The paper raises the issue of school teachers’ resistance to innovations related to modernization procedures, updates of educational content, methods and forms. The rejection of innovations is regarded by the authors as a psychological and pedagogical phenomenon; its roots and causes being analyzed including the consequences of some ineffective, poorly developed and even harmful innovations introduced or proposed by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. The research findings demonstrate different innovation barriers along with the resulting inner skepticism and its external manifestation. However, in spite of partially justified skepticism, the authors maintain that the firm resistance to any innovation adversely affects both the education quality and teachers’ personal and professional characteristics. In conclusion, the paper suggests some preventive measures for overcoming teachers’ resistance to positive innovations in educational practices, and describes a successful experience of one of the rural schools applying a psychological mechanism of internalization of innovations. Additionally, the role of the school principal in developing teachers’ motivation for innovations is emphasized.

The paper considers the need for reinterpretation of the content and functions of methodological training of teacher-musicians in the higher school; the above problem being raised as the result of the massive penetration of information technologies, intensification of knowledge updates, rejection of narrow specializations, and propagation of the postmodern culture. The author focuses on modernization of methodology training of teachermusicians with the emphasis on general features of the modern musical environment affecting students’ personality. The proper methodology training of the future teacher-musicians, based on the culture-adequate knowledge and accompanied by the actual project activity forms, is capable to counteract the influence of the second-rate common musical tastes and negative world perception. In conclusion, the author highlights the need for intensification of the ontological and personal worldview orientation of methodology training and further development of professional tools. The paper is addressed to the higher school teachers and students, music school teachers, and additional education teachers.

The paper considers one of the main theoretical and practical pedagogical problems of education quality assessment. The quality measurement depends on successful identification of genuine (scientific) and false diagnostic methods; the process becomes more complicated in case of latent variables. As a solution, the authors recommend the Rasch measurement model for identifying an integral indicator of education quality. The method in question involves designing, approbation and analysis of diagnostic materials, as well as mathematical and statistical data processing based on specialized computer software. The paper describes the advantages and theoretical potential of the Rasch method, and emphasizes its capacity for solving the key problem of quality modeling – i.e. suitability and utility of the indicator variables for the given research.

The paper discusses one of the urgent social problems - the discrepancy between the vocational education and labor market demands. Nowadays, apart from the necessary knowledge and skills, the college leavers should be able to meet the challenges of life – i.e. update the acquired information, establish necessary contacts, deal with multilevel nonstandard problems. For solving the above problem, the authors recommend a dual educational system, integrating the theoretical and practical courses and based on the training facilities of educational institutions and industrial enterprises. The given model is regarded as the most effective one for developing students’ potential and guaranteeing their adaptation to the work place. Due to the close interaction between the educational institutions and employers, the dual system can provide a successful psychological and professional integration of future specialists. In conclusion, the paper discusses the experience of Pervouralsk Metallurgical College implementing the duel system aimed at vocational training of qualified and competitive specialists.

The paper looks at the problems of modern art education. Thе aim of the research is to identify the interrelation between the innermost an artistic aspects of the artwork based on theoretical analysis and synthesis. Th authors explore the axiological and acmeological nature of the unseen, which manifests itself as a revelation and inspires a creative person to strive for perfection. The need for developing students’ moral values and ethical attitude t the surrounding realities intensifies the significance of the innermost aspect o art education. According to the author, the emphasis on the inmost thought and feelings can guarantee a spiritual immunity of the young generation an prevent penetration of a low taste and banality into the artistic sphere. The category of the unseen, being closely related to the spiritual level o self-awareness, requires a particular attention in art education; it should b taken into consideration while developing and implementing the educationa curricula

The  pa per em phasizes the  pros pects of cross-cultural dialog as a means of  poly-cultural education, and demonstrates the ex perience of culture dialog referring to a foreign language university course. Analyzing the existing definitions and s pecificities of cross-cultural dialog, the author regards it as a communicative context of culture clashes, as well as the mechanism of mutual understanding and enrichment in cultural and semantic s pheres. Consequently, the cross-cultural dialogue and its further reflection hel p to develo p active life attitude and readiness for  professional activity in a situation of multicultural diversity; on the other hand, it develo ps students’ ethnic identity, em pathy, and ability to re present the native culture. The theoretical  part of the research  presents a three-stage formation model of the cross-culture dialog aimed at develo ping a multicultural  personality; the  practical  part describes a seminar on the cross-culture dialog with students s pecializing in the Theory and Methods of English Language Teaching at Tumen State University. The  pa per is addressed to methodologists and foreign language teaches both  practicing and  pros pective.

The paper is devoted to the issue of moral education of the technical higher school students, as well as the new pedagogical instruments and technologies of fostering the new technical elite. The author considers a widespread development of students’ Olympiad movement as an effective way of their involvement in creative community service. Unlike the secondary and high school Olympiad movement, its development at the higher school level is far from perfect. The author emphasizes the difference between the regular Olympiad cycles, aimed at developing students’ creative competences, and sporadic contests, devoid of cognitive motivation; hence he advocates the firm regulations on the Olympiad procedures and obligatory participation of higher schools in the above movement. The paper considers the Olympiad process and components as a new form of the higher school training, and briefly describes a specific organizational technique based on the competence and activity approaches. Additionally, the author points out a need for balancing the collective cognitive activity and competitiveness in educational process. The research findings can be used for educational process elaboration and students’ creativity training in the technical higher school.

The paper deals with the problem of modern education development and criticizes a pragmatic attitude to education. Based on the retrospective historical analysis, the author maintains that educational systems are generally focused on fostering the pragmatic intellect rather than reasoning, which leads to a superficial world perception, and undermines personal analytical potential and capability of strategic problem solving. Concentration on rationality is unlikely to provide a way out of the world crisis. In the author’s view, education demands both the deep and solid comprehension of existential concepts and the reference to the “absolute spirit” of Confucius, Plato, Kant and Hegel. The research is aimed at justifying the civilizational paradigm of education on the basis of Hegelian fundamental ideas of intellectual perception with the emphasis on reasonability instead of rationality. As the most adequate implementation instrument, the author suggests a game simulating technique that combines the benefits of philosophical, scientific and methodological thinking.

The paper denotes the vital need for the human-centered projects of education updates and develops the idea of the culture adequacy raised by Y. V. Larin in «Education in search of the adequacy principle». The author regards culture as a creative basis for upbringing the young generation and provides the detailed analysis of its semantic content; in his opinion, culture contains neither the value neutral nor destructive connotations. The world of culture incorporates the model samples of human subjectivity, based on the main criterion of perfection. By transmitting the model samples of cultural heritage to a student, a teacher develops the general cultural qualities of an individual, professional and citizen. Consequently, the author proves that socio-economic and political problems, including the renovation of social institutions and production spheres, can be solved by cultivating and developing the human universality and integrity of productive and creative forces. Additionally, the paper highlights the impossibility of separate fostering of the general cultural and professional qualities in educational process. In conclusion, the author emphasizes the negative consequences of implementing the Bologna process in Russian education; the criticism mainly concerns the adoption of inferior samples and standards of the western education.

The paper is devoted to fostering the methodical thinking of the philological profile students. The methodology basis incorporates the procedural and cognitive approach along with the strategic direction on the cognitive process management at all educational levels. The author considers the main characteristics of methodical thinking, its content and structure including the set of cognitive components. The methodical thinking is regarded as a capability of effective work with linguistic and methodological information (i.e. analysis, transformation, optimization, and adaptation for learning purposes); easy formulation of language rules; scientific methodological generalization; implementation of the assessment and diagnostic instruments based on research experience. The author describes the development process of methodical thinking of prospective Russian language teachers, exemplified by series of workshops exploring the complex of methodology problems; the types and algorithms of the given problems being demonstrated. All the necessary teachers’ qualities can be developed by means of solving the specific methodological problems and developing the cognitive component of the thinking process.