The Role of the League of Education in the Formation of the pedological Movement.

Kreitsberga Karina Andrisovna Teacher of history and social studies, Lyceum No. 273 named after L. Y. Gladysheva 196645, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Polevaya, 35 kreuzbergakarina@gmail.com Other publications by this author

At the beginning of the XX century, psychological laboratories organized at the leading universities of the country appeared in the Russian Empire. The issues that constituted the field of activity of the laboratories concerned the psychological, mental state of society. Often, studies have touched upon the preschool, school environment and considered the features of children's development at different stages of adulthood. In this area, their work formed the direction of pedological research, which also gained popularity at the beginning of the century. Pedology - in a brief interpretation of the “science of children”, causes not just idle interest, but is considered as a tool capable of solving the problem that has arisen in the state. In a report on the activities of the Society for the Education and Upbringing of Abnormal Children under the League of Education for 1909, A. L. Shcheglov wrote: “And now it is not clear to anyone that all kinds of manifestations of abnormality in the child's age are increasing in numbers every year, taking threatening dimensions and acutely raising the question of education, our childhood.” ^{[24, p. 2]} The author recalls that the older generation did not think about educational moments, since they did not experience the problems that arise in the generation of the beginning of the XX century. The scientist's contemporaries often have to deal with children who have deviations. Practically, in every family, according to his observations, there are difficulties in the upbringing and education of a child. As a result of this fact, pedological research penetrates into different structures, a Pedological Institute is being created (at the Psychoneurological Academy), pedological courses are being opened, departments in a number of educational and educational organizations, some shelters design their space according to the pedological approach. The League of Education plays an important role in the formation and replication of pedological experience in the period before 1917.

In historiography, interest in pedology appears in the 60s of the XX century. One of the first works is the study of A. P. Petrovsky entitled “The History of Soviet Psychology". In the work, the author mentions pedology as an underappreciated science that requires more careful study. Until the 90s, the works devoted to pedology were focused on its presentation as an innocently injured, repressed science that needs to be rehabilitated not only in an analytical way, but also in a practical way. P. Y. Shvartsman, I. V. Kuznetsova, S. V. Baranov, A.M. Etkind, etc. wrote about this. Then the research focus shifts to the field of pedagogical analysis of pedology. The works of I. S. Sergeev and A.V. Sokolova belong to the research in this area. A comprehensive analysis of the pedological course was undertaken in the monographs of E. M. Balashov, E. Byford, N. S. Kurek. There were works in the field of pedology research from the point of view of the social aspect, for example, the article by O. A. Artemyeva “Social biography of Soviet pedology”. Nevertheless, all these works related, to a greater extent, precisely to the Soviet period of the existence of pedology. The period of existence of this current before 1917 is little studied. The same should be noted regarding the study and analysis of the activities of the League of Education. This organization is described in most sources in several general paragraphs. The most comprehensive study was undertaken by I. N. Tsenyuga and S. N. Tsenyuga. The work “League of Education" and its influence on the growth of social consciousness of the provincial intelligentsia (based on the materials of the Yenisei province)” examines the process of educational integration of the Yenisei province within the framework of the Education League, which contributed to the development of the civil initiative of this region. L. N. Ruchkina also wrote about the League of Education, considering its role in the framework of the topic “Problems of education in the legislative activity of cadets”, D. I. Popov in the focus of the analysis of cultural and educational societies in Siberia in the late XIX - early XX centuries.

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the interaction  The League of Education with the pedological community, which will reveal its role in the formation of pedological experience, subsequently applied in the 20-30s of the XX century in the USSR. The subject of the study is a community formed by the League of Education and implementing pedagogical experiments in the educational space of the beginning of the century. The work uses the historical and typological method (to identify the criteria by which the pedological trend attracted attention in 1907, and then after the revolution), the retrospective method (especially significant for the study of pedology, since after the revolution the movement experienced a similar round of development, then interest in pedology in the 1990s creates another a similar precedent of historical development), historical-comparative method (used as an analytical continuation of the results of the retrospective method). The novelty of the research lies in the development and analysis of archival materials related to the organization and activities of the League of Education (the study was conducted on the basis of documents of the Central State Administration of St. Petersburg, TsGIA St. Petersburg, TSGAIPD St. Petersburg).

The most significant period in the framework of the study is the period after the First Russian Revolution. The desire for global changes and reforms spread to all spheres of life, and it did not bypass the education system. Formed due to the discrepancy between the disciplines taught and the changed realities of life, the increase in international standards of education, and many other factors, the crisis of the school sphere required a revision of the existing foundations of educational policy. There were many projects of necessary school reform. Many intellectuals of that time were ready to contribute - A.V. Ovsyannikov, S. I. Shokhor-Trotsky ^[10], Ya. I. Dushechkin ^[4], K. N. Wentzel ^[2], N. V. Chekhov ^[26], V. Samsonov ^[16], G. A. Falbrok ^[19], etc. V. I. Charnolusky, a representative of the pedagogical community and a developer of a systematic approach to the formation of pedagogical bibliography, wrote about this time: “The beginning of the liberation movement was marked in the field of popular education by a sharp criticism of the school system created by the old bureaucratic regime. This criticism found expression in a long series of resolutions, notes, petitions, sentences, etc., emanating from educational societies and institutions, teachers' organizations, national groups, student organizations, public gatherings, etc. It is clear that the same principles, in the name of which the old was firmly and irrevocably denied, dictated that the same time and the foundations of the new future school system. However, the outlines of the day after did not leave the field of abstract theoretical positions for a very long time, without being clothed in concrete forms.” ^{[25, p. 1]} The teacher and scientist points to the foundation of the existing system, which, according to his ideas, is based on “fear of God”, violence and oppression over students. It will not be possible to eradicate such an approach instantly, so the author speaks of the need for a “transition period". In addition to the unprepared pedagogical environment, the unpreparedness of society is also revealed in the reflections on school reform. To form new approaches within the school sector, it is necessary to understand the political and economic standards on the basis of which the transformation of Russian society should take place after the events of the First Russian Revolution. V. A. Charnolusky talks about three key questions that must be answered first of all when forming a “new school”: the role of the state in the system of public education, the importance of religion in education, and accessibility, and therefore, from the point of view of the teacher, and free of charge for the population. The draft reform states the need to transfer the management of education to local self-government bodies, in the new space, public administration of school issues should be minimal. This point caused a flurry of criticism, but among the innovative teachers, whose activities were largely focused on experimental practices, was supported by many, which can be seen a little later in the program documents of the League of Education. The main opposing fact, the possible formation of irregular, diverse educational prostranstva. V. A. Charnolusky only sees the positive side of this situation: “Let unto nataraj places of business will be to keep up with: in a democracy the country, with civil liberties, this backwardness, of course, will soon be cured struggle politicheskih parties, campaigning, competition of the productive forces; any other medicine here is not necessary.” ^{[25, p. 5]} As a result of the discussions, the idea of a common center is born, which will coordinate the work of local governments in a pedagogical way. The center should be created not by the state, but by initiative people who are able to analyze the pedagogical situation, if possible, have experience in this field. Another controversial issue is the point about free and generally accessible education in the draft of a possible school reform. Interested teachers spoke about the short-sighted priorities of the state, referring to statements about the lack of resources to finance educational programs, especially in the framework of universal education, which the authors of the school reform projects advocated: “Why, however, is this relatively small amount (20 million rubles) considered too much for the state, and the milliards are not strong for it the costs of wars, hundreds of millions of expenses for the army and navy, for the police and prisons?”^{[25, p. 9]} The modernization process required the emergence of new professional personnel. Education, within the framework of new realities, becomes a tool capable of changing the position of the person receiving it, improving the quality of life. But for this it was necessary to change not only the political paradigm, but also the educational trajectory of the state. Society expected drastic changes. The appearance of a representative body and the legalization of trade unions, the approval of university autonomy, the reduction of military service terms, an attempt to solve the agrarian issue through the Stolypin reform, etc. ^[27] - all this inspired shaky hope for overcoming the crisis moments in the development of Russian society. After 1907, the wages of workers and employees were increased, there was a reduction in the length of the working day, the amount of fines at work ^[27]. The result of these measures should have been an improvement in the quality of life. In the wake of optimistic expectations, an attempt to transition to universal primary education was seriously considered. The draft law on the introduction of universal primary education in the Russian Empire was submitted to the State Duma of the second convocation on February 20, 1907. Acquaintance with the draft and its discussion took place, but no final decision was made. They returned to him again at the meeting of the State Duma of the III convocation on November 1, 1907 ^[13]. The result was similar. In 1912, the reform project was reviewed, once again, and finally rejected ^[14]. The transformation of the school space could affect the legal status of the population and set the tone in the field of educational policy for many years. In reality, the results of interim reforms and attempts at global transformation have been minimized. Illegal opposition continues to form, and some educational and educational institutions unwittingly become part of this process, which will be discussed later.

In 1906, a public organization called the League of Education appeared in St. Petersburg. It is not possible to get an official status right away, and the League of Education gets into the register of societies signed by the mayor D. V. Drachevsky only a year later. Official documents state that its purpose is to promote the organization of education throughout Russia, and the circle of interests of the society includes general education at all its levels: higher, secondary, lower and so-called extracurricular education ^[23]. The range of issues to be solved was very wide: the organization of the legal framework of education, which was absent, and what was available was not relevant, the collection and publication of theoretical and practical developments in the pedagogical field, assistance in opening new educational institutions. The initiative group that built the foundation of the future organization included the authors of the school reform projects mentioned above. The League itself was an independent legal entity, and was represented by general congresses, the board of the League, and the societies that became part of it. The organization was not funded by the state, but existed at the expense of membership fees, donations, fees from concerts, evenings, lectures and other events held by it. The Charter was designed so that all the societies that were members of the League of Education had a high degree of independence, with the possibility of self-government on the basis of the charters developed by them. In order to facilitate the issue of registration in accordance with the current and constantly tightening legislation, a single template was developed, the contents of which could be supplemented with the paragraphs actually worked out. But this practice did not last long, as the document was returned for revision. Therefore, a stricter version of the statutory template was developed, after which, a comparison of official documents of the leading societies of the League of Education shows a high percentage of similarity of texts. Initially, the founding members of the League were the Narva Society of Education in St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Society of Education of the Moscow part.

After the establishment of the organization, already within it, work continues on the design of school reform. An important task is to describe the “new school”, an attempt to understand what it should be: “The school should be free from the point of view of its orientation. Her goal should be the development of all abilities, and not exclusively those inegy or why any unto the moment is desirable and beneficial to one or the other of the state system, or for those drugih national or public CLA. The Board of the League is assured that the discussion of the school issue will not be introduced by the political party. With a natural and necessary political struggle, the school cannot become an instrument. It would be a crime against the nation and its future.” ^{[25, p. 26]} The organization receives a response after publications about the opening of the Society in newspapers, and quickly replenishes its ranks.  The board members continue to analyze the crisis situations in the educational space and come across a non-standard problem - the interest in learning and the craving for knowledge among factory workers and peasants, which is ignored by organizations and authorities. An extensive network of educational projects is beginning to be built. Subordinate organizations begin to do the same, but as time passes, there is a certain inconsistency in actions. The leaders of the League of Education will not immediately pay attention to this fact, unlike the St. Petersburg security department. The fact of inconsistency will be used as one of the points according to which it is necessary to terminate the Company's activities.

Educational and educational projects arose as a response to the challenges of the time. Projects to create a new educational space, a new school, have become one of the popular directions. A lot has been said about the issue of school reform. But the pedagogical community was waiting not only for loud statements, but also for practical recommendations. And they followed. The Moscow Regional Department of the League of Education made a proposal to organize an elementary school on a new basis, corresponding to the democratic system: “New School <...> should provide broad use of so-called heuristic method of teaching, when uchisa gets unto a position of a researcher and inventor, when the teacher gives him only tasks and materials, and all observations, experiences and insights from Dennehy materials makes samye student. <...> The new school should be put at the forefront of the nature of children, mental properties ih age and needs to raise children Samay for nih and for the people.”^{[25, p. 29]} These ideas originate in the pedological theory, widely known by 1908. The League of Education focused on the pedological community, since many of their methods of work allowed to organize the education of problematic, defective children, which corresponded to the key goal of Society - the maximum dissemination of education throughout the Russian Empire, including in the process all categories of the population without exception. Guided by these ideas, an independent organization is being created at the League of Education to work with problem children. On 21 September 1908, from the founding members of the Society for the education of abnormal children in the League of education received a petition for registration in the name of the Governor of St. Petersburg, “According to article 18 of the above-mentioned time bravely March 4, 1906, brought to the attention of Your Excellency that the purpose of institutions of education and training normalnykh children is to promote the production and dissemination of education normalnykh children; the area of operation of the Society extends to the whole of Russia; the order of election of the Council, as well as the location of the Council and the procedure for the entry and departure of members indicated unto sootwetstwu articles supplied with seven of the company's Charter”. ^{[24, p. 1]} Many members of the pedological community pondered relevant to the beginning of the XX century, the question of whether to develop defective, with deviations of every kind, baby? The answer from their side was in the affirmative. Proper education and training will allow this category of children to be relatively able-bodied, therefore, they will be able to benefit society. This will allow, at least partially, to integrate them into society and reduce the cost of their maintenance by the state. The initiatives developing this approach were of a private nature. Many of the people who share this view have joined the Society for the Upbringing and Education of Abnormal Children. Their charter states that the organization plans to work with the deaf, blind, retarded, crippled, etc. The main activity, according to official documents, consisted in the theoretical development of issues of upbringing and education, in promoting voluntary beginnings of the upbringing of defective children, in organizing public meetings on problems studied by Society, in organizing educational institutions and auxiliary facilities, conducting excursions, in publishing books and materials, textbooks. The Society received funding from membership fees (at least 3 rubles annually, those who paid a lump sum of 50 rubles were recognized as life members), private donations, fees from concerts, lectures, some educational events, income from publishing activities and from the capital of the organization ^{[24, p. 9]}.

The chairman of the Society for the Education and Upbringing of Abnormal Children at the League of Education was Professor of the Clinical Institute of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (Yeleninsky Clinical Institute) L. V. Blumenau, whose comrades were elected M. P. Bekleshov and N. Ya. Smelov. The Board consisted of: Director of the Alexander-Mariinsky School for Blind Children G. P.Nedler, Board members M. S. Morozov, privat-docent of the Imperial Military Medical Academy M. V. Bogdanov-Berezovsky, managing director of the guardianship of Empress Maria Alexandrovna about the blind Ya. N. Kolubovsky, doctors A. A. Krogius and A. L. Shcheglov ^{[24, p. 20]}. Many representatives of the Society were directly connected with pedology. Professor L. V. Blumenau conducted pedological courses at the Pedological Institute of the Psychoneurological Academy ^[6]. After the revolution, he remained in the movement and continued his work in the field of neurology. M. P. Bekleshov served in many institutions of a pedological orientation, and after the change of power he continued to teach at the Institute of Pedology and Defectology, and from April 27, 1925 he began to perform rector's duties there, replacing A. S. Griboyedov in this post due to the latter's illness. N. Ya. Smelov interacted with the Kazan Psychophysiological Laboratory of V. M. Bekhterev, where he studied the issues of dementia and mental disorders, as well as the conditions contributing to these deviations. The doctor's experience made it possible to develop disciplinary aspects of interaction with defective children. The director of the Alexander-Mariinsky School for Blind Children, G. P. Nedler, devoted himself to studying the characteristics of students in this category, worked at the school for the blind until his death in 1917, and the institution itself will continue to work after the revolution. The pedological community will replenish the theoretical basis for working with blind children, since collections of articles on the upbringing and education of blind students were published under the editorship of G. P. Nedler. Curricula and manuals for the study of geography, history, and technical education have been preserved. Teaching music, modeling, drawing, learning to play the piano, etc. - all these questions were developed at the school for the blind. G. P. Nedler paid attention to the study of the mental characteristics of a blind child. M. V. Bogdanov - Berezovsky, a private associate professor of the Imperial Military Medical Academy, dealt with the problems of pedagogy of the deaf and dumb in the laboratories of the Psychoneurological Academy, believing that there are methods capable of teaching children with such deviations, A. A. Krogius will become a teacher of the defectology department of the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute, and his work will become a program for students of pedological directions (works of A. A. Krogius). Krogius were noted by B. M. Bekhterev, A. P. Nechaev, A. F. Lazursky, etc.), A. L. Shcheglov will become one of the founders of pedology along with A. A. Krogius, A. F. Lazursky, etc. ^[8]. In fact, representatives of this organization will build the foundation of Soviet pedology in the space of St. Petersburg.

The League of Education played a significant role not only in the analytical study of the educational space, the accumulation of pedological experience, the search for leading pedagogical developments, but also in the replication of these materials. The activities of the organization and its societies were widely covered in printed publications. A Reference and Pedagogical Bureau was created, which was to become a link between the founders and the pedagogical environment. Information about him spread quickly. The announcement appeared in the Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette on July 1, 1909 ^[17], in the Yekaterinoslav Diocesan Gazette of September 11, 1909 ^[5].  For several years of the bureau's work, members of the League of Education have collected information on the practice and theory of education and training, conducted legal consultations, organized the reception of appeals, collected and published pedagogical materials.

The report on the activities of the League of Education for 1907-1908 speaks of another urgent task. We are talking about the creation of a Pedagogical Academy: “The idea of creating such an institution was, of course, not new to Russian society. There were even attempts to implement it (Pedagogical courses of military educational institutions, Pedological courses). <...> The need for broadly educated teachers was felt especially acutely among us when the issue of universal education was put on the waiting list for legislative institutions, the introduction of which into the life of untrained specialist teachers would have been much more difficult. On the first day of the Board (April 12, 1907), the “Commission for the Organization and Collection of Funds for the Pedagogical Academy” was established, which included many teachers of Pedological courses.” ^{[9, p. 2]} The Pedagogical Academy was opened in 1908. The training programs included such subjects as pedagogical psychology, school hygiene, general psychology, anatomy, physiology, etc. The Academy was supposed to produce experienced, highly qualified teachers capable of conducting not only practical activities, but also being experimenters, school doctors and other specialists of the school sector. In the lists of literature recommended to students, one could find the names of popular pedologists, with a focus on whose research the curriculum was compiled. In different years, the teaching staff included A. P. Nechaev (was the secretary of the Academy), A. F. Lazursky, A. S. Lappo-Danilevsky, etc. ^[22] In the lists of members of the Commission for the Organization and search of funds for the Pedagogical Academy, you can see such names as L. V. Blumenau, A. S. Griboyedov, D. V. Feldberg, N. E. Rumyantsev, etc. All specialists will continue to be the ideological leaders of pedological experiments even after the revolution (many of the specialists represented did not consider themselves pedologists, but their work was significant for the latter).During its operation, this educational institution has become a major research center ^[7]. The materials accumulated by the staff became the foundation for the institutes of pedological orientation in the 1920s and 30s. There was a psychological laboratory at the Academy, a hygienic office operated, and its own experimental school appeared ^[18]. The works of the Academy's figures were presented in the multi-volume publications of the institution ^[12]. Nevertheless, in 1915, the Academy's activities were suspended. There were not enough donations, the teaching staff was constantly under the supervision of government agencies, there was no longer an opportunity to conduct free experiments.          

Another serious contribution of the League of Education to the broadcast of advanced pedagogical experience, which included pedological research, is the creation of a library. The Pedagogical Library at the League of Education was established by the decision of the Board of the organization on May 5, 1907. Initially, the funds were compiled from books donated by the Literacy Committee and the Imperial Free Economic Society. With the beginning of the collection of the fund, announcements are published with a request to transfer one copy of the relevant research for the pedagogical environment, which are published on the basis of the leading educational and research institutions of the country ^{[9, p. 8]}. More than 2000 pedagogical publications published at the beginning of the century were preserved in the library's collections. It was assumed that a museum commission would also be created, which would design a new type of museum teaching space. In addition to these organizations, an experimental laboratory was to function.

The members of the Board of the League of Education attached great importance to participation in the international exhibition “Education and Upbringing". The project of the event included sections developed by members of the society. The purpose of the exhibition was to present the advanced pedagogical experience of the Russian Empire. An important role was played by the demonstration of pedological research. Department No. 12 of the exhibition was to highlight the results of the study of psychology and physiology of childhood (pedology), department No. 11 presented studies of school hygiene, school architecture ^{[9, p. 71]}. Over the entire period of the organization's existence, commissions were created to develop and analyze curricula, congresses of educators were organized, studies were conducted on the relationship between family and school ^{[9, p. 82]}. The League of Education acted not only within the framework of its member societies, but also tried to interact with other educational organizations. For this purpose, a list of all available educational communities was compiled. Sheets were also developed to analyze their activities.

Summing up, it is worth noting that the League of Education, in addition to the School Education Society and the University Society, also included the Society for the Promotion of Extracurricular Education, which formed its own Council, which included an executive commission, a library, to compile a catalog of public libraries, and, separately, to compile a catalog of current literature. There was also a commission on the organization of courses for the preparation of lecturers. Within the framework of the School Education Society, many scientists spoke, whose works will be relevant in the framework of pedological experiments in the 20-30s. An example is the speech of one of the founders  Society - V. A. Wagner with the theme “The study of nature as a factor of education" ^{[9, p. 19]}. The researcher's interest will deepen over time. V. A. Wagner, fascinated by the ideas of L. S. Vygotsky, in 1929 prepared a work entitled “Psychological types and collective psychology: (According to biol. sciences)” ^[1]. This work will be transferred to libraries, and will be included in the lists of recommended literature for students of pediatric departments.

Despite the successful and productive activities, the government will refuse the League of Education. And this is primarily due to the political context, from which, initially, according to the Charter of the organization, members of the society had to be abstracted. For a better understanding of the process of closing the organization, together with all the adjacent branches, it is worth referring to the transcript of the evening of Petrograd workers' memories of their first interactions with the Bolsheviks. The transcript itself appeared on April 25, 1932. Its goal was to gather as much information as possible about the underground work of the Bolsheviks in the period from the inception of the party until 1914.  Worker Abramov recalls: “As for other organizations in the Narva district, here we had, as comrades pointed out, the Ushakov school, which was unofficially our Bolshevik club. Then we decided to take the Education League into our own hands before the arrest of the PC, because the board was made up of Mensheviks and we had to get into the board members there at all costs, take this club. What was he needed for? Because we could do a lot of work there, since it was a mass club, and we wanted to take advantage of those workers who came there to be educated in order to attract them to us.”^{[21, p. 9]} The result was not long in coming and Abramov completes his thought: “In 1910, this League of Education we took it into our own hands - according to the instructions of the party, we had to take it. Antonov, Vasiliev and I were appointed members of the board of this club.” [21. p. 10] In 1911, the local divisions of the League of Education were closed by order of the mayor for the reason that the League began to deviate greatly from its direct task - cultural and educational activities and paid more attention to purely political work, political education of the masses ^[20]. In this fragment, we were talking about the Society for the Promotion of Extracurricular Education under the League of Education.

               Thus, the Education League gradually ceased to exist. But the specialists discussed above continued their work in other organizations and created the foundation of Soviet pedology.

The key findings of the study include:               

Projects of an educational standard corresponding to the current challenges of the time have arisen since the period of Great Reforms. However, the process of modeling the new school system turned out to be complex and contradictory. First of all, because of a wide range of problems related to the development of children, family life, pressure from the state. The emergence of pedological research at the turn of the century allowed us to offer educational trajectories to all categories of students. After the First Russian Revolution, there was hope for the introduction of universal education. During this period, pedology was considered as a tool capable of building a new type of learning space, taking into account all previously unsolvable situations. Following this process, institutions appear with a focus on pedological methods of analyzing and designing the school environment.

               Against the background of many separate structures, organizations, shelters that do not interact with each other, but are focused on the same goal, the League of Education appears. An independent society, the main purpose of which was educational activity, was considered, in addition to its main purpose, also as a link between all existing associations. The tasks that the organization set for itself were of a fundamental nature: the study of child development, the organization of medical and pedagogical assistance, the training of specialists who can be in demand in a rapidly changing world, focused on international best practices, understanding the audience that comes to their classroom for a lesson, or for lectures of a specialized professional training of different levels. For this purpose, a Pedagogical academy, a pedagogical library, a museum, an experimental teacher's space, etc. were created.

                A special merit of the Education League is the creation of a unique pedagogical environment in which the center and the periphery interact in the community, which made it possible to optimize the management of the educational process, make it lively, organic, built not on directives, but on the involvement of teachers, students, and the interest of the parent team. Pedological studies replicated by Society and affecting the organization of school space, the construction of lessons, interaction with the child in the home space made it possible to cope with learning difficulties that are local, specific in nature. Such projects were the result of awareness of the need for a radical paradigm shift in the education system caused by the reform period. Their public discussions in the press, at lectures organized by the League of Education gathered a large audience. Thus, there was an opportunity to be heard, to feel involved in the construction of the future space of life, very different from the existing one.

                  The League of Education played a key role in the accumulation and replication of pedological experience: laboratories for pedological experiments, a Reference and Pedagogical Bureau were created, information about new pedagogical materials and research was systematically published, successful experiments were widely covered. The board members developed and collected, to a greater extent, pedological experience aimed at the most problematic category of students - defective children. All this will make it possible to talk about the introduction of pedology and pedologists, as a mandatory element in school, in the 20 - 30s of the XX century. The implementation of pedological experiments in the USSR was most successful in an environment that had a retrospective connection with the legacy of the League of Education, i.e., where the work was conducted by pedologists with pre-revolutionary experience and who were direct students of the founding fathers, which were discussed in the article.