Pedagogical science in Russia: Much history, no strategies

Introduction. In recent years, thematic educational issues involve only already familiar concepts: Unified State Exam, standards, textbooks. An academic science has been completely caught up into the administrative reforms imposed on it; there are no fresh ideas. It is well known that when scientific successes are modest, history, an endless exploration of the past instead of a strategic analysis of the future, is used.

The aim of the present article was a critical discussion of the subject, goals and content of modern pedagogical research, reasons for scientists’ focus on historical context of education, their isolation from the current situation and the strategy for its further development.

Methodology and research methods. The methods of system-based and comparative analysis, synthesis and generalisation of the content of 30-volume series “Basic Research of the Institute of Theory and History of Pedagogy of the Russian Academy of Education” (now – Research Institute of Educational Development Strategy) as well as quality and results of independent scientific reviewing of 12 monographs of this series.

Results and scientific novelty. By the example of the analytical review of a big cycle of the scientific publications prepared by the staff of the oldest authoritative organisation – Russian Academy of Education, an attempt was made to give a representative assessment of the state of problem focused on the interrelation of history and modern pedagogical theory, which is relevant for pedagogics and humanitarian field of knowledge in general. Summarising the issue and the series of monographs, the analysis showed the absolute predominance of the historical themes of scientific research over theoretical predictions, avoiding real educational practice and its critical analysis by the leading research teams of the Russian Academy of Education. Meanwhile, the increase in negative tendencies in primary and secondary vocational professional education requires the active participation of the representatives of scientific community. From the conclusions it may be understood that there is no institute for reviewing scientific reports and publications, no examination of the content, relevance and importance of monographs recommended for publication. Editorial boards become honorary structures and, in fact, are inactive; reviewers do not carry out a preliminary analysis of manuscripts, the result of which is content and technical errors. Circulations of really important published works are small; they are only enough for presentations and official distribution.

Practical significance. The recommendations and proposals for the selection of topics and content of pedagogical research, increasing the relevance of scientific pedagogy and its orientation to contemporary problems of education, were formulated. The lack of financial opportunities to produce mass editions of scientific works should be filled up by creating their electronic versions and posting of the full text of published monographs on websites in order to ensure their availability for the main consumers of scientific results – teachers. The dedicated websites should be interactive and allow readers to evaluate the quality and practical value of a scientific product online. The scientific conference summing up the positive and negative results of the study of the authors of monographs with a public announcement of their significance is intended to be a mandatory result of the release of a series of monographic works.

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