Politics, Modernisation and Educational Reform in Russia: From Past to Present (Oxford Studies in Comparative Education)

The chapters in this volume give an account of the process of modernisation and educational reform in Russia, variously considering the cultural and political dilemmas provoked by democratisation, the structural and policy challenges associated with the reform of higher and vocational education, and the deep divisions exposed as sociocultural activity is brought into alignment with the new discourse of freedom and choice. The volume stimulates an important debate about the methods that inform cross-national and cross-regional work on educational change. This is particularly salient in a study of educational reform in Russia, and begs the question, 'whose way of thinking, of constructing meaning, and of experiencing the world' is used to judge the weight and the direction of change? Each chapter shows that a thorough understanding of the nature of change and the direction of reform is only achieved through the ability to decentre - or take on board - the 'other' world view. It argues, therefore, that it is world view, rather than culture or nation state, that is the most valid unit of analysis. CONTENTS.David Johnson. Editorial; Robert Harris. Society and the Individual: state and private education in Russia during the 19th and 20th centuries; Margarita Pavlova. The Modernisation of Education in Russia: culture and markets; Judith Marquand. The Democratisation of Higher Education in Russia; Olga Fedotova & Oksana Chigisheva. Restructuring the Governance and Management Structures of Higher Education in Russia; Charles Walker. Classed and Gendered 'Learning Careers': transitions from vocational to higher education in Russia; Elena Minina. The Unified National Test for Student Admission to Higher Education in Russia: a pillar of modernisation? Andrea Laczik. How Meaningful Is the Policy of Free School Choice in the Modernisation of Education in Russia? James Muckle. Concepts of Education in Russia: from past to present.