Становление земской учительской интеллигенции в Лаишевском уезде Казанской губернии

Abstract

The article is devoted to the formation of the Zemstvo’s pedagogical intelligentsia in Laishevsky district of Kazan province. Based on sources of personal origin and records of County self-government bodies, a comprehensive analysis of the personnel composition of Zemstvo’s primary schools was conducted. The author established the number of teachers, sources of their replenishment, the level of education, and also considered the socioeconomic situation of teachers. The teaching staff included law teachers, secular teachers, and assistants. Some former priests-teachers of Church schools also joined the work of Zemstvo’s educational institutions as experienced teachers. The available materials clearly show the evolution of the educational level of teachers in favor of specialists with secondary education. As a result, thanks to the Zemstvo’s school, a new social stratum of rural intelligentsia formed in the district, including people with secondary education. Measures taken by the Zemstvo’s to improve the working and living conditions of teachers are also shown. The principle of determining the amount of salary based on the number of students contradicted the principle of assigning salaries depending on the professional training and education of the teacher. It is concluded that despite the support of experienced and responsible teachers, the profession of a Zemstvo’s teacher remained unattractive, but at the same time women became teachers, which corresponded to the emancipation movement that was gaining momentum at that time.