Феномен развития профессионального образования в малом провинциальном городе России в конце XIX – начале XX века (на примере г. Череповца Новгородской губернии)

Abstract

The article examines the image of a small provincial Russian town in terms of the development of its vocational education institutions at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. The aim of the study is to form a concept of the relationship between the activities of professional educational institutions and the progressive development of urban areas of pre-revolutionary Russia. The study refers to the history of the Alexandrovsky Technical School and the Cherepovets Women's Vocational School to explain the criteria for the intensive development of Cherepovets in Novgorod region and to justify the high level of urban culture development. Methods used include systemic, geocultural, historical, and cultural ones. The important historical role of the activity of mayor I.A. Milyutin, who initiated the key reforms in Cherepovets, is emphasized. The novelty of the investigation is in using rare archival documents, formulating and proving the author's hypothesis, and taking a comprehensive look at the problem of socio-cultural development of a small provincial town in pre-revolutionary Russia, with Cherepovets as an example. The relevance of this historical research of a regional nature is undeniable today, as it allows for combining the facts of the past with the present, helps to realize the continuity of events in urban life and highlight key national processes along with local and regional ones for a better overview of further development prospects. In the difficult socio-economic realities of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, the development of an educational commercial vocational education for all castes and both sexes with the possibility of compensating for tuition fees by trustees is rare, demonstrating the success of the economy and culture of a particular provincial city. The authors analyze curricula on the basis of local history sources, consider various everyday aspects of the organization of vocational education in Cherepovets, and demonstrate the challenges they had to cope with. The educational institutions under study were successful before the historical turn of 1917. At the end of the study, the hypothesis of the relationship between the development of vocational education institutions and the urban environment is substantiated. The culture of professional labor of Cherepovets has become one of the strongest traditions of a small town in the Novgorod province which later transformed into the industrial center of the Vologda region.