C.P.S.U. Goals for Teacher Training In September 1961, the C.P.S.U. Central Committee and the Council of Ministers passed a joint resolution for meeting a teaching shortage at the elementary-secondary level, one which is not apparent in examination of Soviet published statistics, and appears to result from the growth of the school system under the reform and increasing pupil enrollments. Temporarily retreating from the goal of 4-year higher teacher training for all primary school teachers, the resolution called for selection in the next 2 years, of the best secondary school graduates to receive 1 year's special training. After beginning teaching, the graduates of these 1-year special courses might continue training in correspondence divisions of pedagogical institutes. At the same time, enrollments in regular pedagogical institutes were to be substantially increased, and persons having a higher education in other fields could enter teaching by taking the fourth year of study in pedagogical institutes. That the need for training substantially greater numbers of teachers would continue for some time, was evident from the education expansion goals set by the Communist Party program adopted at the 22d C.P.S.U. Congress in October 1961. The program stated: In the next decade compulsory secondary general and polytechnical 11-year education is to be introduced for all children of school age, and 8-year education for young people engaged in the national economy who have not had the appropriate schooling; in the subsequent decade everyone will have the opportunity to receive a complete secondary education . . [there will be] a considerable expansion of the network of all types of general schools, including evening schools, which provide a secondary education in off-work hours. Training for Specialized Research The training of scholars and research personnel for higher schools and specialized research institutes was reviewed in a Central Committee-Council of Ministers' resolution of May 1962. The resolution chiefly pertained to methods of improving the quality of professional research personnel and research work. It referred to the substantial increase in the number of scientific workers in the U.S.S.R., important areas of success, and to recent qualitative improvements in research and practice. The resolution noted that tasks of further developing science and engineering demanded considerable improvement in the selection and training of professional personnel: Scientific workers were not being prepared fast enough; a certain number of dissertations. submitted for academic degrees, and for which degrees had been granted, had no essential scientific or practical significance; and most graduates did not defend their dissertations within the established period. Elementary Education UNITED STATES CHART I.-PRE- AND POST-REFORM STRUCTURE OF THE SOVIE UNION OF SOVI Elementary Age Unspecified PRE-REFORM STRUCTURE (1930's-1950's) Advanced degree training-Research 23 22 17 Schools and academies Secondary semi- 10-year graduates) Secondary semiprofessional schools (technicums). 15 Regular (accepting 7-year graduates) 14 13 (2-4 year) High school 16 (4-year) Incomplete secondary Labor reserve draft Primary or 4-year school Nursery school Creches 'Dewitt, Nicholas. Education and Professional Employment in the U.S.S.R. Washington. D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960 C.P.S.U. Goals In September Council of Minist shortage at the ele in examination of from the growth o pupil enrollments higher teacher tra called for selectio graduates to rec teaching, the grad training in corresĮ At the same ti were to be substan tion in other field: study in pedagogi That the need fo would continue fc pansion goals set 22d C.P.S.U. Cons In the next decad education is to be i tion for young peop appropriate school opportunity to rece considerable expan cluding evening sc hours. Training for Sp The training of and specialized res mittee-Council of chiefly pertained t research personnel increase in the num areas of success, a and practice. The science and engine selection and trai were not being pre] submitted for aca granted, had no es graduates did not period. To improve the selection of researchers, young specialists with higher education would be included in staffs of scientific research institutes and higher schools to serve a 2-year probationary period, after which only acceptable specialists would be retained. The resolution further stipulated, in an apparent effort to weed out scholars of diminishing capability, that supervisory positions in higher schools and research institutes may not be occupied by persons over 65 years old. Doctors of science and professors who were of pension age could be transferred to the position of "senior scientific associate, consultant," in which they would primarily train scientific personnel. Finally, the system of selection and approval of graduate student dissertations would be tightened up, in a system of review by scientific and academic councils of research institutes and higher schools, and by the Higher Certification Commission of the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Higher and Specialized Secondary Education. Social Science Conference Developments in teaching and research in the social sciences was the subject of a 4-day "All-Union Conference of Heads of Social Science Chairs," held in Moscow in February 1962. In sheer number of participants, over 2,600, this conference was even larger than the general higher education conference of the preceding July. Top Communist Party and government officials participated, as well as educators. As in any Soviet discussions on the subject, success in teaching and research in various fields which are considered as social sciences in the U.S.S.R., such as "Historical and Dialectical Materialism," "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union," and "Political Economy," was equated with success in transmitting Communist dogma and developing a "Communist consciousness" in students: World developments, events within and between countries, were to be viewed in terms of this Communist ideology. The program of the 22d C.P.S.U. Congress, which calls for the propagation of the great advantages of communism over the declining capitalist system, was to be carefully studied and applied. Revisions of textbooks and courses of study which, it was acknowledged, for years had been distorted by the "cult of Stalin's personality," were continued and new textbooks in the social sciences were being introduced. Foreign Language Teaching The teaching of foreign languages was the subject of an interhigher school conference held at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute in January 1962. About 250 foreign language teachers from 60 cities throughout the U.S.S.R. were reported to have participated. The specific topic of discussion was foreign language-teaching reform in line with a May 1961 resolution of the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers. That resolution stated that foreign languages are studied in all Soviet higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, in general education secondary school, and in almost all incomplete secondary schools. At the same time, it noted that most persons completing secondary general and specialized schools and higher educational institutions have a poor knowledge of a foreign language and cannot translate a foreign text without the aid of a dictionary: Use of the spoken foreign language is especially weak. In its resolution, the U.S.S.R. Council of Ministers directed the councils of ministers of the union republics, and the various ministries and departments having charge of educational institutions, to eliminate the shortcomings in foreign language instruction and to improve the means for foreign language study in the secondary and higher schools. The resolution called for at least 240 hours of compulsory foreign language classes at most higher schools; organization of 2-year pedagogical courses at a number of universities and pedagogical institutions to train highly qualified language instructors for higher schools; and compulsory advanced training for foreign-language teachers with insufficient training. In apparent reaction to mounting criticism of the prevailing emphasis in foreign language instruction on the rules of grammar and of the current system of reading and translation from texts, the 1962 interhigher school conference stressed the need of teaching techniques, course organization, and audiovisual equipment to support increasing use of the oral-aural approach. Soviet Education and National Goals The pattern which emerges from analysis of these major conference discussions and resolutions is one of constant pressure by the Communist Party and government leadership to move Soviet education in the desired political, economic, social and cultural direction, in conformity with the 1958 reform law. It denotes great effort on the part of the educational community to meet the demands placed on it, and progress through a national system of criticism, self-criticism, and constant review. It is a system which may be called "exegesis"—that is, the word comes down from above, to be discussed, interpreted, elaborated, and implemented. It is a system in which education is linked to national goals and is given substantial State support. A prominent |