Teacher and power: the evolution of professional requirements in the 1920–1930s

Abstract

The study of the initial Soviet stage of the general education history is important both for understanding the transformative processes in the Soviet society as a whole, and for comparing the Soviet and post-Soviet societies. This issue is particularly topical due to the fact that, in accordance with the decree of the President of Russia, 2023 has been declared the Year of Teacher and Mentor. Having defined the impact of the state on the formation of priorities for professional activities in general education as the subject of research, the author highlights the educational and pedagogic course of work. An analysis of archival documents stored in the funds of the State Archive of Recent History of the Saratov Region was carried out. 1918 - 1941 Documents were studied within the framework of two historical periods. The first period started with the adoption of the "On a unified labor school" provision and ended in 1930 with return to stable programs and textbooks, the second period started in 1930 and ended with the beginning of World War II (1941). As a result of the study, it was found that loyalty to the content of educational programs in the twenties was replaced by increased control in the thirties. This period is characterized by the of teachers activities monitoring expansion that included student performance, the sanitary condition of schools, the school staff performance, assessment of the calligraphy rules observing by teachers when putting grades in students notebooks. Educational work remained a priority, since the curriculum in any discipline was associated with the communist education. The socialist competition in the school became a tool for controlling the professional activities of teachers. Educational institutions were involved in the socialist completion along with industrial enterprises. For schools the competition combined both vectors of teachers activities control and educational and pedagogic work in one tool. The widespread practice of ignoring the fulfillment of socialist competition conditions testifies to its visibility. The data, stored in the regional archive, on cases of conscious violation of the established work order, socialist competition imitation confirm that.