Education and Economic Growth in Russia On The Project «Education, Well being and The Emergent Economies of Brazil, Russia and South Africa»
Anna Shvedovskaya, Ph.D Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
CapeTown, South Africa March 7–11th, 2011
Russian educational system • Pre-school education (nursery care – from 1,5 years old, kindergartens – from 2,5 to 6-7 years old) – now made compulsory for older preschoolers • Secondary school (elementary – 1-4 grades, junior – 5-9 grades, junior high – 10-11 grades) – compulsory • Professional technical schools; professional colleges • IHE A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Pre-school education strong points • Long history of development (in the frames of Soviet egalitarian and total employment ideas) • UNESCO (2010) marked Russian experience of preschool education as worth studying and translating in the other countries • Alternative types of pre-school education: lekoteks for children with special needs, home-based kindergartens run by families with many children (but at the moment they are options in some big cities only) A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Pre-school education problems • Lack of places in kindergartens (especially in contrast with current pronatalist policy) • Suggestions to admit more children per one group (sanitary norms have recently shifted form 20 to 25 children) – risk of creating “left-luggage room” for children • Preparation for school is often transformed into drilling and school-like activities (childhood and play are not regarded valuable in practice though Russian psychologists insist) A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Secondary education strong points • Public schools provide social support (e.g. free meals for children from low SES families) and some types of extracurricular activity, free or quite affordable. • Schools have to collaborate with child protection services, police, local healthcare (children are taken there for regular medical checks – “dispanserization”) etc.
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Secondary education problems • Problems with professional orientation for the future (preparation for certain IHE not learning about the actual profession) • Ambiguity about the Unified State Exam (taken in 9th and 11th grades, also used as IHE entrée points) that was made compulsory in 2009 • Who is in charge of vospitanie (social and moral upbringing) – school or family? Lack of multidiciplinary school psychological services to deal with issues of bullying etc. A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Higher education strong points • In some regions IHEs are cultural centers, higher education is still regarded as a marker of personal culture • IHEs are now being reformed to collaborate actives with the business (with special emphasis to IHE in STEM that were traditionally of very high quality in Russia)
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Higher education problems • Not connected to the labour marked. President Medvedev, February 2011: “We don’t need so many economists and lawyers” • Traineeship is often formal, so IHE alumnus posses only theoretical knowledge • Demand for more skilled labourers (i.e. for development of professional colleges)
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Public and private education • 658 public (federal and municipal) and 450 private IHE (2008). Moscow is the center for higher education: there are 264 IHE, 109 of them are public. Of 7.5 million students, 1.2 million attend private IHE. • Total amount of institutions of general secondary education in Russia is 51.543; 33.007 of them are located in the rural areas. Approx. 700 private schools; 250 of them located in Moscow and 50 – in the Moscow region (2009).
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Russian Government connects the notions of well being (quality of life), education and economy Goals of the Ministry of Science and Education Goal 1. Providing access to high-quality education for all the social strata as the basis for social mobility and decrease of social and economic inequality. This goal corresponds to strategic goals of the Russian Federation Government, i.e. “Increase of the level and quality of life of the population (concerning the citizens’ demands for education)” and “Ensuring dynamic and sustainable economical development” (concerning efficient mechanisms of employment and fulfilling the economy’s demand for working resources). A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Funding education from the Russian Federal budget Indexes
2001
2002
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
82
162
212
295
354
413
386
0.75
0.75
0.79
0.89
0.85
1.02
0.89
Funding education from federal budget (in milliards rubles) 55
% of GDP
0.61
GDP (in milliards rubles) 40420 8944
10831
21625
26904
33111
41668
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
43187
Education levels of the Russian population Index
Indexed in ..
2000
2001
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Goal
Achieve ment year
Educational level of people aged 18–72: Per 1000 the amount of people who have Higher professio nal education Technical education Secondar y education complete d Average length of education period (for children who are 6 at the moment)
People
172
189
223
224
226
228
230
232
238
2015
People
347
373
383
409
420
425
430
434
448
2015
People
241
244
263
243
231
225
220
215
198
2015
14.3
14.8
15.6
15.8
15.9
16.0
16.0
16.0
16.0
2010
Years
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Employment of professional education institutions alumni
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
Contact us Dr. Anna Shvedovskaya annshvedovskaya@gmail.com Skype: shvedovskaya www.mgppu.ru/en www.PsyJournals.ru/en
A. Shvedovskaya, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education