Non-formal Education

We define non-formal education as a part of general education, which gives students the required tools for cognition and creativity. It allows them to fully realize their self-potential and to set their own professional and personal goals. In this article, we outline the fundamental differences between general and non-formal education from the point of view of determining opportunities for student self-development. We reveal opportunities where non-formal education can advance personal development within the modern educational paradigm of the Russian Federation.     

The Bulgarian Monument to the Soviet Army: Visual Burlesque,Epic, and the Emergence of Comic Subjectivity

Drawing on the psychoanalytical theory of Jacques Lacan, rhetorical scholars can delineate between subversive and conservative comedy—conceived not in terms of genre but as modes of subjectivity articulation that produce perspectival shifts within a given symbolic configuration—in ways that allow us to theorize, and to possibly map, the production of an active critical subject. I analyze two visual political interventions—a graffiti artwork and a 3D animated projection—onto the façade of the contested Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, Bulgaria. The interventions' rhetorical potential hinges on the dialogic deployment of subversive and conservative burlesque and of the epic. To delineate between subversive burlesque, which entails identification with rupture or the irreducible antagonism constitutive of any social-discursive formation, and conservative burlesque, for which rupture only serves to reaffirm an ideologically assured identity, I draw on Alenka Zupan?i?'s typology of comedy. The subversive burlesque can open space for agency and social critique by short-circuiting the relationship between the universal and the particular elements in a given ideological formation, while the conservative burlesque and the epic leave that relationship intact.     

Using TIMSS and PISA results to inform educational policy: a study of Russia and its neighbours

In this paper, we develop a multi-level comparative approach to analyse Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) and Programme of International Student Achievement (PISA) mathematics results for a country, Russia, where the two tests provide contradictory information about students’ relative performance. Russian students do relatively well on the TIMSS mathematics test but relatively poorly on the PISA. We compare the performance of Russian students with different levels of family academic resources over the past decade on these tests compared to students with similar family resources in Russia’s neighbours and to Russian students studying in Latvian and Estonian Russian-medium schools. These comparisons and interviews with educators in Latvia and Estonia help us understand why students in Russia may perform lower on the PISA and to draw education policy lessons for improving international test performance generally and Russian students’ PISA mathematics performance specifically.     

College Students' Intercultural Competence and Interethnic Tolerance

Data from studies of interethnic tolerance among college students in Russia show that positive or negative attitudes toward other ethnic groups is a factor of both personal characteristics and experience of and access to other groups. Levels of tolerance in turn are associated with different levels of interest in other groups and in building positive relations with them.     

The effect of phonological processing on mathematics performance in elementary school varies for boys and girls: Fixed-effects longitudinal analysis

Investigations into the relations between phonological processing and math performance have yielded contradictory results. These contradictions might be related to small sample sizes and/or cross-sectional designs of previous studies that limited the possibility of generalizing the findings obtained. The first goal of this study was to estimate the effect of phonological processing on number recognition and math performance during the first year of schooling, controlling for reading achievement. The second goal was to examine whether this effect varied for boys and girls. To achieve these goals, we used a large sample of first-graders (N = 3296, 49% were girls) in Russia and applied fixed effects longitudinal analysis. Participants were assessed twice, at the beginning and at the end of the first grade (mean age was 7.3 years at Time 1). The item response theory scaling procedure was used to estimate individual scores for math performance, number recognition, phonological processing and reading performance. The results revealed that phonological processing had effects on number recognition and math performance. This effect was more salient for number recognition than for math performance, probably due to the greater involvement of the retrieval strategy in number recognition tasks. The results also demonstrated that the effect of phonological processing on number recognition was stronger for girls than for boys.     

Self-Control as a Personal Resource: Determining Its Relationships to Success,Perseverance, and Well-Being

Self-control is understood as the ability of the individual to manage his behavior and emotions, thoughtfully react to events that happen around him, and to prevent himself from acting out of undesirable impulses and emotions. This article presents two studies that sought to validate a Russian-language version of the Brief Self-Control Scale that was developed by June P. Tangney, Roy F. Baumeister, and Angie Luzio Boone. The studies tested samples of employees (n = 591) and students (n = 328), respectively, using the scale consisting of 13 items. We demonstrate the one-dimensional structure of the scale using confirmatory factor analysis. The scale has high reliability (Cronbach alpha of 0.84 and 0.79), and it demonstrates predictable current and potential future relationships with self-reported and objective indicators of academic and professional success. Self-control is associated with indicators of successful functioning and well-being. The obtained connections retain statistical reliability when controlling for social desirability. The results show that self-control is an important personal-motivational resource that contributes to success in life and improving psychological well-being.     

Russia's College Students

Research on the effect of secondary employment on the sense of well-being of students in full-time education shows that the degree of fatigue and emotional stress on the job is affected by gender, the students' assessment of their own health, and their disposition to take care of their health.     

ON THE DIMENSIONS OF POWER IN EDUCATION

Power is manifested in human nature and activity. However, in the sphere of education, especially higher education, it should not be manifested. Something becomes an asset only when it has become a personal possession. In order for an asset to be accepted as such by an individual, it must be situated indirectly in the circumstances which have led to that individual's personal choice of the asset in question.     

Checking the possibility of equating a mathematics assessment between Russia,Scotland and England for children starting school

Is it possible to compare the results in assessments of mathematics across countries with different curricula, traditions and age of starting school? As part of the iPIPS project, a Russian version of the iPIPS baseline assessment was developed and trial data were available from about 300 Russian children at the start and end of their first year at school. These were matched with parallel data from representative samples of equal numbers of children from England and Scotland. The equating of the scales was explored using Rasch measurement. A unified scale was easiest to create for England and Scotland at the start and end of their first year at school when children only differ by a half a year in age, and live in adjacent countries with a common language. Although fewer items showed invariance across the three countries, it was possible to link iPIPS scores in mathematics from the start and end of the first year at school across Scotland, England and Russia. The findings of this study suggest that, despite the apparent difficulties, meaningful comparisons of mathematics attainment and development can be made. These will allow for substantive interpretations with policy implications.