Marina P. Voytekhovskaya

By the beginning of the 19th century the Russian educational system was being formed in the context of European tendencies, significantly influenced by the internal processes of the country’s modernization. Russia’s prosperity in public consciousness was associated with enlightenment. General and pedagogical education were the links of a single system under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Education. Common principles were formed: the priority function of education; a deep, «with reserve», scientific basis of education; a special attitude towards the personality of the teacher as a bearer of knowledge and high spiritual qualities. Only teacher training institutions could fully provide training for such a teacher. However, as disclosed in this research, teacher training institutions repeatedly went through reforms and radical transformations, which, along with funding difficulties, could not ensure the opening of new schools. This led to the emergence of schools of different departmental affiliation (spiritual, military, zemstvo, factory and others) and educational institutions to train teachers for them. In the early 20th century, the pedagogical community and deputies of the State Duma, in the hope of introducing universal education, argued for the creation of a full-fledged state system of teacher education. However, this was possible only possible with the establishment of Soviet power and the transition to a single school system. A coherent model for the training of teachers with specialized technical schools and institutions, which ensured the task of introducing universal education was finally formed only in the 1930s. In the middle of 20th century, the USSR was among the world leaders in terms of quality education.

Currently, Russia is leaving the Bologna system of education, and society calls for an objective assessment of the existing model of teacher training, the further development of which should consider the lessons of the past and promote Russian traditions in the international scientific and pedagogical space.