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This paper reviews some government policy measures aimed at strengthening competition in the Russian university market and looks at the best international practices in this area. It analyzes the competitive behavior of universities under the current government policy on higher education and research and development and suggests an approach to assessing the efficiency of government stimulation of competition among universities and to predicting the outcomes of applying existing stimulation tools. This paper presents the results of assessing the current level of competition in the Russian university market using a nonstructural method, an adjusted Panzar-Rosse competition assessment model. We used the value of grants received by universities as part of government orders as one of the model factors and also analyzed the effects of other factors describing the size, entrance requirements, and research activities of universities. This article investigates how university income depends on the value of grants received (a ratio of total income to the size of grants) and on the number of students and teachers. The level of competition in this market is characterized by the elasticity of the total income of an average university based on the value of grants received. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of Russian children's illustrated magazines at the various stages of their formation and development remains a relevant topic due to the evolution of their printed forms in the context of the transformation of the media environment. The first Russian children's magazine was Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind [Detskoye chteniye dlya serdtsa i razuma] (1785–1789). This publication contributed to the creation of Russian periodical literature for children, and it provided the point of departure for the creative efforts of numerous publications that followed in its footsteps, including even present-day Russian children's magazines. The aim of the present article is to study the evolution of the forms of Russian children's illustrated magazines under modern processes of the transformation of the media environment. This goal has determined the objectives of the paper: to study empirical materials related to this topic, consisting of numerous children's publications from different historical periods; identifying the relevant stages of the development of children's periodicals; examining the content and formal characteristics of children's periodicals; applying an integrated approach to working with the most important aspects of Russian children's magazines in the process of transforming the media reality. Our research methodology is based on a structural approach, which has been updated to incorporate structural-functional, structural-formal, and system-synergetic approaches as well as linear regression methodology. The problems that arise from the epistemological context are determined by the significance of the integrated approach to the study of the formal structure of Russian children's illustrated magazines. When we review the state of research in this area, we see that there have been very few studies of Russian periodicals for children despite the relevance of the topic. During the process of their formation and development, children's magazines came into being as a special type of publication with varying subject-thematic, ideological, political, pedagogical, and commercial orientations. They differed in their target audience, content, and presentation, and they were made available to a wide circle of readers. The content of these publications mainly included fiction, journalism, nonfiction articles, sociopolitical commentary, entertainment, and advertising. We have provided a theoretical justification of our research methodology, which uses the general scientific structural method and facilitates the study of the evolution of Russian children's illustrated magazines. The methodology has allowed us to draw conclusions about how their formal structure as well as the larger media environment were transformed over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of studies on the correlations of teacher pay to regional economics and to regional factors affecting the size of teacher salaries. It describes the basic pay indicators for teachers in the regions: absolute salary, teacher pay level as compared to the average regional salary, and ratio of salary to the cost of a fixed set of goods and services and to the per capita gross regional product. Based on calculations that used open government databases, a classification of regions by teacher pay level was developed. Regions of the country turned out to belong to seven different clusters. Recommendations on teacher remuneration were developed for each of these clusters and common risks and challenges were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Socio-pedagogical studies of victimization consider various age cohorts within their respective anthropological contexts, in which specific risk factors are identified for individuals at a given physio-psychological stage that may threaten their integral identity and future development. This paper examines the characteristics of youth that predispose young people to join countercultural groups, and in particular antisocial cults. There is a pressing need to address this issue because the leaders of countercultural organizations are actively recruiting young and capable persons to join their groups. Because Western scholars have been the first to write about the problem of antisocial cultism, our goal has been to analyze the main foreign studies by primarily American and Canadian psychologists and educators that probe the reasons why young people join vile cults. Characteristics of this age group, such as fear of rejection by peers, growing sexuality, growing conflicts with the adult world, youthful black-and-white thinking, the active development of an independent worldview, and sympathy for alternative religiosity, are not strict conditions determining whether young people will join antisocial cults. However, the considered characteristics allow us to deem this period in a person’s development as one of the most vulnerable in terms of developing deviant religious views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the family is extremely significant in the system of values of young people (in Russia), the number of divorces is increasing in this population group. Our analysis of this contradiction establishes that young people need to be specially prepared for family life. The paper presents the results of a large empirical study conducted in eight regions in various federal districts of Russia. The study covered a representative sample of over 7,000 respondents from two-parent and one-parent families, families with one to two children and large families; they were inhabitants of large and small Russian cities and villages. The study showed that (a) the family is of primary importance in the formation of young people’s values. (b) Most respondents believe that a family is an indispensable condition for happiness. (c) Most respondents believe that one should be specially prepared for family life. (d) Only a third of respondents believe that a school course on family issues could solve this problem. (e) Most respondents noted that their parental families failed to be role models. (f) Young people’s reproductive attitudes, which mainly involve having two or three children, do not correspond to actual modern demographic statistics. (g) More than half of the respondents approve of common-law marriages. (h) But the young people were less tolerant of births out of wedlock. (i) Mothers had the greatest influence on young people as they were growing up. (j) Fathers took second place, with a large gap between them and mothers. (k) The generalized portraits of mothers and fathers were entirely positive; that is, there were no negative characteristics. (k) The most popular adjectives used to describe both mothers and fathers were the following: kind, dependable, caring, responsible, family-oriented, and smart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the explanatory possibilities and limitations of the concept of alienation within the framework of educational psychology studies. Research into various phenomena associated with alienation (frustration and burnout, extrinsic motivation, cynicism, etc.) is often limited by the ontological realm of the individual, whereas the concept of alienation refers to a whole range of processes characteristic of both individual and sociocultural levels. The study outlines the heuristic potential that the cultural-historical activity approach to meaning and meaning regulation has in the analysis of alienation phenomena. The author reviews findings of empirical studies of alienation in education, as well as the theoretical groundwork dealing with the triggers of alienation and ways to cope with it. The discussion reveals that as human knowledge expands and becomes more complex and multifaceted on an ongoing basis, this causes various manifestations of alienation to grow in their frequency and intensity across educational environments. However, what could potentially help overcome specific psychological instances of alienation is the individual's conscious and more socially aligned self-identification that can be achieved through meaningful reflection on the contributory part they play in the broadest context of collective activity and societal progress as a whole. Although too abstract and heterogeneous for specific psychological studies to be based upon, the concept of alienation may be of great utility in interpreting psychological findings and integrating them into the interdisciplinary context, in order to more thoughtfully revisit and improve the existing institutional configurations and instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is based on the results of a study of secondary school principal decision-making styles conducted in eight regions of the Russian Federation (one per federal district) in 2014 using the methodological approach developed by Alan J. Rowe. The study aimed to assess the reformist potential of Russian school principals. We believe that this potential is determined in the present context by a leadership style that involves teachers in decision-making processes and the delegation of responsibilities to them in uncertain situations that require them to solve extremely complex tasks. Using the two-factor leadership model proposed by B. Bass, we suggest that either the transformational or transactional leadership style may prove to be effective depending on a given school's individual circumstances. Consequently, two types of leaders may be the most effective in terms of their ability to enact reforms: (1) principals who mainly exhibit a conceptual decision-making style and secondarily make recourse to an analytical style; (2) principals who mainly exhibit an analytical decision-making style and secondarily make resource to a conceptual style. The article establishes that only 12% of school principals apply the conceptual decision-making style while relying on an analytical style to a secondary degree. These are the principals who we classify as transformational leaders. Only 11% are effectively prepared to implement changes given a specific environment. These are the transactional leaders who are likely to change their leadership style for a transformational one. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the results of an analysis of the moral value judgments of adults (parents, teachers, educators) that directly concern the socialization process of the young generation in the modern metropolis. This paper follows the model study by Jean Piaget that investigated the moral value judgments of children. A comparative analysis of the judgments of respondents allows us to investigate whether certain perceptions of the norm are widely held. Statistically significant differences between the groups of “parents” and educators uncovered give us grounds to pose a practical question whether representatives of these groups can be functionally interchanged in pedagogical practice. The results of the analysis demonstrate the need to conduct comprehensive research into the normative value system, which is an integral component that regulates the activities of both children and adults. We also discuss the broader issues relating to the original explanatory model. We note the ambiguity, variability, and the complex structural construction of the normative-value unit that regulates activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work discusses the results of a pilot project performed in 2013–14 within the framework of the Asian Leadership Project international comparative study, which continues research of school leadership in Europe and America since years 2006–2008. Alongside with Russia, the pilot project also included Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. After analyzing statistical reports on the Russian Federation as a whole, as well as on Moscow and Krasnoyarsk Krai in particular, we created a profile of an average school principal and identified their specific features across regions (age, sex, years of experience, competencies, etc.). Upon investigation of decision-making styles (A. Rowe's Decision Style Inventory) applied by school principals in Moscow and Krasnoiarsk and by award winners in the School Principal professional competition, we found that contextual factors and personal and professional attitudes of school principals have considerable effects on school leadership style. This paper also discusses changes in school leadership styles over recent decades, managerial methods used by Russian school principals, and similarities and differences between school leadership practices in Russia and Canada. The report describes the concept and design of a future large-scale study of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper proposes a model of educational strategies for college entrants that makes it possible to assess the investment efficiency in additional preparation as evidenced by the Unified State Exam [USE] scores. It was found that college entrants still use traditional forms of preparation despite the new institutional admission conditions at universities. However, it was expected that after the unification of the examination system prospective students would be less likely to resort to extra classes in order to prepare for university entrance. A survey of first-year students and their parents was conducted. It included a total of 1,600 households in the 16 largest Russian cities. A positive relationship was found between monetary investments and time spent on additional preparation courses, on the one hand, and exam results, on the other. However, the return on these investments was low. These results were based on an assessment of a modified function of the educational achievements of students. On the one hand, this means that the results of the USE are connected to the efforts of prospective students, and on the other it shows that those who pursue additional preparation outside of school may gain an advantage by achieving an overall higher score, thereby creating inequality in access to higher education. The particular school that a student is enrolled in and that student's school performance are more significant factors in some cases than the effect of additional preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper presents the results of a large-scale study on the scope of extracurricular education services and an assessment of the potential role of education outside the classroom and informal education in solving children's socialization issues. The study was carried out by questioning students as consumers of education services. A new instrument was developed and tested to allow for a detailed description of various aspects of extracurricular activities and their correlation with studies and social and psychological characteristics of students. An extensive set of statistics (over 6,000 questionnaires filled out by schoolchildren from several regions of Russia) was used to analyze the degree of engagement of children of different ages in out-of-class activities; the most popular types of activities of specific age groups; the age range when children are most engaged in such activities; the reasons for nonparticipation in extracurricular activities; the infrastructure of education beyond the classroom; the relative frequency of structured and nonstructured activities; the correlation between out-of-class activities and development of self-esteem, a feeling of community, and satisfaction with school. Age- and gender-related profiles of various activities are described. It appears that structured extracurricular activities, unlike unstructured ones, correlate with higher self-esteem (both overall and academic), and a stronger sense of belonging in and better satisfaction with school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews some government policy measures aimed at strengthening competition in the Russian university market and looks at the best international practices in this area. It analyzes the competitive behavior of universities under the current government policy on higher education and research and development and suggests an approach to assessing the efficiency of government stimulation of competition among universities and to predicting the outcomes of applying existing stimulation tools. This paper presents the results of assessing the current level of competition in the Russian university market using a nonstructural method, an adjusted Panzar-Rosse competition assessment model. We used the value of grants received by universities as part of government orders as one of the model factors and also analyzed the effects of other factors describing the size, entrance requirements, and research activities of universities. This article investigates how university income depends on the value of grants received (a ratio of total income to the size of grants) and on the number of students and teachers. The level of competition in this market is characterized by the elasticity of the total income of an average university based on the value of grants received. [This article was translated by Lucy Gunderson.]

We present the results of a longitudinal study of the formation of graphomotor skills in elementary school children between the ages of seven and nine (students in the first and second grades). Patterns in how the skills under investigation develop in normal children and those with learning disabilities were revealed using a computerized survey of sequential movement organization and writing functions in combination with a general neuropsychological study. It is shown that graphomotor skills develop unevenly between the first and second grades in children, successful and unsuccessful in academic achievement: second-graders perform assignments faster and with fewer regulatory errors, but the spatial characteristics of their writing become worse. It was also found that children with learning disabilities lag behind in their development and automation of graphomotor and writing skills. This problem may be associated with this group's identified lack of programming and control functions as well as movement sequential organization skills. In addition, a comparative analysis of connections between age, social factors (grade level) and the formation of the functions under investigation was conducted. This analysis has shown that grade level has a greater influence on this process than was previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption and other forms of unacceptable behavior in Russian universities frequently is the result of poor conditions of work, low salaries, and inadequate administrative and oversight structures. A thorough reform and reorganization of institutions of higher education should go a long way to reducing the incidence of this behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new minister was appointed to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and she has continued the erroneous practice of passing reforms that are divorced from the ethos and social values of law, which previous ministers had also become infamous for doing. The ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Enlightenment and began to speak more actively about pushing through reforms that seem to be very strangely worded and are in any case meaningless. Far from being reforms, they in fact threaten to accelerate the collapse of the education system in the country. However, so far they have amounted to a division of the old ministry into two agencies and the renaming of one of them the Ministry of Enlightenment. It reminds me of the infamous flop of the Yo-mobile Russian electric car, which was the brainchild of a Russian oligarch and never got off the ground. So I propose calling the undertakings of the Minister of Enlightenment "Yo-reforms." And we can only hope that these reforms go no further than the Yo-mobile, but it is nevertheless a pity that so much money has to be wasted on them in any case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a theoretical grounding for the use of resources that can support educational activities at inclusive schools. We designate those techniques that help include students in the decision-making process, teach the principles of cooperation, and develop teamwork skills. We outline the features of the third space approach, which can be used to create a special environment for learning and development at the inclusive school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of various institutions of scientific imperialism, including the institution of publishing academic articles in English, the institution of standardizing how research should be reported, and the institution of indexing of articles in two global databases. We show that the establishment of institutions of scientific imperialism entails a number of negative trends: slowing down the publication of articles, the loss of a national research culture, and formulating and presenting research results to fit the requirements of indexing databases. We identify possible approaches to mitigate the negative effects associated with the expansion of the institutions of scientific imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1930s, the Soviet government undertook great efforts to promote literacy and awareness in the countryside. Workers at cultural and educational institutions were entrusted with carrying out this task. The article analyzes the condition and historical development of izby-chital'ny [known in English as village "reading huts"] in the regions of the South Urals as centers of education and propaganda in rural areas. Little attention has been paid to this topic in the regional historiography. It is shown that there was a more extensive network of reading huts in the Chelyabinsk Region than in the Orenburg Region. The article explores how these reading huts mainly functioned throughout the region and what activities were commonly practiced at this institution. These included, among others, reading aloud newspapers and fiction that were intended for illiterate and minimally literate audiences, hosting reader conferences, and providing knigonoshestvo [a service of book delivery]. The article uncovers the main problems that faced reading huts in the region: insufficient funding, the expropriation of club buildings in a number of towns for purposes of grain storage, lack of equipment and furnishings, etc. Finding staff was perhaps the biggest problem that these institutions faced. Nevertheless, the mass popularization of this political and ideological institution was decisive to the formation of the Soviet citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of Russian children's illustrated magazines at the various stages of their formation and development remains a relevant topic due to the evolution of their printed forms in the context of the transformation of the media environment. The first Russian children's magazine was "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind" ["Detskoye chteniye dlya serdtsa i razuma"] (1785-1789). This publication contributed to the creation of Russian periodical literature for children, and it provided the point of departure for the creative efforts of numerous publications that followed in its footsteps, including even present-day Russian children's magazines. The aim of the present article is to study the evolution of the forms of Russian children's illustrated magazines under modern processes of the transformation of the media environment. This goal has determined the objectives of the paper: to study empirical materials related to this topic, consisting of numerous children's publications from different historical periods; identifying the relevant stages of the development of children's periodicals; examining the content and formal characteristics of children's periodicals; applying an integrated approach to working with the most important aspects of Russian children's magazines in the process of transforming the media reality. Our research methodology is based on a structural approach, which has been updated to incorporate structural-functional, structural-formal, and system-synergetic approaches as well as linear regression methodology. The problems that arise from the epistemological context are determined by the significance of the integrated approach to the study of the formal structure of Russian children's illustrated magazines. When we review the state of research in this area, we see that there have been very few studies of Russian periodicals for children despite the relevance of the topic. During the process of their formation and development, children's magazines came into being as a special type of publication with varying subject-thematic, ideological, political, pedagogical, and commercial orientations. They differed in their target audience, content, and presentation, and they were made available to a wide circle of readers. The content of these publications mainly included fiction, journalism, nonfiction articles, sociopolitical commentary, entertainment, and advertising. We have provided a theoretical justification of our research methodology, which uses the general scientific structural method and facilitates the study of the evolution of Russian children's illustrated magazines. The methodology has allowed us to draw conclusions about how their formal structure as well as the larger media environment were transformed over time. [This article was translated by Kenneth Cargill.]

This article seeks to draw attention to the phenomenon of the academic diversity of students studying at universities and to articulate a research agenda for studying this phenomenon and its relationship with the university administration. We conducted a review of the existing literature and statistical data about Russia, which has allowed us to identify a range of possible reasons for why academic diversity is on the rise at universities and to offer a set of basic conditions for determining its level. The article first analyzes academic diversity as a contextual variable together with the organizational characteristics of the universities. We demonstrate its importance for university administration. The author also provides a range of theoretical frameworks that can be used to analyze university administration in the context of high academic diversity. A more detailed study of administrative practices at universities is needed as a follow-up to this article. The results of this study may be used to expand the existing research agenda in higher education as well as to analyze and plan measures at specific universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of an analytical study that explores the development patterns of universities that participate in the Russian Academic Excellence Initiative (the 5–100 Project) in terms of their financing structure, their priority development areas, and the trends for key performance indicators. By using statistical methods, including cluster analysis, we have attempted to establish the development patterns of universities that are participating in the project from various angles. Our analysis was based on data from the Monitoring Study of the Performance of Institutions of Higher Education conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation as well as planned and actual indicators from the development road maps of the participating universities. The cluster analysis of universities was conducted at two main turning points during the project: the launch of the project in 2013 and the launch of its second phase in 2015. We have also factored in performance data from the last year available for analysis (2016). As a result, we were able to identify patterns in the financing structure of the universities participating in the 5–100 Project and patterns in their actual development while taking into account the main indicators from their development road maps. We were also able to identify four comprehensive development patterns on the basis of the results of the cluster analysis. In addition, the identified development patterns were compared with trends in how universities have been advancing through the rankings. The obtained results can be used in future studies of the performance of universities participating in the 5–100 Project and similar excellence initiatives in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of a study of the international educational activities of Russian universities. The goals of the study were to identify groups of universities that have similar international educational activity indicators in a number of areas (based on a cluster analysis of the data) and to analyze the characteristics of universities in each of the identified clusters (the number of enrolled international students, the size of the university, specialization, geographical location, level of selectivity of the university, number of international research and teaching faculty members, and research activities). The study results may be of interest to university administrators, since they can help them to obtain a general idea of the current state and main directions of international educational activities at Russian universities. The proposed classification of universities can provide a basis for analyzing the university's own position on the international educational market and adjusting strategic plans for expanding and strengthening the university's position in various segments of this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preschool education became a part of general K–11 education only very recently. This change has been documented, and it is reflected in the organization and funding of the preschool departments of schools. The welfare of preschool departments within community K–11 organizations depends on the number of parents that they are able to attract. However, one thing remains unclear: What do parents prioritize when they choose a preschool? Do they see preschool education as a stage of K–11 education? Is there anything in particular that parents require of preschool education, and if so, then what is it? A study of parent needs showed that most parents choose a preschool because of its convenient location. They believe that the main task of preschool education is to look after and care for their children. Parents are satisfied when the teacher takes a benevolent and individualized attitude to the child. We identify three groups of parents, which differ in terms of their reasons for choosing a preschool, goals, and satisfaction factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the quality of the answers given by school-age children in survey questionnaires. We present the results of a systematic review of studies dedicated to the socioeconomic status of the family. By answer quality, we mean the ability of children to correctly indicate the educational attainment and profession of their parents and the number of skipped questions. The article focuses on assessing school students’ responses about the level of education, profession, or form of employment of parents. We investigate the role that is played by the following traits of respondents: age, academic performance, and family composition. The review is based on 16 studies that were conducted between 1990 and 2015. The obtained results allow us to conclude that high school students are generally aware of the level of education and profession of their parents. Respondents’ answers can essentially be used as a basic source of information. At the same time, we must be careful about how we methodologically process the judgments of schoolchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article demonstrates that the extent and mode of adolescent participation in social networks have changed with the rapid development of social media technologies. If, at the time when they were first introduced, social networks complemented direct communication and were studied as a separate additional space, now, because of the development of mobile technologies, direct and indirect communications have merged to form a single space. This is reflected in the fact that adolescents have a hard time distinguishing between these spaces in their responses to surveys. This reality, which we discovered during the course of our study, indicates that the methodology that is used to study both the communication of adolescents and the social networks themselves should be revised. Social networks have integrated themselves into the lives of schoolchildren, though their potential for education and the question of how they can be integrated into the education system have been totally ignored. In fact, our study has confirmed the existence of a new, third wave of the computerization of education. This one is not being conducted from the top down, as was true of the two previous ones (which occurred in the 1980s and 2000s), in which state goals for the computerization of the school system led to transformations at the level of the individual schools. Rather, users are instigating this new revolution, and the formal structures are being forced to respond. It has turned out that the system of education is not prepared for such a situation, and as a result teachers and administrators are imposing unjustified and easily violated bans on the use of personal devices. As a consequence, students are becoming increasingly alienated from school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the accessibility of mobile and networking technologies to schoolchildren of different ages living in various areas and how they use these technologies. The author considers the potential ways in which modern technologies can be used in education. The potential benefits of such technologies are particularly promising for rural schools. The article comments on the modern trend to create a seamless educational environment on the basis of e-learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the risks and effects of predicting the future. It describes the competition between two images of the future that can be found in current predictions. We discuss the question of changing our basic conceptions about the essence of human nature, the most important properties and qualities of people in connection with the onset of the current era of uncertainty, and the complexity and diversity of the human experience. We describe the context that surrounds the practice of predicting the future, namely the transition from the world of SPOD to the world of VUCA. The author reminds the designers of the future of the importance of correlating futurist programs with the expectations and motivational attitudes of the different social strata in Russian society. The author reviews current educational policy, and he describes the general features of the education reforms of recent decades and the risks created by their shortcomings. The article outlines the conditions for constructing a promising and human-centric model of 21st-century education (“the garden of dignity culture”) for “complex free people.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the current socio-cultural situation surrounding parenthood on the basis of an extensive literature review. A distinction is drawn between the constructs of "parenthood" as a social role and "parenting" as a process of raising children. We describe the main social trends: Modern parenthood is analyzed and problematized in connection with the specific features of the modern challenges faced by young educated parents. These trends include the following: the disappearance of understandable models of how to raise children in a family that were taught to parents when they were themselves children, the explosion in the number of ways in which a family can be raised, and a growing number of parenting products and services. All of these factors are symptoms of the decline of "natural" parenting and its replacement by a set of consciously planned strategies. The article shows that as educated members of the population refer to expert knowledge to guide them as parents, it gives rise to a new level of uncertainty due to the fact that the recommendations that are given are inconsistent with each other. A discussion of the transformations in family and upbringing practices shows that they have evolved from a child-centric model to an adult-centric one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article briefly discusses the question of how we should establish special educational practices that could help students mature. In identifying such practices, the author looks to a number of empirical studies that allow us to understand what significance the concept of "maturation" has for children and teenagers. In conclusion, the author notes that modern educational systems rarely provide students with the opportunity to try on adult roles. To allow this, changes will have to be made and special mechanisms will have to be designed that enable children, teenagers, and college students to show initiative and take responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we explore how career orientations of Russian high schoolers are related to the quality of their academic capital. We introduce and validate the concept of the academic capital of high school students. We describe why we chose Schein's Career Orientations Inventory as a screening instrument, which allows us to determine whether the individual is aware of their vector of future career advancement, and we propose how the instrument can be modified to be used among the cohort of high school students that form the subject of our study. During the course of the study, we tested three hypotheses of the interrelationship between the academic capital of high school students and their career orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of our study was to compare the working conditions, salary size, and professional outcomes of teachers at schools that switched to the competitive performance-based (so-called 'effective') contract in comparison with teachers at schools that did not switch to this employment framework. The study focused on teachers at 83 vocational secondary schools (VSS) that are subordinate to the Ministry of Education ofMoscow Region. We conducted an opinion poll to obtain direct information from teachers. We sent questionnaires consisting of 31 questions to 253 teachers. Of the respondents, 105 were included in the experimental group and 148 were placed in the control group. The results of our study show that teachers who work in organizations that have switched to the effective contract model have a higher subjective assessment of their own financial situation, greater expectations regarding their future income, greater confidence about the compensation plan, and a better opinion of the prestige of the teaching profession than teachers at schools that have not adopted an effective contract. The only parameter that cannot be interpreted as an unambiguously positive result is an increase in the frequency of teacher performance assessments at schools that have adopted an effective contract. It was also possible to establish the existence of a moderate relationship between the individual nature of the employment contract and the level of trust that teachers have in their compensation plan. In addition, we established another moderate relationship between informedness and the level of trust that teachers place in their compensation plan. Thus, we can recommend implementing the performance-based contract model at all VSS in the Moscow Region, because it has a positive impact on the immaterial motivation and financial position of teachers. By conducting additional measures to increase teachers' informedness about effective contracts, we can increase their level of trust in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School climate is one of the significant factors determining educational achievement. However, the lack of instruments to measure it has complicated the study of this concept in Russia. We review the history of the study of the concept of "school climate," and we discuss approaches to how it can be defined. We describe the most widely used questionnaires for studying school climate and analyze the set of components that have been included in them. To conduct the empirical study, we chose the student questionnaire that is used in the PISA international study, which provides a theoretical basis for measuring a number of dimensions of school climate. We conducted a psychometric analysis using methods from confirmatory factor analysis and modern test theory. It turned out that the structure of the indices that are used to measure school climate is not what the framers of the questionnaire assumed it would be. It is unclear whether the questions reflect the school climate indicators that are specifically proposed in the questionnaires. Some of the judgments in the questionnaire have been worded in such a way as to elicit most students' agreement or disagreement with them without revealing any differences in how students perceive the subject of the question. The answer categories are unbalanced for most of the judgments. Respondents tended to fill them out in a one-sided fashion. We propose steps for how the instrument can be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study objective: To identify the causes and consequences of the growing stratification of universities in terms of the volumes and sources of funding that they have access to as well as in the programs of study that they offer. Methods: We used statistical and economic analysis to study the outcomes of university activity. We assessed the interrelationships between the resource base of higher education and the production and economic potential of the Russian regions through the application of an econometric model. We also conducted an empirical analysis of the factors that are influencing the increasing public demand for higher education. Results: We identified trends in how the demand for higher education has structurally changed between 2001 and 2014. We assessed how sources of funding at universities differ from region to region given the transition to the performance-based contract model. We identified the main risks (pitfalls) associated with the structural misalignment of the demand for higher education and the proposed quotas for public scholarship-funded seats in various fields of study. This process is unfolding against a background of increasing regional differentiation, which is contributing to the stratification of Russian universities in terms of the volumes and sources of their financial support and heightened financial obligations caused by raising the salaries of faculty members and leading to a shortage of funds that are available for facilities maintenance as well as supporting the learning process. This latter factor jeopardizes the quality of educational programs. Findings: We were able to identify trends in how the demand for higher education is structurally changing in Russian higher education on the basis of an empirical analysis that was carried out using an econometric model. We assessed the impact of the global economic crisis and the effective ability of families to pay for higher education. We also identified the risks (pitfalls) that result from the regional differences in university funding. Practical significance: Specialists may apply the main arguments and conclusions of the article in the field of economics and management when drafting university financial plans and development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine how the social status of the university professor has evolved in Russia in recent centuries in light of the historical concepts about the enslavement and emancipation of social groups proposed by Sergey Solovyov and Aleksandr Gradovsky. They use the metaphor of the “slave” [nevol’nik] to describe the dependent position of the professor in the university. The word encapsulates administrative tyranny, the spread of subordinate and submissive mentality in the university environment, and the curtailment of opportunities for professional self-fulfillment. The authors present the university administration as the main agent responsible for enslaving professors. Administrators represent bureaucratic power and act to advance their own social ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern university and the academic profession itself are facing new challenges: First, the increasing complexity of labor markets and globalization are undermining the structure of the academic profession, and secondly, the rise in cost of university research calls into question the autonomy of the university. The internationalization of the academic labor market encourages rethinking the structure of academic professions that have historically been focused on national (regional) contexts. The university is too expensive for the state and/or for students. One way to preserve the autonomy of the university is to offer society, the state, and businesses a wide range of services. This study seeks to answer the following questions: Can bureaucratic (self-)management effectively regulate the growing body of the university? Is it necessary to relinquish part of the university’s autonomy to a hired manager? Can “soft managerialism” and new economic instruments help unleash the modern university’s potential for society and sustain its autonomy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the family is extremely significant in the system of values of young people (in Russia), the number of divorces is increasing in this population group. Our analysis of this contradiction establishes that young people need to be specially prepared for family life. The paper presents the results of a large empirical study conducted in eight regions in various federal districts of Russia. The study covered a representative sample of over 7,000 respondents from two-parent and one-parent families, families with one to two children and large families; they were inhabitants of large and small Russian cities and villages. The study showed that (a) the family is of primary importance in the formation of young people's values. (b) Most respondents believe that a family is an indispensable condition for happiness. (c) Most respondents believe that one should be specially prepared for family life. (d) Only a third of respondents believe that a school course on family issues could solve this problem. (e) Most respondents noted that their parental families failed to be role models. (f) Young people's reproductive attitudes, which mainly involve having two or three children, do not correspond to actual modern demographic statistics. (g) More than half of the respondents approve of common-law marriages. (h) But the young people were less tolerant of births out of wedlock. (i) Mothers had the greatest influence on young people as they were growing up. (j) Fathers took second place, with a large gap between them and mothers. (k) The generalized portraits of mothers and fathers were entirely positive; that is, there were no negative characteristics. (l) The most popular adjectives used to describe both mothers and fathers were the following: kind, dependable, caring, responsible, family-oriented, and smart. [This article was translated by Susan Welsh.]

Socio-pedagogical studies of victimization consider various age cohorts within their respective anthropological contexts, in which specific risk factors are identified for individuals at a given physio-psychological stage that may threaten their integral identity and future development. This paper examines the characteristics of youth that predispose young people to join countercultural groups, and in particular antisocial cults. There is a pressing need to address this issue because the leaders of countercultural organizations are actively recruiting young and capable persons to join their groups. Because Western scholars have been the first to write about the problem of antisocial cultism, our goal has been to analyze the main foreign studies by primarily American and Canadian psychologists and educators that probe the reasons why young people join vile cults. Characteristics of this age group, such as fear of rejection by peers, growing sexuality, growing conflicts with the adult world, youthful black-and-white thinking, the active development of an independent worldview, and sympathy for alternative religiosity, are not strict conditions determining whether young people will join antisocial cults. However, the considered characteristics allow us to deem this period in a person's development as one of the most vulnerable in terms of developing deviant religious views. [This article was translated by Kenneth Cargill.]

Cinema has always represented a powerful medium for influencing audiences (including in political and ideological ways). Therefore, exploring how the image of the Western world has been transforming in Soviet and Russian films is still relevant today. This study seeks to accomplish the following: define the role and place of the changing portrayal of the Western world in Soviet cinema between 1946 (the start of the postwar ideological confrontation) and 1991 (the break-up of the Soviet Union) while comparing these developments with trends from the modern era (1992-2016); study the political, ideological, social, and cultural context as well as the main stages, trends, and goals of filmmakers; study the concepts that these filmmakers used to interpret this theme in Soviet and Russian films; and classify and perform a comparative analysis of the ideology, content models, genre modifications, and stereotypes of Soviet and Russian cinema that came to be associated with the portrayal of the Western world. To achieve these goals, we have used theoretical methods, including classification, comparison, analogy, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, modeling, etc., as well as empirical research methods, including the collection of information about the topics that are addressed in the study. The chronological scope of this study was limited to films produced between 1946 and 2016 and excluded documentaries, animated films, television programs, and an extensive set of feature films related to the topic of World War II (though these films are very specific, and they deserve a separate conversation). As a rule, international co-productions with Russia that reflect how the West views the Russian world were also excluded from this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to analyze how students apply a mathematical modeling skill that was previously learned by solving standard word problems to the solution of word problems with nonstandard contexts. During the course of an experiment involving 106 freshmen, we assessed how well they were able to transfer the mathematical modeling skill that is used to solve standard problems to the solution of nonstandard ones that had an analogous structure. The results of our research show that students had varying degrees of success applying the different stages of modeling depending on whether they were solving a familiar problem (involving near transfer) or one that had an unfamiliar context (involving far transfer): in cases of near transfer, students applied the template formally even though it did not align with the text of the new word problem, which complicated further interpretation. In cases of far transfer, students chose to solve the problem by using an ordinary method of selecting a solution by trial and error in preference to the use of modeling. Thus, the application of the modeling skill as a multistage process is complicated when solving nonstandard problems involving either near or far transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the ways of controlling for the influence of social expectations on the answers given by survey respondents is to use a social desirability scale together with the main questions. The social desirability scale, which was included in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) international comparative study for this purpose, was used on a Russian-language sample of teachers without cross-cultural adaptation. In addition, this tool was based on the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, whose psychometric characteristics have only been evaluated so far within the framework of classical test theory with mixed results. In order to fill the gap in our understanding of the validity of the TALIS social desirability scale within the framework of item response theory, we analyzed the data obtained from a representative sample of Russian teachers. The results showed that the scale had acceptable reliability, significant unidimensionality, and, at the same time, a number of serious problems with its functionality. We propose measures to improve the quality of the psychometric properties of the scale on the basis of the obtained results, including simulated data. We draw fundamental conclusions about the structure of the social desirability construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how Russia’s networks of higher education institutions contribute to their host regions in terms of the following three major facets: the economic development; the human capital development; and the innovative development. To ensure the analytical framework used derives relevant and representative findings given the nature of the Russian socio-economic environment, the authors implement a customized methodology that factors in the most appropriate components from various international best practices in assessing university effects on comprehensive societal development. The study will be of interest to a wide audience of stakeholders in higher education and broader contexts, including policy professionals at the federal and regional levels, institutional leadership, researchers and analysts, students in socio-political, economic, and educational majors, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We attempt to prove the hypothesis that, under certain conditions, a phenomenon of propitious selection may arise on the higher education market: When talented university entrants favor applying to branded universities, the latter are able to automatically build up a positive reputation without having to actually improve the quality of their educational process. We have performed an econometric modeling and regression analysis on a set of data that were obtained from a survey of Moscow university freshmen to show that high school graduates with high scores on the Unified State Exam (USE) really are oriented toward branded universities and that these prospective students believe that obtaining a prestigious degree is even more important than entering any particular profession. Entrants lack complete information about the quality of education at any given university. The analysis of university rankings presented in this article shows that they are unable to completely solve this information asymmetry since they contain signal distortions introduced by their ranking methodology. These rankings primarily prioritize the research activity of faculty members, and they ignore their teaching performance and work with students. Therefore, often universities design their policies in such a way as to privilege the criteria that are used in rankings, and they focus on improving precisely these indicators at the expense of other considerations. As a result, branded universities are able to distinguish themselves from conventional higher education institutions not by actually providing higher quality educational services, but by selecting the best applicants and benefiting from the powerful peer effect of having these students study together. In this way, these universities can produce excellent graduates that ensure their positive reputation in the eyes of employers and at the same time increase their brand value by raising their position in the rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents educational statistics that reflect the basic indicators describing the state of information technology infrastructure in secondary general education in 2014. This research seeks to analyze how Russia’s Federal State Educational Standards governing secondary general education facilitate the creation of information-based teaching methods and the supply of equipment. Special attention is paid to the interregional differences in information-educational infrastructure as well as the differences between how urban and rural schools are equipped with this infrastructure. This study may prove to be useful to regional education authorities and experts in the field of public educational policy as a starting point for analyzing educational statistics while taking into account regional contextual indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gaming culture of modern childhood takes place not only in real space, but in a virtual one too. These two components (two planes of development) are often viewed in isolation from one another. This study investigates the completely new phenomenon of augmented reality gaming through the lens ofPokemon Go, and it describes how the game has been able to transcend social, physical, and virtual spaces. We focus on the most active group of users of this mobile app, namely teenagers. We describe how the game satisfies the psychological needs of this age group. We attempt to understand the cross-cultural phenomenon of this game and the course of development these new forms of activity by modern teenagers may take in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We discuss the results of a study of Russian educational policy from the late 1980s to the early 2000s in connection with the emerging trends of educational inequality in the field of K-12 education. A statistical analysis of data on educational organizations, content analysis of documents, and a review of legislation and materials collected during expert interviews all show that the public policy of universal equality of educational opportunities that was declared throughout the period under review in practice was not provided with any legal or organizational support. At the same time, the implemented components of the liberal and neoliberal approaches in educational administration led to the growth of educational inequality (by stratifying schools by their level of resource provision and the quality of educational outcomes). At the same time, the economic and social conditions in post-Soviet Russia had a significant impact on the nature and practical effect of these components of administrative policy. This process has revealed the specifics of the Russian experience of neoliberal reforms in K-12 education and their adverse impact on educational inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shame is a painful self-conscious emotion that is closely associated with psychological distress. This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of the spontaneous shame narratives of 40 young adults (mean age = 25.2). The main themes that were identified in the participants' shame narratives are explored and described, and the authors also explore the connection between feeling shame and having a traumatic experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that human capital is an important factor in economic growth, but its impact on growth depends on the demand for education and skills on the labor market. Demand for human capital is largely determined by the institutional environment that governs the basic conditions for economic activity. The author expresses ten doubts that there is demand for human capital in the modern Russian economy. These doubts, which are supported by statistics and examples, are grounded in the low quality of existing institutions, which limit the demand for labor and deform its structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the explanatory possibilities and limitations of the concept of alienation within the framework of educational psychology studies. Research into various phenomena associated with alienation (frustration and burnout, extrinsic motivation, cynicism, etc.) is often limited by the ontological realm of the individual, whereas the concept of alienation refers to a whole range of processes characteristic of both individual and sociocultural levels. The study outlines the heuristic potential that the cultural-historical activity approach to meaning and meaning regulation has in the analysis of alienation phenomena. The author reviews findings of empirical studies of alienation in education, as well as the theoretical groundwork dealing with the triggers of alienation and ways to cope with it. The discussion reveals that as human knowledge expands and becomes more complex and multifaceted on an ongoing basis, this causes various manifestations of alienation to grow in their frequency and intensity across educational environments. However, what could potentially help overcome specific psychological instances of alienation is the individual's conscious and more socially aligned self-identification that can be achieved through meaningful reflection on the contributory part they play in the broadest context of collective activity and societal progress as a whole. Although too abstract and heterogeneous for specific psychological studies to be based upon, the concept of alienation may be of great utility in interpreting psychological findings and integrating them into the interdisciplinary context, in order to more thoughtfully revisit and improve the existing institutional configurations and instructional practices. [This article was translated by Kenneth Cargill.]

This article explores ‘comparison’ as a universal metasubject learning action, a key curricular element envisaged by the Russian Federal State Educational Standards. Representing the modern learner’s fundamental pragmatic skill embedding such core capacities as information processing, critical thinking, robust decision-making, and effective problem solving, the universal learning action of ‘comparison’ has become a new professional challenge for educators, in terms of both understanding the underlying theoretical framework and ensuring that appropriate instructional models are deployed. The author seeks to clarify either of these aspects by providing a plain discussion of how the basic mechanisms of comparison as a cognitive device can be incorporated into clear and simple classroom aids and algorithms supporting goal-directed learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]