The book traces the origins of change in general education in the last years of the Soviet Union and afterwards in the Russian Federation. It describes what happened during perestroika and glasnost and the struggles for liberalization which were finally given official recognition in 1998. After the anti-Gorbachev coup in 1991, with the disintegration of Soviet and Communist power, decentralization and regionalization developed, together with the emergence of alternative schools and finally a small private sector. The book also describes the many problems faced by schools and teachers with the near collapse of the Russian economy.

Autorentext

JEANNE SUTHERLAND was until 1997 Chair of the Study Group on Education in Russia, the Independent States and Eastern Europe. Before her marriage in 1955 she worked for the Foreign Office in Moscow (1952-54) where she worked in the Russian Secretariat on Soviet internal affairs. After her marriage she served with her husband, Iain Sutherland, in Yugoslavia, Cuba, the United States, Indonesia, Greece and twice in Moscow, where he was British Ambassador from 1982-85. In 1977 she graduated from London University with an MA in Soviet Studies, and began her research into Soviet, later Russian education. She is the author of articles on educational reform in the former Soviet Union since 1984.

Inhalt

Map of Former Soviet Union List of Plates Acknowledgements Introduction Note on Transliteration PART I: THE CHANGES From 1900 to the 1970: Tsarist and Post-Revolutionary Education 1970s and Early 1980s: Portrait of the Soviet School before Perestroika: Some Personal Impressions of the 1970s and 1980s the 1984 School Reform and the Beginning of Change Reactions of the Establishment Movements for Change From Innovation to Independence The Alternative School, Upbringing and Social Services in a New Era Russian Schools after Gorbachev: Decentralization and Regionalization PART II: THE PROBLEMS Financing of Schools and Material Resources Health and Social Problems National Problems of Education Epilogue Chronology Appendixes References Bibliography Index