Professor Savvateyev published the Manifesto for saving the public school in Russia

"Since our country is "on the verge of the irrevocable death of high-quality mass school in Russia", - he added.

Aleksey Savvatteyev is one of those representatives of the education sector who are not afraid to speak openly about the catastrophic situation in which Russian education is now.

Only unlike many, Savvateyev not only criticizes the current situation, but also offers very specific ways to solve numerous problems in education.

Novye Izvestia publishes the text of the Manifesto for saving mass schools in Russia (source: savvateev.xyz )

Will these saving proposals be heard by the country's leadership?!

MANIFESTO TO SAVE PUBLIC SCHOOL IN RUSSIA

Description of the situation

At present, mass school education, especially outside the two capitals, is in a state of progressive disintegration.

This is evidenced by numerous interviews with the rectors of provincial universities, to which students who do not know the very basics come to study.

The average USE scores, which do not change much from year to year, should not deceive anyone: after all, this happens in conditions where the topics of assignments have not changed for many years, students have been preparing for specific options almost from the 5th grade, and there are many manuals for specific tasks , analysis on the Internet, etc.

The results of the exam are subject to " Goodhart 's law ". What happens if the variant structure is changed? One can only guess. In addition, every year the gap between Moscow and the provinces is growing - the results of the Unified State Examination in Moscow are higher in all parameters that can be thought of. The public access to free education declared in Article 43 of the Constitution is not ensured.

In many regions there is an acute shortage of teachers (sometimes up to half of their number): low salaries, a huge amount of reporting, professional burnout, aging and lack of prestige of the profession lead to the departure of literate teachers from schools. As a result, in the average school, the quality of education is rapidly declining, and schooling itself in high school in most cases comes down to coaching for the Unified State Examination, most often for money and after school hours.

It is clear that the loyalty to their country and their state of those few students whose parents found money for additional classes turns out to be low; a significant percentage of them seek to leave their homeland after graduation from the university.

At present, Russian education does not have an explicit social purpose and is in no way connected with the real arrangement of the life of students after graduation. Mass education in the country is actually subordinated to the external goals imposed on it: to master new technologies, enter some ratings, and certainly “transform” somewhere. In the current conditions, the real task of the school is narrowed down to issuing a certificate, by hook or by crook (by untruth, much more often - everyone knows how VPR is carried out in schools).

Against this background, the crisis in the training of school teachers is gaining momentum. At the moment, the lower limit of points for submitting documents to a pedagogical university is approximately 35 points out of 100 for the Unified State Examination. Behind this indicator is hidden the low status of pedagogical universities as "sumps" for those who are unable to enroll in other universities.

Objectively, a situation has developed in which teacher training universities train not worthy specialists, but “worst of the worst”. As a result, the influx of new teachers into mass schools is extremely low, and even young teachers often know very little about the subjects they teach.

The situation is aggravated by initiatives for the speedy introduction of digital technologies in school education (like saving classes , and now there is also a strategy for the digital transformation of schools signed by Prime Minister M.V. Mishustin !), which are essentially aimed at solving the problem of staff shortages through partial or complete replacement of teachers "technologies": artificial intelligence, remote consultations "with the best metropolitan teachers", video lessons and interactive content.

It should be noted that, according to the opinion of all persons involved in the real educational process, film adaptation is neither a full-fledged, nor even a “crutch” replacement for a living pedagogical process, not to mention the fact that the educational function of education disappears altogether.

Russia is on the verge of the irretrievable death of high-quality mass school education. Literally 5 more years, and only the elite segment of school education, which covers a tiny fraction of all students in Russia, will function normally in the country.

Problem situation

Mass school education is a tool for leveling opportunities: education, socialization and upbringing together form a social lift that has 2 goals: a) adaptation of new generations to life in society and b) providing them with the basic knowledge necessary to preserve and pass on to the next generations of the national cultural code.

The collapse of mass school education in Russia will lead in a few years to two main, almost insoluble problems:

1. An acute shortage of people capable of supporting the functioning of modern society. The complex economic and social structure of Russia simply cannot be maintained by people who, for the most part, have not received a normal education in schools. Those few who receive or have recently received a normal education in elite and specialized schools will trivially not "pull" on themselves the maintenance of the achieved level of civilization in Russia - that is, they will not be able to ensure the preservation and development of our country as a whole. Normal mass school education is an indispensable element of Russia's development, especially at the level of regions and their economies.
2. Sharp exacerbation of political risks associated with youth. The easiest way to manipulate is not educated and illiterate people, but semi-educated people. Politically, semi-educated people are the most dangerous: their ambitions are high (“we have a diploma!”), But education is not enough to make a career, find a normal job and adequately understand the situation in the country. It is easy to imagine the consequences of the political participation of generations shaped by smartphones, Morgenstern's songs, Navalny's videos, etc., but at the same time feel like " losers " because they did not receive a good education in their native country.

Target

Our goal is the revival of high-quality mass school education, which will ensure 1) the preservation and reproduction of modern society in Russia and 2) an evolutionary, non- catastrophic (non-revolutionary) path of political development of our country in the near future.

It is necessary to form a realistic idea of an education model that will achieve the goal. It is about answering the questions: 1) who will teach at school, 2) what to teach and 3) how to teach.

It should be noted that we do not plan to affect specialized, elite and private schools, including we do not plan to apply leveling measures to them or somehow put pressure on them. Below we are talking only about the segment of public general education schools.

Key Ideas

"Who will teach at school?" (Answer: teachers)

1) A significant rapid increase in the social status and prestige of the profession "school teacher".

1. A sharp and rapid increase by several times in real salaries "for the rate" of school teachers throughout the country. The minimum level of a teacher's salary for one rate is 5 minimum wages. Allocation of funds from the federal budget to increase teachers' salaries. Prior to this, there was a rapid release of funds from municipal budgets, of which sometimes only 10% of the salary fund goes to the direct remuneration of teachers according to the schedule grid (for example, the Alapaevsky municipality).
2. Introduction of "teacher's mortgage" (similar to "military mortgage"). We are talking about the mass provision of preferential mortgages to teachers in cities, especially young and middle-aged teachers. This initiative will significantly increase the prestige of the school teaching profession, and will lead to an influx of men into the profession.
3. The result of the increase in salaries and the increase in social status will be the return of male teachers to secondary school - that is, a partial compensation for the existing gender imbalance among teachers. At the same time, the competition for admission to pedagogical universities will automatically grow, which in turn will make it possible to substantially raise the level of teaching in them.
4. Providing teachers with official disciplinary power in schools, which will solve the problem of inadequate students who disrupt the learning process and are rude to teachers. This issue needs to be resolved at the legislative level, with implementation through helplines, etc. In Moscow, the problem of “parental diktat” is acute, when one complaint from a parent puts the position of a teacher at risk. When the salary of teachers in the country becomes worthy, this problem will become relevant throughout Russia. We must be ready to solve it immediately.

2) Release of school teachers from the burden of bureaucratic reporting, its minimization for subject teachers.

1. The dissolution of Rosobrnadzor as a meaningless organization, all activities of which have a negative impact on the education system. The liquidation of Rosobrnadzor will be a decisive point in the release of teachers from the yoke of the bureaucracy, since the control organization will disappear, the only reason for the existence of which is the production of ever-increasing volumes of reporting.

• Minimize the reporting of school teachers. Ideally, the teacher's only form of direct reporting would be a record of the fact that the lesson was given and the material studied in it.
• Turning reporting statistics into an internal affair of the school. Rejection of various KPIs for schools.

Requirement of maximum information transparency of statistics of the Ministry of Education. In parallel with the requirement to reduce the reporting required from teachers, the mandatory publication by the Ministry of the maximum amount of information on the real state of affairs in schools throughout Russia should be required. First of all, you need information about:

• number of schools where there is a shortage of teachers, and in what subjects;
• the share of teachers of retirement and pre- retirement age;
• the real workload of teachers in schools;
• real salaries of subject teachers in schools;
• the number of students in classes by regions, municipalities and specific schools;
• number of schools where students study in 2nd and 3rd shifts;
• official versions of the exam;
• detailed USE results for all regions in dynamics;
• passing scores on the Unified State Examination for pedagogical universities.

3) Reducing the bloated, overburdened workload of school teachers to reasonable levels.

1. It is necessary to reduce the number of students in the classes. No teacher is able to effectively teach classes of 40 people. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the number of students in classes to a figure of no more than 20 people. In turn, this means requiring a significant additional number of teachers to be hired by the school.
2. Reducing (thanks to a sharp increase in salaries) the number of cases when teachers have to work for 2-3 positions. Working at 2-3 positions means ineffective teaching due to the excessive workload on teachers, and this provision should be gradually eliminated as one of the measures for the revival of the school.

4) Giving school teachers a status similar to that of civil servants.

1. Over the next few years, it will be necessary to maintain the status of "State Teacher", equivalent to the status of a civil servant - including in terms of employment, wages and social guarantees. We are talking about a situation where the teaching corps is already getting healthier; at present we are proceeding from the teacher corps that is available, however, a multiple increase in salaries and a reduction in the workload must be made immediately, otherwise no changes have a chance to begin.
2. Nevertheless, even now it is required to single out teachers of the highest category based on surveys of students - current citizens of the country, including, alas , those who left Russia. The state will give these teachers maximum guarantees of normal work immediately, allocate significant direct federal funding right today (an allowance of at least 100,000 rubles a month!) And in exchange will ask them to transfer their teaching skills to young teachers in their schools.

5) Revival of the system of higher pedagogical education.

1. Fundamental changes in the work of the system of pedagogical universities, so that they begin to prepare qualified professionals for mass school education. Increasing investment of resources in teacher training universities, reorganization of all their activities.
2. Raising the status of education in pedagogical universities. A categorical departure from the current situation, when pedagogical universities will form a kind of "sump" for those who are not able (for one reason or another) to enter other universities. In transitional years, teachers should be recruited according to the principle “everyone who knows how to hold chalk in their hands and is ready to learn/remember the minimum set of subject knowledge”. Recruit teachers from all the best universities in the country! In this first period, we really count on teachers who have defected to tutors, changed their profession, and even retired from today's hopelessness. We will call on retired military men, especially men. The question of recruiting a teaching corps is a matter of Russia's national security!

6) Priority - the revival of the mass primary school.

1. The first stage in the revival of high-quality mass education should be a radical improvement in the situation in primary school. It is the solution of the problems of the primary school that will ensure the solution of the problems of the entire secondary school, since the foundation of the main problems of schoolchildren is laid precisely by the 5th grade.
2. Preschool education is also subject to revision, with the removal of the “phonetic hearing” theory that does not work in practice, which is not perceived by children, as well as the rejection of other theories (concerning all levels of education) that are contrary to practice and common sense.
3. Solving the problems of elementary school and " preschool " is easier than in other age groups (for example, textbooks there are not so numerous and quite simple). In addition, it will be easier and faster to train new youth teachers to work in primary schools and kindergartens.

"What will they teach at school?" (Tutorials)

1) Emphasis on obtaining fundamental knowledge.

1. Official fixation of the concept of universal fundamental knowledge. This concept involves the rejection of the idea of obsolescence of knowledge and, on the contrary, emphasizes the need for students to study the unchanging foundation of basic knowledge. Within the framework of this approach, a universal criterion for assessing the quality of education arises: students at school should be able today to successfully solve the same problems, to successfully learn from the same textbooks as, for example, their grandparents.
2. The transfer of the most important fundamental knowledge should be at the center of the educational process at school. The content of schooling should not replace training in key subjects with a utilitarian approach (“mastering standard skills and competencies”). As the experience of the United States has shown, the priority of mastering students' skills and competencies inevitably leads to a sharp decline in the quality of education.
3. In a mass school, the focus should be on the content of education, and not on auxiliary disciplines. The main time within the framework of the educational process should be devoted to classical subjects, which in no case should be infringed in favor of mastering the skills of presentations, project activities or public speaking.
4. Everything should be based on the concept of an “adequate minimum of knowledge”, without which it is impossible to speak of a student receiving a modern education in secondary school. This concept involves the creation of a list of those subjects (and textbooks) that must be taught in a mass school.

2) Revision of textbooks and manuals used in public schools.

1. Demanding maximum accessibility of textbooks to current students and teachers. The material in them should be presented in such a way that its understanding does not cause fundamental difficulties for children from the lower strata of society. Textbooks should allow students to independently master the material and catch up on the missing knowledge without hiring tutors, without the help of curators. In general, in a mass school, such textbooks should be used that can be effectively used by an ordinary modern teacher, whose level of training is not very high.
2. Creation of a special subject commission for each of the subjects, consisting of teachers who have been teaching this discipline for a long time. It is the subject commissions that will prepare proposals for changing the content and methodology of teaching specific subjects at school. These subjects will be recruited from the "gold reserve" described above. Fixing the unacceptability of the current situation, when school reforms are developed and implemented by people who have never been practicing teachers.
3. There is a need for widespread use of the most successful textbooks published in the past. In this regard, an online library of standard recommended textbooks on subjects (even if they were written many decades ago) should be created and printed editions of these textbooks should be organized.

"How will they teach at school?" (Methods)

1) The basis of school education is teaching by teachers live, face to face with students.

1. Fixation at the official level of the thesis that the role of the teacher in education does not fundamentally change due to the introduction of new technologies. Traditional teaching "live" has been and will be the core of the entire educational process in the school.

• We categorically oppose the total replacement of teachers at school with screens, with distance learning. The basis of normal education in a mass school is the direct live interaction of students with a teacher in the classroom. Live communication with the teacher in its effectiveness cannot be replaced by distance (that is, inevitably independent) learning using digital technologies. 3. Waiver of mandatory digitalization of education. Rejection of the widespread planting of lessons in the school through the screen, without direct communication between students and the teacher live directly in the classroom.

2) Digitalization is a secondary and auxiliary tool for teaching in schools.

1. Fixing the status of digital tools as auxiliary, which in no case can be of a mandatory nature and replace offline lessons with teachers. The requirement to find a balance between digital and traditional methods in modern school education.
2. Fixing the status of digital instruments as experimental. Distance education through screens should be officially regarded as a "field of experiments", where the proposed ideas are first tested and prove their effectiveness.
3. The principle of "let 100 flowers bloom" in digital education. The experimental nature of digital experiments means that it is now unacceptable to impose from above the “only true” tools, software and software in this area (for example, saving classes ). Ensuring equal competition between various software manufacturers (and not just those associated with Sberbank) for orders for educational software for schools.
4. Smartphones and similar gadgets are not allowed directly into class. The practice of handing over gadgets to schoolchildren before lessons.

3) Instructivism as the basis of mass school education.

1. Teaching in a mass school should be viewed as a conveyor, and not as a production of a piece product. Therefore, it is necessary to rely on traditional teaching methods that ensure the effective transfer of fundamental knowledge to schoolchildren.
2. Mass school teaching should be based on a set of standard instructions and methods that will allow the teacher (not necessarily a brilliant teacher!) to successfully teach children, many of whom are from lower strata and / or dysfunctional families. What works in this social situation is not "creative teaching" but standardized instructions with proven effectiveness.
3. Emphasis on the reproduction in the modern mass school of the key skills of traditional school education. Students should learn valuable skills such as handwriting and mental and columnar arithmetic (rather than a calculator).
4. Removal of project and "systemic -thought -activity " teaching methods from mass school education. These approaches to teaching do not actually work with children from the lower classes who simply lack the cultural capital to adapt to them.
5. Elimination from mass education of approaches that involve the choice of schoolchildren (up to high school) what exactly to study. Such an approach is justified only when the student already has the necessary basic knowledge and can meaningfully choose which subjects to study in the future. Without the presence of basic knowledge, the student's choice does not make sense, it is just an illusion of choice.

4) The return of final exams and the variation of the exam.

1. This is not about the populist slogan of abandoning the Unified State Examination, but about leaving the current situation, when the school in high school sets itself up exclusively to prepare students for the Unified State Examination. It is necessary to get away from narrowing the functionality of the school by preparing high school students to pass several standardized tests. We propose to return final exams in all subjects studied at school.
2. Rejection of the idea of the immediate abolition of the exam. Instead, students should be given the opportunity to take the USE several times, and the content of the USE itself should be subjected to significant variability so that it would be impossible to prepare for a particular exam using “almost identical” “probes”.

Stop deceiving ourselves and our children! The current true level of their knowledge should be revealed.

Summarizing what has been said,

We doubt that there are easy ways to save the mass school, which is currently in a deep systemic crisis. High-quality mass education - namely, education, which includes not only the teaching of individual subjects, but also socialization, as well as the upbringing of the younger generation - is, in principle, unattainable "through the screen".

Victory in the “artificial intelligence race” requires the return to schools of competent and responsible teachers, as well as wise managers (instead of “effective managers”!) China has already understood this (judging by the content of their education reform). It's time for us to understand.