Yanovskaya O.R., Rybina G.A. Russian Education in Terms of 'Knowledge Economy'

Abstract: The subject of the present article is the concepts of 'knowledge society' and 'knowledge economy' in reference to the contemporary situation in the Russian education and science. The primary objective of the research is to analyze the history and definitions of these terms in contemporary Russian education and science as well as to perform the critical analysis of contemporary approaches to the evaluation of the work made by a teacher or a scientist.  The central issue of the research is the question whether it is reasonable to apply Western educational standards to the Russian education system. The main research methods include: examination and analysis of literature, historical approach, critical and comparative analysis and general scientific methods of theoretical research. The main conclusions of the research are the following: 1) Today's reforms that are being implemented in Russia according to Western standards appear to be a failure. This is due to the fact that little attention has been paid to the adaptation of new standards to the effective education system. Neither have been considered the history of the development of Russian education and science and mentality of the Russian society. 2) Education and science are the spheres of social life where the 'knowledge economy' methods, i.e. the attitude to knowledge as the goods, are not applicable. Thus, the methods that are offered by the contemporary scientific and education systems for evaluation the work of a scientist or a teacher using formal numerical values and the general attempt to narrow down such evaluation to the cost-effectiveness analysis may have a negative influence on the further development of culture in general, because education and science are not only the part of the economic system but also one of the most important elements of cultural life of the society and therefore can't be measured based on only pragmatic principles. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the authors of the article provide the analysis of the latest tendencies in Russian education and science compared to the global trends that haven't been intepreted by the Russian scientific literature yet. 

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