Education is a process of familiarizing a person with values, knowledge about the world, as well as the experience that has been accumulated by previous generations. If we consider education as a science, then we can highlight several key aspects. Firstly, it represents an integral system of an individual's knowledge of the world, supported by relevant skills in the fields of human activity. Secondly, education is focused training, the formation of a certain set of skills and knowledge in a person. In addition, it is also a complex of social institutions through which professional and additional training is provided.
In our article we will consider the features of the structure of the education system.
Goals and Functions
Summarizing the above information, we can determine that the goal is to familiarize a person with the values, beliefs, ideals of the predominant part of society. Therefore, the functions of education are reduced to:
- upbringing;
- socialization;
- training of qualified specialists;
- familiarization with culture, modern technologies, etc.
Issues related to educational activities are regulated by the Constitution, the Family and Civil Codes, the Federal Law "On Education" and other sectoral legal acts.
An educated person is a person who has mastered a certain amount of knowledge, accustomed to think logically, identify the causes and consequences of certain processes and phenomena. The key criterion for this is the systematic way of thinking and knowledge. This is manifested in the individual’s ability, independently, using logical reasoning, to restore the missing elements in the knowledge system.
Levels of general education in the Russian Federation
They are determined depending on the volume of knowledge, the degree of independence of thinking achieved.
The very first step is preschool education. In the Russian Federation there are institutions - Kindergartens - in which children from 3 to 6 years are located. Classes in them give a general idea of the world, contribute to socialization, adaptation in the team. The tasks of the kindergarten are to develop the personality of the child, intellectual, moral, physical, aesthetic qualities, the formation of prerequisites for educational activities, strengthening and maintaining the health of children. DOW can be both private and budget.
The next step is primary general education. In the Russian Federation over the past decade, the number of schools, grammar schools, lyceums and other educational institutions has increased significantly. Primary education provides the formation of a child’s personality, the development of individual abilities, positive skills and motivations in educational activities. In the structure of the education system, this level is considered one of the main. It is in elementary school that a respectful attitude towards the teacher and peers is formed. At this level, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for the adaptation of the child in the new team. In elementary school, children learn to write, read, count, acquire the skills of theoretical thinking, self-control, cultural speech, learn to observe personal hygiene and lead a healthy lifestyle.
The next step is secondary general education. In the Russian Federation, this level of education is of great importance. Secondary education is focused on the further formation and formation of the child’s personality, the development of his interest in cognition, the manifestation of creative abilities, and the improvement of independent cognitive activity skills. At this stage, the foundation for further training and career guidance is formed in the structure of the education system. At this level, the student is preparing for further life in society, the beginning of work. In the Russian Federation, basic general education can be obtained not only at school. Many teenagers graduate from grade 9 and go to college or college to get a profession. However, before they will pass the program of grades 10-11.
Important point
It should be noted that in Russia the school system is built on continuity. This means that a subject who has not received primary or basic education will not be allowed to study at the next levels. These levels, in accordance with Part 5 of Art. 66 of the Federal Law "On Education" are mandatory.
Vocational education
It is a type of education aimed at the acquisition of skills, knowledge, skills, the formation of competencies of a certain volume and level during the development of professional training programs for the subsequent conduct of labor activity in the selected field or to perform work in a specific specialty.
Stages of vocational education
The following levels of vocational education are available:
As mentioned above, initial vocational education is aimed at filling the gaps in knowledge acquired at school. The average level of professional education provides a solution to the problems of cultural and intellectual development of a person. At this stage, the training of qualified employees, specialists, middle-level workers in all key areas of socially useful activity is underway. It is also important that in the Russian Federation secondary vocational education ensures the satisfaction of the student's needs in deepening and expanding knowledge, and advanced training.
University
Higher education is the training of highly qualified personnel. It covers scientific and pedagogical activities in graduate school (adjunct), residency, internships.
At this stage of the structure of the education system, the student acquires skills, knowledge and skills, forms the competencies necessary to perform certain official, labor tasks. Learning is not accompanied by a transition from one level to another. In this regard, higher education should not be confused with secondary vocational education. The list of specialties, areas of training, and professions in which training takes place is approved by the Ministry of Education and Science.
Additional education
It is focused on the comprehensive satisfaction of human needs in the spiritual, moral, intellectual, physical plan or in professional development. Additional education does not imply a transition of the subject from level to level. It includes general and pre-vocational programs. The implementation of the latter is carried out exclusively for children and only in the field of art, physical education and sports.
Pre-vocational continuing education programs
They are aimed at identifying and selecting talented children at an early age. In the field of art, their implementation allows providing conditions for aesthetic education and art education of children, their acquisition of skills, knowledge, skills, and experience in creativity. Within the framework of these programs, preparations are being made for students to receive professional education in the selected art form.
In the field of physical education and sports, pre-vocational training is aimed at creating conditions for the physical development and education of children, obtaining initial knowledge and skills in this field, and preparing for mastering the levels of sports qualifications.
Additional vocational education is focused on providing professional and educational needs, ensuring that existing qualifications meet the changing conditions of the social environment and work. In the course of mastering the programs, the acquisition or improvement of new competencies necessary for further work takes place.
Educational content
It should be understood as a specific amount of skills, knowledge and skills in a particular discipline. Content is formed by selecting training materials and relevant scientific fields based on existing didactic principles. The amount of knowledge is transmitted to students through special means, sources of information.
Foundation system
The key principles of the formation of educational content in schools include:
- Humanity. It provides priority for universal values, human health and the free development of his personality.
- Science. It manifests itself in accordance with the knowledge proposed for study, with the latest achievements of socio-cultural, technical progress.
- Sequence. It consists in planning the content of education, its continuity. Each new knowledge must be based on the previous one and flow from it.
- Historicism It involves the reproduction in school courses of the development of a particular branch of knowledge, human practice, and the coverage of the work of prominent scientists.
- Systematic. It consists in the consideration of knowledge and skills, the formation of all training courses and the content of education as a whole as systems integrated into each other and into the general structure of human culture.
The amount of knowledge gained should be connected with life, adapted to modern needs. The skills that students receive must act as universal means of reinforcing education with real practice. The content of education should correspond to age-related opportunities, the level of preparedness of children.
Equally important is the availability of training. It is determined by the structure of programs and plans, the way knowledge is presented in textbooks, the order of introduction, and the number of scientific terms and concepts.
Training and education
These are two subsystems of education that are closely related to each other.
Pedagogy reveals the essence of learning, its methods and goals. Under education, usually people understand a process in which there are 2 elements. The first is education, and the second is education. The latter is considered in the narrow sense of the word. Parenting is a subsystem of education that is on a par with learning, not under and not above it.
It should be noted that Plato isolated these elements at one time. In his dialogue “Sophist,” he calls for a distinction between “the art of educating and the art of educating”. In his "Laws" Plato argued that "education should be recognized as the most important element in training." By the latter, the author understands the formation of a positive attitude towards what the individual is learning. Thus, a person joins "not only in knowledge, but also in methods of activity."
Differentiation of concepts
Many after Plato tried to define parenting and training, to distinguish between these processes. I must say that great success in solving this problem has been achieved by domestic scientists. Among them, Kraevsky, Lerner and others. It should be noted that all their concepts were mutually complementary, but not mutually exclusive. From the point of view of content, all concepts came down to the fact that training and education are:
- subsystems of a holistic educational process;
- sides of organized work on the socialization of man;
- differ from each other in that training mainly affects the intellectual side, and education - on the emotional, practical, value;
- processes are not only interconnected, but also complementary and mutually supportive.
Education can only be realized if educational goals are set along with educational goals.
A very interesting concept was put forward by KD Ushinsky. In his opinion, education is construction, during which a building is being erected. Knowledge is its foundation. This building has many floors: skills, abilities, abilities. Their strength depends on the quality of the foundation laid in the form of knowledge.
Conclusion
Education is one of the key areas of public life. The cultural, moral, intellectual state of society will depend on its functioning. The end result is to achieve the individual’s education, the formation of a new quality, expressed in the complex of acquired skills, abilities and knowledge. This opinion is shared by most modern educators.
Education today is recognized as a determining factor in the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, to achieve the strategic goals of the state, it is necessary to constantly improve the system of training highly qualified personnel.