The road to educational reform in the USSR

Abstract

The restructuring of education and training in Soviet schools has become a topical issue because of the development of Soviet socialist society and the need to ensure that the rising generation receive a more effective and higher quality preparation for life and work. The complexity of this reform as a major national project resides in the large number of tasks involved and their scale. Vast and valuable experience has been accumulated through the work of several generations of Soviet educators, schools and educational science, which must be preserved and put to good use. But there is also a need for: (a) a rapid improvement in the quality of education and training; (b) a fundamental improvement in the organization of labour education, teaching and vocational guidance in schools providing general education; (c) a switch to universal vocational education for young people; (d) increased social involvement of students through the development of student self-government, increasing their responsibility for the quality of study and the maintenance of study and labour discipline; (e) an increase in the social status of teachers, with higher salaries and better material conditions for educational workers; (f) an improved structure for general and vocational schools and the administration of public education; and (g) better provision of materials and equipment in school as well as in pre-school and out-of-school institutions. The principal propositions in the educational reform were based on objective data gathered by didactics specialists, psychologists, methodologists, physiologists and specialists in vocational and technical education and school management. Educational reform is viewed within the context of economic and social development as a