Provision of comprehensive secondary schools with teaching staff holding university-level degrees: With the main focus on the regions of the Russian Federation

Abstract

Introduction. The current socio-political and economic situation in the Russian Federation requires significant reorientations of the Russian economy towards import substitution, the development of high-tech and social technologies, and a considerable renewal of the service sector. This, in turn, sets priorities for the entire Russian education system. Rapid changes in technological processes, the development of digitalization and artificial intelligence, the rapid obsolescence of knowledge and the need to update it, and the increasing processes of globalization require teachers to constantly advance their professional competences, have stable civic position, understand the vector of government policy and nurture the appropriate educational attitudes in the younger generation, to take part in the formation of a national-cultural consciousness, a conscious sense of national cultural peculiarities and the unity of the Russian people, taking into account the uniqueness and specificity of living in various Russian regions. The article discusses some regional features of staffing educational settings and examples of solving the national tasks of identifying professional deficits within regional educational systems, measures to support teaching staff, and strategies and mechanisms of state regulations in the field of education. The purpose of the study is to reveal the characteristic features of staffing comprehensive schools with employees holding university-level degrees in the regions of the Russian Federation. Materials and Methods. The article presents the results of investigating the representation of teacher education in the regions of the Russian Federation. The study was conducted using a comparative analysis of official statistical data on comprehensive secondary educational institutions (‘OO-11’ reporting form) and on Higher educational institutions (‘VPO-1’ reporting form). The research methods also included a sociological survey of Local Educational Authorities within the regions of the Russian Federation. Results. The research has revealed the need for teaching staff identified by Local Educational Authorities, the most common mechanisms for solving the problem of teacher shortage in the regions of the Russian Federation, and the mechanisms used for identifying the needs for teaching staff. The prevailing mechanisms of revealing the interest of children and youth in career in education and teaching are determined. The survey indicated the most common measures of support for teaching and education staff in the regions by Local Educational Authorities, directions for improving the quality of initial teacher education and other aspects related to the provision of regional education systems with teaching staff, and the quality of induction and mentoring systems for newly qualified educators. The results of the survey are selectively presented in the article. Conclusions. The results obtained can be used by the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, federal districts of the Russian Federation, and higher educational institutions to improve the efficiency of regional models of teacher education, integrating them into the national educational system of teacher education.