Press releases

Educational Trust Foundation held conference "Russian Secondary Education in Reflection of International Standards"

A conference was hosted in Moscow on September 17-19 for leaders and teachers of Russian schools and heads of regional and municipal educational agencies.

The opening ceremony held September 17 at the Moscow Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow was attended by more than 200 participants including representatives of the educational and business communities and public organizations.

A welcome address to conference participants from First Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov was read by K. A. Chagai, Deputy Head of the Secretariat. Ceremony guests were welcomed by Deputy Minister of Science and Education I. Remorenko, Chairman of Council and President of the Educational Trust Foundation, member of the General Council of “Business Russia” Public Organization and Nova Capital President A. Rudik, and Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Murmansk Region S. Myakishev.

At the opening ceremony there were children’s creative teams from participating schools from Moscow Gymnasiums 45 and 1306, the European Gymnasium, 21st Century Integration International School, and Kogalym School 8. Guests were entertained by a ROSSINI musical divertimento of the Moscow Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre.

The working part of the Conference on September 18-19 held at the Academy for Retraining and Advanced Training of Teaching Staff was attended by heads of Russian educational institutions, employees of regional and municipal education agencies from Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Murmansk, Perm, Cheboksary and other regions, and the Senior Advisor to the International Baccalaureate Organization (Africa, Europe, Middle East) N?lida Antu?a Baraga?o and the Head of Oberoi International School (Mumbai, India) Dr. Vladimir Kuskovski.

On the first day of the Conference, keynote addresses were made by: Professor L.Lyubimov, Deputy Academic Supervisor of the Higher School of Economics; N?lida Antu?a Baraga?o, Senior Advisor to the International Baccalaureate Organization (Africa, Europe, Middle East); S. Myakishev, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Murmansk region; P. Mrdulyash, Chairman of the Educational Trust Foundation. They shared with Conference participants a vision of the role, tasks and challenges of the modern school.

Prof. Lyubimov, expressing his opinion on the role of leaders of the state educational agencies, said, “Officials should not get involved in the content of the educational process. They should provide the conditions.”

At the conclusion of his report on the International Baccalaureate, N?lida Antu?a Baraga?o said, “Sometimes I hear that the International Baccalaureate is an expensive programme. Perhaps in the short term, that’s a fair statement. But in the long term, a good education is the best investment.”

Next was a panel discussion, “Russian and international educational standards: a comparative analysis” with Dr. N. Lubomirskaya, Dr. V. Kuskovski., M. Bogantseva, Ph.D., Prof. A. A. Lobzhanidze, the Educational Trust Foundation’s Advisory Board Chairman M. Mokrinskiy, and a round table discussion on the conference theme.

Panelists agreed that the adopted second generation Federal state educational standards are fully in line with international standards, and that the experience of Russian schools implementing the IB programmes can contribute to the successful implementation of the new Federal state educational standards in Russian schools.

On September 19 in the first half of the day, a panel discussion was conducted on “Development of New Educational Standards: Opportunities and Risks.” In his report, Dr. Kuskovski analyzed in detail all the pieces and participants in the educational process. Based on his own extensive experience in implementing educational programmes, he evaluated the difficulties and risks of developing new educational standards.

Panelists pointed out that fundamentally important to the success of the new Federal state educational standards is retraining school teachers and the key role of school administration. Honored teacher of the Russian Federation, V.Fertman, especially noted the need for a brand new teaching staff. Director of Open Education Organization A.Popov said, “The director must create conditions in which the teachers can reveal their competence.”

After lunch, P. Mrdulyash moderated a panel discussion on “The school teacher of the twenty-first century.” The conference welcomed S.Teterina, acting Head of the Academy for Retraining and Advanced Training of Teaching Staff.

The keynote speaker was Head of the IB Providing Center of the Perm State Pedagogical University, Ph. D., Prof. K.Bezukladnikov. He shared his experience of introducing the IB programme in the Perm region.

Taking part in the discussion were N?lida Antu?a Baraga?o, Scientific Director of the Association of Schools of St. Petersburg N. Svirina, Ph. D.

A.Popov emphasized that the advantage of the IB system is that it makes a success of any student by helping him become self-determined and self-actualizing.

Speaking about the advantages of the IB system, N. Svirina saw that the merits of this educational system is that it teaches children to be active, to work, and to achieve goals. She also expressed the view that the Educational Trust Foundation’s conference, providing such a high level of representation and debate, became a real event for the educational community in the country.

During the last plenary session, a report “Education: Close to a Breakthrough” was made by one of the main developers of the Federal state educational standards, President of Prosveshchenye Publishers, and corresponding member of Russian Academy of Science, A. Kondakov, Ph. D. He noted that the speed and level of development of modern technologies require fundamental changes in the activities of all participants in the educational process in school. Teacher training and new educational technology development have already become necessary.

Conference participants recognized the efforts of the Educational Trust Foundation in organizing the conference as a platform for interesting discussions on current topics of concern to the educational community.

The overall conclusion of Conference participants was that, although the new Federal state educational standards were developed in accordance with the highest international standards, their successful implementation requires significantly improved training of school teachers and administrators.

Exhibits were organized within the framework of the Conference of participants’ school materials and media partners’ periodicals.

Conference partners:
Moscow School 45
Moscow Lyceum 1535
European Gymnasium
Kogalym School 8
21st Century Integration International School
Moscow Gymnasium 1306
Chekhov Garden
Correa's & Cafeter Group
Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow
Open Systems Publishers
Academy for Retraining and Advanced Training of Teaching Staff
Perm State Pedagogical University

Media partners:

Prosveshchenye Publishers
“Russian Industrialist” magazine

The Conference general partner was Nova Capital Investment Company.

The Educational Trust Foundation (ETF) is a non-profit organization established in 2003 to develop the Russian educational environment through the implementation of effective international and Russian models and support of the best educational practices in the school system. Detailed information on the activities of the Educational Trust Foundation is available at www.dof-edu.ru.