The paper reveals the research findings analyzing the declaration of scientific conformity and fundamentality of education and its correspondence with the actual status of education at various levels. The survey respondents were selected from the school and university students, postgraduates, candidates and doctors of sciences, either prone to or engaged in research activity at various levels. The research data demonstrate that the system of continuing education does not provide any clear and verified algorithm of scientific and cognitive activity, as the result the scientific cognitive competence of human subjects of educational process is not developed including its intellectual and instrumental components. The changes of educational status appear to depend mainly on intuition and personal expertise which contradicts the declared organizational principles of scientific and educational activities. At all levels of lifelong education, the research process is generally perceived as being induced rather than initiative which adversely affects the social phenomenon of scientific development, and consequently the propagation of scientific knowledge.

The paper looks at the managerial resource values guaranteeing the effective functioning and development of any social institution. The main emphasis is on the asset management in educational sphere and optimization
opportunities of organizational processes. The human, logistical, technical, informational and time resources of
managerial activity are outlined and specified from the strategic perspective and effectiveness standpoint. The necessary criteria of a strategic resource are identified as the value, rarity, originality and indispensability. The author makes a conclusion about the priority of human resources in the value hierarchy of social organization in the era of information society. The paper demonstrates both the theoretical and practical ways and means of raising the effectiveness and efficiency of educational institutions, as well as the constant need for teacher’s training, retraining, and stimulation of self-education. The investment in human resources and motivating environment, aimed at developing the potential of academic staff and other employees of educational institutions, benefits both the managers and employees alike and leads to social partnership, harmony, and conciliation of economic and social interests within the organization.

The paper is devoted to trigonometry teaching in higher school as a part of the elementary mathematics course with a complex hierarchical structure. Due to the complicated content of the given discipline,
each of its modules can be divided into separate themes; though, the teacher should emphasize their interrelations, as well as the links with the coordinate method, geometry and mathematical analysis.
The recommended training technology model allows the teacher to build up and control the training process, and achieve good results in accordance with the assigned tasks. In the course of the model approbation, the
author developed the e-learning resource and identification method for selecting the key mathematical examples and exercises for each theme and module. The analysis of students’ tests and questionnaires conducted for several years proves the effectiveness of the designed model for the senior university students of mathematical profile. Based on the research findings, the author developed the educational methodology complex for the Basics of Trigonometry course.

Nowadays there is a growing demand for qualified engineers, researchers and developers with the information technology competence, and ability in self-development, self-perfection and self-knowledge; and the
variative higher education is needed for training such specialists. The paper describes the experience of Izhevsk State Technical University providing the opportunity for individual selection of educational curricula and independent Engineering Graphics training aimed at developing spatial imagination, capability of finding the constructive engineering solutions and analysis and synthesis of spatial forms. The possible individual educational directions are given including the professional, informational and research ones. The paper demonstrates the basic and variant module elements of the Descriptive Geometry and Engineering Graphics discipline, the competence formation levels of Engineering Graphics (basic, reconstructive and creative) being outlined along with the relating
estimation methods. The authors recommend the group expert estimation method for selecting individual educational curricula, competence oriented assessment means, and providing the high quality diagnostics.

The paper emphasizes the need for studying the subjective effectiveness criteria of interpersonal communication and importance of effective communication for personality development in adolescence. The problem
of undeveloped representation of positive emotions in communication process is discussed. Both the identification and verbalization of emotions are regarded by the author as the basic communication skills. The experimental data regarding the longitude and age levels are described, the gender differences in identification and verbalization of emotions considered. The outcomes of experimental study demonstrate that the accuracy of facial emotional expressions of teenage boys and girls changes at different rates. The prospects of defining the age norms for identification and verbalization of emotions are analyzed.

Quality is the key problem of the Russian education system as a whole and higher vocational training in particular, the level and quality of the later determining the growth of intellectual potential of the state, and
consequently its effective economic development and competitiveness. In the last years, Russian higher schools have lost their position in the international educational service market as the result of several premature reforms. The paper denotes the findings of sociological research, conducted in Moscow pedagogical universities, and aimed at analyzing the factors adversely affecting the quality of educational institutions, students’ satisfaction, and transparency of educational management. The survey involved the total respondent number of 881, including both the academic staff and full-time students. Sociological diagnostics based on the above monitoring research revealed the multi-factorial determinant of the high quality educational institution. The research findings emphasize the complexity of problem solving related to fostering the country’s intellectual potential, and the need for informal and systematic quality control. The research data can be of interest to sociology experts, educational management and academic staff.

The paper substantiates the introduction of interactive techniques in music and arts education, and analyzes the definitions of interactivity – a key term of the modern educational paradigm. Various interpretations
of interactivity and its components – interaction, communication, dia logue, polylogue, interpretation, reinterpretation, intonation, feelings, comprehension, generalization (reflection), and experience – are given. In the methodology context, the author traces out the similarity of interactive concepts in general didactics and the humanities knowledge (M. M. Bakhtin, V. S. Bibler), and maintains that the main components of interactive teaching include the basic categories of culture, art, music, and psychology of artistic perception and creativity. Therefore, similarity of the content and approach to interpreting the conceptual terminological apparatus of interactive education makes it possible to implement the interactive techniques in teaching the cycle of music and arts disciplines.

The paper, based on the author’s report at the General Assembly of the State Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Education on 29 October 2013, raises the urgent problems of childhood and children’s
education, and outlines the main research trends of the Russian Academy of Education: identification of the social environment and specificities of personal growth, exploration of new principles, ways, conditions, opportunities and prospects of educational system renovation. In the era of uncertainty and transformed consciousness, the world perception and behavior psychology of the growing generation require the radical renewal of format and content of education and upbringing. The research demonstrates that the young generation, endowed with the new opportunities and abilities, considerably outstrips the previous generations. However, the children’s cognitive development, energy and active behavior are declining, and the emotional discomfort is rising. Many children are unwilling to learn as education can no longer provide the positive socialization. There is a large group of children with unfavorable, problematic psychic development in ontogenesis, as well as a number of contradictive psycho physiological phenomena that require extensive research and development of a fundamentally new educational concept.

The second part of the paper denotes the significant philosophical and pedagogical problems related to implementation of V. V. Davydov’s method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, referred to as the basic concept of developmental education. Analyzing the potential and advantages of the above method along with the development technologies, the author gives the positive interpretation of traditional developmental education in the context of contemporary educational processes, and demonstrates its universality and the
necessity for further extension fare beyond the primary school limits. The paper contrasts the depth psychology, oriented on inner unconscious psychic processes and regarded as pedagogical basis (V. P. Zinchenko), and the vertex psychology focused on self-realization opportunities (L. S. Vygotsky, V. Frankl). The author regards the vertex psychology, addressing the spirit and intelligence, as the possible way out of educational crisis.
The concept of developmental education aimed at fostering the students’ cognitive abilities and humanistic attitude can contribute significantly to the educational process.