lack thereof) and not direct coercion. Thus, only part of what we observe in the actual reform process of the Russian higher education system is about modernization and globalization. The remaining thrust of the reform effort revolves around the rationalization of financing balanced against the need to create "world class" universities. This rationalization is important because of the possibility of a decline in demand for higher education in the near term due to the changing demographic situation. It also serves as a mechanism by which the State can regain more effective central control of the higher education system, and ensure a quality system that will be able to further the country's economic development. Despite the fact that the Russian State takes very seriously the need for higher education reform, the State reforms might not work because of the reluctance of university intellectuals, the lack of financing should the global economy and the price of oil decline, the public outcry at mass institutional closures, and the ineffectiveness of the State itself. If this were to happen, the State might have to revert to direct coercion, which might make things worse in the long run both domestically and internationally. As history has demonstrated, the State is ultimately not the most efficient and effective reformer. This inability leads to chaos in the reform process and further undermines the reforms.

Book School Reform and Society in the New Russia

Download or read book School Reform and Society in the New Russia written by S. Webber and published by Springer. This book was released on 1999-10-11 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Russian school system should have an important role to play in the process of democratisation and the revival and modernisation of the economy in that country. Is it in a position to respond to this task? In this book an analysis is conducted of the attempts to reform the Russian school system in the 1990s, setting the progress made and problems encountered by the schools against the broader context of political, economical and social flux in Russia as a whole.

Book Teacher Education Reform as Political Theater

Download or read book Teacher Education Reform as Political Theater written by Elena Aydarova and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ethnography of Russian teacher education reforms as scripted performances of political theater. Around the world, countries undertake teacher education reforms in response to international norms and assessments. Russia has been no exception. Elena Aydarova develops a unique theatrical framework to tell the story of a small group of reformers who enacted a major reform to modernize teacher education in Russia. Based on scripts circulated in global policy networks and ideologies of national development, this reform was implemented despite great opposition—but how? Drawing on extensive ethnographic material, Aydarova teases out the contradictions in this process. Teacher Education Reform as Political Theater reveals how the official story of improving education obscured dramatic and, ultimately, socially conservative changes in the purposes of schooling, the nature and perception of teachers’ work, and the design of teacher education. Despite the official rhetoric, Aydarova argues, modernization reforms such as we see in the Russian context normalize social inequality and put educational systems at the service of global corporations. As similar dramas unfold around the world, this book considers how members of scholarly communities and the broader public can respond to reformers’ stories of crises and urgent calls for reform on other national stages. “This book provides an unprecedented ethnographic look into the making of national education policy. The setting, amazingly, is Russia, but the volume raises questions about how ideas become policy in other nations as well. It is thus a highly provocative and fascinating case study that should get the attention of anyone interested in national and global education policymaking.” — Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, coeditor of Comparing Ethnographies: Local Studies of Education Across the Americas

Book Education and Society in the New Russia

Download or read book Education and Society in the New Russia written by David M Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This survey of the changes in education and socialization in the former USSR examines the institutions that are shaping the first post-Soviet generation. Chapters provide reports on such questions as diversification and the development of independent schools, curriculum reform and democratization.

Book The Reform of Higher Education in Russia During the Reign of Nicholas I  1825 1855

Download or read book The Reform of Higher Education in Russia During the Reign of Nicholas I 1825 1855 written by Steven H. Allister and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post Soviet Countries

Download or read book 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post Soviet Countries written by Jeroen Huisman and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book is a result of the first ever study of the transformations of the higher education institutional landscape in fifteen former USSR countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It explores how the single Soviet model that developed across the vast and diverse territory of the Soviet Union over several decades has evolved into fifteen unique national systems, systems that have responded to national and global developments while still bearing some traces of the past. The book is distinctive as it presents a comprehensive analysis of the reforms and transformations in the region in the last 25 years; and it focuses on institutional landscape through the evolution of the institutional types established and developed in Pre-Soviet, Soviet and Post-Soviet time. It also embraces all fifteen countries of the former USSR, and provides a comparative analysis of transformations of institutional landscape across Post-Soviet systems. It will be highly relevant for students and researchers in the fields of higher education and and sociology, particularly those with an interest in historical and comparative studies.

Book 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post Soviet Countries

Download or read book 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post Soviet Countries written by Jeroen Huisman and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This open access book is a result of the first ever study of the transformations of the higher education institutional landscape in fifteen former USSR countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It explores how the single Soviet model that developed across the vast and diverse territory of the Soviet Union over several decades has evolved into fifteen unique national systems, systems that have responded to national and global developments while still bearing some traces of the past. The book is distinctive as it presents a comprehensive analysis of the reforms and transformations in the region in the last 25 years; and it focuses on institutional landscape through the evolution of the institutional types established and developed in Pre-Soviet, Soviet and Post-Soviet time. It also embraces all fifteen countries of the former USSR, and provides a comparative analysis of transformations of institutional landscape across Post-Soviet systems. It will be highly relevant for students and researchers in the fields of higher education and and sociology, particularly those with an interest in historical and comparative studies.

Book Education and Society in the New Russia

Download or read book Education and Society in the New Russia written by Anthony Jones and published by M.E. Sharpe. This book was released on 1994 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This survey of the changes in education and socialization in the former USSR examines the institutions that are shaping the first post-Soviet generation. Chapters provide reports on such questions as diversification and the development of independent schools, curriculum reform and democratization.

Book Democracy In The Russian School

Download or read book Democracy In The Russian School written by Ben Eklof and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Framed by an introductory essay by Ben Ekiof, the translated documents in this volume are crucial to understanding Russian educational reform efforts. These primary sources, based on previously unpublished statistical data and public opinion surveys, depict current conditions in Russia's schools. Reflecting the approach of the leading historian of education Edward Dneprov-now the powerful minister of education serving under Boris Yeltsin-the documents describe the radical reform philosophy and program first published in Teachers' Gazette in 1988, which now serve as the operative legislation for all secondary schools. The VNIK (Temporary Scientific Research Collective on the Schools) reform movement is a fascinating microcosm of perestroika in terms of goals, mobilization, and the complicated, painful process of implementation. This unique glimpse into Russian education in a period of turmoil will interest all those who follow Russian politics and society.

Book The Classroom and the Chancellery  State Educational Reform in Russia Under Count Dmitry Tolstoi

Download or read book The Classroom and the Chancellery State Educational Reform in Russia Under Count Dmitry Tolstoi written by Allen Sinel and published by Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The specific challenge that confronted Count Dmitry Tolstoi as Minister of Education was to raise the educational level of the Russian people without giving them the intellectual weapons with which to threaten the autocracy. The efforts of Tolstoi's ministry to resolve this dilemma resulted in comprehensive reforms which shaped the Russian school system until early in the twentieth century. It is interesting therefore that, until now, there has been no complete analysis of all aspects of Tolstoi's ministry. Allen Sinel's study fills that gap. Beginning with the historical, political, biographical, and administrative contexts for Tolstoi's reforms, Sinel then provides a detailed examination of Tolstoi's transformation of Russian education at all levels, particularly the secondary level, which was the cornerstone of his program. The ministry's greatest achievement in improving the school system was increasing the number of schools and supplying trained teachers to staff them. Less successful were Tolstoi's efforts to minimize the political consciousness of the students. Tolstoi's methods were short-sighted and negative, helping to create the very elements of alienation and antagonism that might destroy the existing regime he wanted so much to protect and preserve. Sinel's analysis of Tolstoi's program, the most durable of the tsarist period, provides a much-needed survey of the Russian educational system at a crucial time in Russian history. In addition, the study contributes to a more balanced assessment of one of tsardom's most important bureaucrats.

Book Schooling the New Russians

Download or read book Schooling the New Russians written by Joseph I. Zajda and published by James Nicholas Publishers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Schooling the New Russians is an important volume for specialists in Russian education and general readers alike. It places recent reforms in the context of broader historical developments, with a wealth of first-hand insight and scholarly research. Professor David Turner, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Glamorgan It is essential reading for anyone seeking to discover what lies below the surface of ‘modernization’ in Russian education. Dr. Vera Kaplan, The Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies, Tel Aviv University Joseph Zajda reveals in his important new book that Soviet propaganda against capitalism was largely true, given what is happening to the Russian education system today. This is a compelling and important text. Professor Peter McLaren, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles Few scholars worldwide possess Professor Zajda’s breadth and depth of knowledge of pre and post-Soviet schooling and society. This text clearly and brilliantly elucidates the reforms, the successes, and the disappointments of schooling in the evolving New Russia. Professor Kas Mazurek, Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Lethbridge, Canada

Book On the Financial Reform in Russia s Higher Education

Download or read book On the Financial Reform in Russia s Higher Education written by Tatiana Klyachko and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The article deals with higher education reform in Russia. Special attention is paid to the innovations after the Federal law No 83 was adopted (2010). The authors analyze whether the reforms lead to financial self-dependence of universities, whether they do create a more competitive environment (which promotes a better education), and how the normative per capita financing affects the higher education system. Analysis of the first reform steps shows: the results are contradictory, many applied methods do not lead to the desired effect. The main obstacles are other institutions: first of all the system of higher education institutions accreditation and licensing. For further efficiency growth of higher education political (administrative) methods are needed. Only after application of administrative methods the economic methods will work properly. During the reforms it is also necessary to account for the social situation in the country.

Book The Reform of Higher Education in Russia Duting the Reign of Nicholas 1  1825 1855

Download or read book The Reform of Higher Education in Russia Duting the Reign of Nicholas 1 1825 1855 written by Steven H. Allister and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: