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PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS IN THE SYSTEM OF LIFELONG
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION:
SITUATION, SIGNIFICANCE, PROSPECTS
M. F. Solovyova
The transition of the modern economy from a simple market economy to an innovation or knowledge economy reflects not only the new qualitative level in changes to society, but also the changing priorities of its resources. Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences have been working for over a year on a project entitled "Anthropological resources of the Russian State", which aims to identify the predominant type of person in the era of information, knowledge and creativity. This significantly affects both the rationale of Russian education and its structure. The main factor is the increasing share of the private sector in the field of lifelong education, both general and vocational.
On the eve of the adoption of the Code of Education in Russia, during the period of change in state educational standards the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation has stepped up efforts to clarify the meaning of such indicators as the quality of education (situation, significance, prospects). The actual practice of scientists, teachers and parents indicate that the search for the essence of quality of education is directly linked with the intent and purpose of education. Scientific conferences on the improvement of legislation in the field of education have put forward the following goals and objectives in education, which can serve as criteria for determining the status, significance and prospects for developing private educational institutions in lifelong education.
Ensuring the rights of citizens to affordable education. The availability of competition in the public education system, pre-payment by semester on an extra-budgetary basis to faculties and courses that are in high demand from prospective students indicate that in this case an applicant will be attracted to the private education sector. This is the area that is restraining the growth of prices in the provision of paid educational services in the region.
Improved accountability of educational institutions for the quality of education. Here also private educational institutions have an interest primarily in the quality of services, as they are entering into competition in the organization of the teaching process and in the results of job placement of graduates. The reason for a significant percentage of
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uncertified educational institutions should be attributed not to their reluctance to go through a certification process, but to their being prevented from doing so because of the necessary costs, as these are smaller institutions. Managers are interested in the quality of teaching, and the best means of ensuring it is a civil contract, dual job-holding, which allows timely renewal of the pool of teachers, and to attract those who are in demand or those who teach only highly specialized courses, and therefore cannot have a "full load" of teaching in a single institution.
Dynamic introduction of new educational technologies. The history of the private education system dates back to antiquity. To this day private initiative is ahead of the state in implementing ideas, content, forms, methods and technologies. This is reflected in the results of historical and educational research and analysis of educational PhD and doctoral dissertations over the last ten years. It is worth noting that progressive teachers always say that the teacher's "work style" is more important than the "educational technology", which is intended for "mass production" of trainees. Empathy, attitude and communication style are at the heart of the education process, and they cannot be replicated.
Increased autonomy of educational institutions. The transference of the notion of "private" to the notion of "institution" in Russian legislation (the list of legal and organizational forms of non-profit organizations) is a means of enhancing the autonomy of these institutions, as it increases the role of the subjective factor in the management of educational institutions. Most leaders of private educational institutions are "ideas leaders", they generally create idiosyncratic models of organizations and management. Thus they have a greater interest than others in creating a system of lifelong education.
Strengthening cooperation of vocational schools and employers.
The government's attempt to attract the private sector to education has not been entirely successful, since the private sector was not questioned and its needs were not studied. And, just as was the case previously in the history of patronage of businesses, the private sector has no interest in supporting the "mass production of professionals". For its needs the private sector uses the labor market or supports its "selected" experts. As for small business, 40 % of it is family-based. As Vladimir Lenin warned - you don't dare to command an "average person", you have to consult with them.
Russia's integration into the world educational space. If we choose this path, then we should remember that 70% of higher educational institutions in Japan are private, that private universities are prevalent in
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China, and that Oxford and Cambridge have always been private. Our emigrants of the third wave have also created their educational holdings.
Raising the status of teachers. An assessment of the state's attitude to the status of the modern educational worker and teacher in our society is ambiguous. If we compare it to the attitude of nations such as Finland, Switzerland, USA and other countries, even the year of the teacher in Russia, the high-priority "Education" national project do not tip the scales which measure the willingness of the state and of the private sector to improve the status of educational workers. Moreover, under the RF Constitution responsibility for the education of children rests with the family, which is choosing the private sector, from development workshops to "Knowledge" social courses for housewives, retirees, flower-lovers, etc.
Henry Ford said that the more we satisfy the needs of others, the richer we become. Mass production cannot satisfy the ever-changing needs of the population in the area of education, which is why the prospects of lifelong education, both general and vocational, are weighted towards the private sector. In 1916 (the year of Count Ignatiev's education reforms) the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire stated: "A private school, first and foremost, should meet the educational needs of those groups that for one reason or another cannot get satisfaction from a government school". The private education system is not the opposition, but complementary, an alternative choice. In the conditions of the new era of "education for life" the variability of needs is growing, which means the rationale for the state to support the private education system is enhanced, along with the image of the state, because society will appreciate this step in both the present and future.
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