Children's knowledge: how will additional education develop?
The Russian Government has approved an action plan for the second stage of the implementation of the Concept for the Development of Additional Education for children for 2025-2030. As noted by Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov, the main goal is to expand the system so that it meets the needs of every child. Izvestia discussed what changes could bring together with experts.
Sections and clubs for children
The concept of developing additional education for children for 2025-2030 in the second stage focuses on its accessibility and quality, updating the content and increasing the coverage of children. The emphasis is on creating equal opportunities for all wards, and on combining two types of education at once: general and additional.
"We will expand the available educational resources, making additional classes interesting and diverse, and also provide for the integration of additional education programs for children with academic subjects and a parenting program so that children can explore their interests and choose a direction of development based on personal preferences, deepening knowledge and skills in various fields," the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation quotes Sergey Kravtsov, whose words are quoted by the official Telegram channel of the Russian government.
Improving digital services used to enroll in continuing education programs is another article in the Concept, as is updating the material and technical base of organizations. According to the plan, the recording service will be upgraded and will be provided through a Single Portal of Public Services in the future. It is planned that a user who wants to register a child in a group will receive notifications about the availability of the record.
Olga Nemirovich, Head of educational programs at the Skolkovo Education Transformation Center, added that digital navigation will require appropriate competencies from all participants in the system.
— Children and parents need to learn how to navigate the diversity of programs, correlate them with interests, abilities and long-term goals. This requires not only access to information, but also a developed culture of educational design," the expert concluded.
The additional education market is developing systematically — almost every child goes to clubs and sections. Anna Perasova, head of the Movavi Children's IT School, said that the trend is also typical for IT education: more and more teenagers are coming to the courses (compared to the number of younger students).
— There are many different sections in completely different directions. This is very good for the market because there is healthy competition. The quality of materials is growing, additional education is getting stronger, and the service is getting better," said Anna Peresova.
Cultivate culture from childhood
Technical creativity (for example, robotics or aircraft modeling), culture, humanities and natural sciences will become the main pillars of the development of specialized areas within the framework of the implementation of the second stage of the Concept. This is stated in the official Telegram channel of the Ministry of Education.
For example, the program of excursions along historical and cultural routes, museums and scientific centers will be expanded for children. The practice of children's excursions in such areas will be widespread in the regions — they will be selected with the assistance of young professionals involved in the educational process. A new initiative is personalized financing, that is, the issuance of a social certificate for a child so that he can go to clubs and sections. It is expected that by 2030, at least 30% of children will be able to provide such certificates, regardless of their place of residence and health status.
In addition, the number of places for children in art schools will be increased according to additional education programs, including in the context of creating an inclusive environment. Intellectual and creative contests and sports events will also be organized taking into account the need to involve children with disabilities in the system of additional education.
Anna Perasova told Izvestia that this system is already working in some regions, while in others, such as Novosibirsk, it is just emerging. The fact is that so far there are few commercial schools in this city that can qualify for payment with certificates, since organizations first need to fulfill a number of serious requirements and conclude a contract.
— The measure will be of great help to parents, businesses, and the entire market of children's education. It would be great if the nominal value were increased, because on average one child goes to three sections: sports, language and IT according to their interests," said Anna Perasova.
There is another point: the amount of the certificate so far is about 3 thousand rubles. Together with the funds of the maternity capital, this allows you to pay for clubs, but still the amount is not enough to create equal conditions for every child.
Vadim Kovrigin, associate Professor at the Institute of Economics, Management and Law at Moscow State Pedagogical University, also stressed in a conversation with Izvestia that social certificates are an excellent solution to expand the availability of sections and clubs, since not all families can afford to pay for children's classes in institutions of additional education.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.
Gnawing the granite of additional science
It is difficult to imagine comprehensive education for children without additional education: clubs and courses expand the variability of the system, give children the opportunity to study what they are interested in, Olga Nemirovich draws attention.
According to her, the concept of developing additional education, on the one hand, solves the tasks of managing it as a system: it directs resources to demanded programs and analyzes irrelevant ones, and on the other hand, it solves the strategic task of going beyond school and synchronizing general and additional education.
— It is based on managerial and market logic. Organizations receive funding not for targets, but for the number of children who come. If there is demand, there are resources. In order to remain competitive, organizations need to create in—demand programs, update the content of existing ones and focus on the formation of a harmoniously developed, patriotic and socially responsible personality," Olga Nemirovich emphasized.
Synchronization makes it possible for the organization of additional education and the school to become a single canvas and build an individual educational track for the child outside the school walls, the expert emphasizes.
— Students will be able to shape their path in different places — museums, libraries, IT hubs, art spaces and other venues. Education is no longer tied to school and class, it is delocalized. Schools retain most of their functions, but diversity within educational systems is increasing. At the same time, the school can take the role of a collector, coordinator and main holder of the process — a platform where innovative educational practices and approaches are integrated," Olga Nemirovich added.
However, according to Anna Peresova, integration is less noticeable in the IT environment, and what is required at Olympiads and competitions often outstrips the school curriculum. As a result, in additional education in IT areas, it is necessary to teach mathematics several grades higher.
— When a child is already doing a serious Python project at the age of 12, he simply does not have enough math knowledge for the sixth grade. It also happens that schools do not provide enough knowledge to write high—quality code, which means there is room for further integration and improvement of programs," said Anna Perasova.
There are also positive trends: a lot of practical tasks appear in the final exams in computer science, and university Olympiads introduce the practice of oriented projects that did not exist before.
— If earlier, for example, computer science was perceived as something easy, now the exam has already reached a fairly serious level and it is not good to pass it without special training. In this case, additional education helps. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of specialists, and I think that this factor is one of the stoppers in creating a more efficient system," added Peresova.
An educational challenge
According to Vadim Kovrigin, the system of general and additional education has different tasks and it is not always possible to synchronize the content of the federal school standard and the supplementary program.
— How, for example, can this be done for drawing or fencing classes? Obviously, nothing. It should no longer be about synchronizing general and additional education, but about matching tasks to the age characteristics of students, as they often say in pedagogy, to the "natural conformity" of the child," Kovrigin explained.
At the same time, the expert acknowledges that with the introduction of the Concept, the system has become more accessible to children. However, the content of educational services is not always qualitatively controlled. As part of licensing, institutions of additional education check the material, personnel and financial conditions for the implementation of the program, but not the quality of its content.
The main problem today is the shortage of competent teachers, confirms Oleg Baksansky, PhD, Professor of the Department of Educational Psychology at the Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology at Moscow State University.
"It is necessary to revive the old domestic career guidance and training programs, fill them with modern content and provide them with the necessary material base, organize training practices and internships," Baksansky explained.
According to him, these actions will make it possible to bring educational preparation closer to the realities of modern life, challenges and expectations, the main of which is to help children find a professional path.
Anna Perasova noted that IT schools also suffered from a lack of staff. According to her, every year there are fewer and fewer highly qualified teachers, as they move into the real sector amid rising salaries in IT.
— Smart guys from technical universities know in advance where they will work. And they rarely opt for education. As a result, schools are forced to hire less experienced teachers," said Peresova.
At the same time, the cost of courses increases along with teachers' salary expectations, and at some point not all families can afford them.
Finally, in addition to the difficulties with personnel, the situation in the industry is influenced by the growing demands of parents. As Anna Perasova emphasizes, working with children requires a special character set, experience and skills are desirable, as well as inner maturity, which students most often lack. This applies not only to the IT sphere, but also to other areas of additional education, such as linguistic or mathematical sections.
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