Education and Economic Growth in Russia

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