Educational system in Russia

Russians have always shown a great concern for education. The right to education is stated in the constitution of the Russian Federation. It's ensured by compulsory secondary schools, vocational schools and higher education establishment. It is also ensured by the development of extramural and evening courses and the system of state scholarship and grants.

Education in Russia is compulsory up to the 9th form inclusive. The stages of compulsory schooling in Russia are: primary education for ages 6-7 to 9-10 inclusive; and junior school for ages 10-11 to 12-13 inclusive, and senior school for ages 13-14 to 14-15 inclusive. If a pupil of secondary school wishes to go on in higher education, he or she must stay at school for two more years. Primary and secondary school together comprise 11 years of study. Every school has a "core curriculum" of academic subjects.

After finishing the 9th form one can go on to a vocational school which offer programmes of academic subjects and a programme of training in a technical field, or a profession.

The evaluation of the performance of students is designed in such a way that the progress in mastering the subjects in the curricula is monitored closely and

objectively. The number of tests and examinations during every academic year is strictly formulated by the head of the institutions. Student performance on test is evaluated as "passed" or "failed" and on examinations as "excellent", "good" "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory". Students who accumulate a number of arrears in

their new academic year would be dismissed from their higher educational institutions. The final state examinations are also very important part of the higher educational assessment process in Russia.

Both at schools and universities, a 5-grade scale is used:

"5" = "excellent”, "4" = “good”, "3" = “satisfactory”, "2" = “unsatisfactory / failing”.

"5" is the best mark, "2" is the worst. This system is not compulsory and in rare cases, for example, a 10-grade scale can be used.

A test which is passed at the end of 9th and 11th form is called the United State Exam. It consists of three parts:

1) Part A contains tasks where the student has to pick out the correct answer out of several,

2) in Part B the correct answer should be written in one word, and no variants are given,

3)and in Part C the student has to write the full solution (as in mathematics) or a composition (as in literature).

The answers are written on special blanks, digitally scanned, with parts A and B being checked automatically by the computer software.

What's good for students of 11th form is that now they do not have to pass both their final school exams and entrance exams at a university. The score of several, usually three (e.g. to enter a Linguistics department, student has to pass Russian, English, and social science exams), subjects is summed up, this total score is the basis of accepting a student at a university. Students now also have a chance to apply at several universities and choose one after they get to know if their score is enough to enter this or that university.

After finishing the 11th form of a secondary school, a lyceum or a gymnasium one can go into higher education. All applicants must take competitive exam. Higher education institution, that is institutes or universities, offer a 5-years programme of academic subjects for undergraduates in a variety of fields, as well as a graduate course and writes a thesis, he or she receives a candidate degree or a doctoral degree. Higher educational establishments are headed by Rectors. Protectors are in charge of academic and scientific work. An institute or a university has a number of faculties, each specialising councils which confer candidate and doctoral degrees.

The system of higher and secondary education in Russia is going trough a transitional period. The main objectives of the reforms are: to decentralize the higher education system, to develop a new financial mechanism, to give more academic freedom to faculties and students. All secondary schools, institutes and universities until recently have been funded by the state. Now there is quite a number of private fee-paying primary and secondary schools, some universities have fee-paying departments.

Task 20. Answer the questions to the text:

1. Is secondary education compulsory in our country?
2. What age are Russian children when they begin their primary education?
3. How many years do pupils attend school in Russia?
4. What do you personally think of the advantages and disadvantages of the United State Exam?
5. Are there fee-paying schools and other educational institutions in Russia? Do you happen to know such institutions in your town?

• Sometimes people have to move from place to place, from school to school. It’s usually not easy to change your place of living or studies. People feel uncomfortable in their new environment and try to get used to it as soon as they can.
• This text is about a school-boy who had to change his school. Put these jumbled passages of the text in the correct chronological order. Think of some logical links between the passages.

· After reading this text, try to give some advice to a person who has to move to some other place or change school. Say what you personally think: what should we do to feel better and more comfortable in our new environment as soon as possible?