< Serguey I.Zmeyov PhD in Philology, Ass. Prof. Department of Andragogy Institute of General Education Moscow, Russia STATE OF ADULT EDUCATION AND OF ADULT EDUCATION RESEARCH IN RUSSIA. - Published in: Adult Education Research in the Countries in Transition. Ljubljana, Slovene Adult Education Centre, 1996. < Russia is now on the eve of the explosive growth of the societal needs for adult education. This growth is determined by the social, economic, cultural, psychological factors and incited by the development of the theory and the practice of adult learning. The most important economic factor is the development of the free-market principles in the Russian economy. This process, on one hand, engenders many new for the Russian society and economy jobs and professions (for example, the business, the management, the banks, etc.), but on the other hand, contributes to the appearance of the unemployment. The both consequences of this process lead to the rise of the educational needs of adults in the professional training and retraining. The sophistication and the intensification of the social life - the appearance of diverse political parties and social movements, the arising of a real, democratic pluralism, the development of personal freedom - compel an individual to make choices, to take decisions, to assume his/her own attitudes as regards the environment, both natural and social. But all this is possible only on the base of the receiving and of the processing of a great volume of information. The individual, it's clear, ought to be prepared for this complicated social life, he or she must have a good and diversified general and cultural education. The renaissance and the popularisation of the culture, the growth of its influence on the people also favours the growth of educational needs of the large sectors of the population. Finally, the strengthened thirst of people for the perfection of the self, for the more perfect fulfilment of social roles (this one of a good worker, this one of a good family member, this one of a good citizen, etc.) leads them to learning. So, the educational needs of adult Russians now are growing and diversifying. General secondary education and professional training and retraining always were and till now are the main educational needs of Russian adults. But nowadays are appearing new educational needs concerning home and family life, health, community living, enjoyment of leisure time and personal development. Actually the most popular and the most acute educational needs of adult Russians concern the learning of foreign languages, the business, the psychology of family life, the understanding and raising of children, the physical fitness. Consequently, the adult education in Russia is by now developing in all its aspects: practical, theoretical, methodological. At the present time, the following forms of adult education have been established in Russia: I. Formal education structures: - general secondary education in the evening (or the shifts) secondary schools; - vocational education in the evening and part-time vocational schools and vocational courses with various training terms; - secondary specialised education by correspondence and in the evenings organised in specialised correspondence secondary schools and in the evening and correspondence departments of the regular secondary specialised schools; - higher education by correspondence and in the evenings delivered in special correspondence institutes and in the evening and correspondence departments of day-time higher education establishments; - post-graduate continuing training (further education) for people possessing higher or secondary specialised degrees organised in the institutes and departments of continuing education and training. II. Non-formal structures: - vocational and general education, professional training courses in centres of lifelong education, in centres of adult education, in different training courses organised both by state and non-governmental structures, and also in TV lectures (see more details: Bim-Bad B.M., Sokolova L.I., Zmeyov S.I. (1992). However, the area of adult education has not yet become a completed, distinctly structured and manageable subsystem of a system of lifelong education. At present, adult education in Russia exists as like a conglomerate of separated schools, both formal and non-formal, not unified by any general concept of the education for adults. Till now there is not any law entirely dedicated to the adult education. The Law on education of Russia adopted in 1992 doesn't mention at all the adult education as a field of education. Different parts of adult education in Russia mentioned above are administered by different agencies: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, State Committee of Higher Education and other Ministries. So a unified governmental policy of adult education, of its organisation, its development is absent. Consequently, different parts of adult education receive very unequal financing supports. Mainly the establishments of adult education in Russia by now function in the regime of the selffinancement (payments of students, benefits of different payable services). Nevertheless, the adult education in Russia is obliged to enlarge its dimensions, to diversify its functions and to rise its efficiency developing the theory and the practice of adult learning. The main issues and needs of the development of adult education in Russia by now are: - elaboration of adult education legislation; - development of organisational structure of adult education system; - creation of educational guidance service; - development of researches in the field of adult education theory and practice; - elaboration and providing of teaching-learning aids; - training and retraining of the personnel for adult education. The organisational structures of adult education are developing on the bases of two concepts: this of the open learning and that of the educational services. The main task of the adult education is to provide the learners all necessary facilities for an open, free learning, understood as "freedom from constraints in the learning process: administrative (time, space, duration, cost, etc.) and educational (objectives, methods, sequencing, entry qualifications, assessment, etc.)" (Boot R.L., Hodgson V.E. (1987), p. 5). For this purpose the adult education is considered and must function as a sphere of educational services. The understanding of adult education as a sphere of educational services leads, firstly, to the conceiving the role of the learner as this one of user, of consumer and this one of the teacher as a role of provider of education, and secondly, to the implementation of the law of "demand - supply". It means that the system of adult education and the adult educators must offer to the users such educational aids which could satisfy the most different educational needs of learners. It means that the adult educator must depend on the demands of the learners. This vision of adult education contributes to the creation of very diversified programmes, forms and methods of adult education. Actually in Russia appear educational establishments, centres, courses both governmental and non-governmental (public and private) providing education and training at different levels, with diverse objectives and using different methods and resources of education. The most remarkable and the most important feature of the sphere of educational services is its flexibility, sensitiveness to the needs of users. So the main task and the fundamental condition of the effectiveness of adult education is the knowing and the monitoring of changes of real necessities of the population and also, the forecasting of educational needs of potential learners. Another tasks linked up with the precedent are: 1) to inform the users about the facilities provided by the educational sphere, the jobs available after such or such training; 2) to counsel the users of education services about the most appropriate for their educational objectives ways, forms and methods of learning; 3) to inform the societal, professional and educational organisations about the real, actual and the potential, future educational needs of the population. All these tasks may be accomplished by the network of centres of information and orientation of population on the facilities of educational services. The main mission of such centres is to link the learners, the society and the educational sphere. Such educational guidance service is yet to be created in Russia. But the structure, the functions, the status of this service is now working out by some Russian researchers. The main issues and needs of the development of adult education in Russia cited mentioned above (see p. 3) practically designate the main domains of researches we need to carry out. Unfortunately, not all of them attract attention of Russian investigators. Researches on adult education in Russia are carrying out in: - educational and research establishments attached to the Ministry of Education of Russia; - educational and research institutes attached to the State Committee of Higher Education of Russian Federation; - research institutes included into the Russian Academy of Education. Among the institutes attached to the Russian Academy of Education the Research Institute of Adult Continuing Education at Sanct-Petersbourg is the biggest and the best known one. Professor, Academician of Russian Academy of Education, Vice-President of the Council of UNESCO Institute of Education at Hamburg Victor G.Onushkin is at the head of this Institute. The main topics of research work at this institution concern the socio-economic problems of adult education, psychological problems of adult education and of adult educators' training; organisation of adult education, history of adult education in Russia, contents and curricula of general secondary education of adults; problems of training and continuing training of pedagogical and administrative staff of general secondary education of adults. So the researches carried out in this institute cover areas of the organisational structure of the adult education system, the elaboration and the providing of teaching-learning aids, the training and continuing training of personnel of adult education but mainly concern only the field of the general secondary education of adults. Another research institution in the framework of Russian Academy of Education having some concern to the investigations in the field of adult education is the Institute of Theoretical Pedagogic and International Researches in Education. The principal fields of interest of investigators of this institute, mainly of Professor, Academician of Russian Academy of Education Boris S.Gershunsky, are the forecasting of the development of adult education and the comparative adult education. In particular, as a part of this institute, there is functioning Russian-American research Centre. All the institutes attached to the Russian Academy of Education are financed by the State. Their researches are co-ordinated by the Academy. Problems of higher adult education and post-graduate training and continuing training are investigated in educational and research institutes attached to the State Committee of Higher Education of Russian Federation. All of them are State establishments and, consequently, are funded by the Government of Russia. Researches carrying out in these institutions mainly concern the elaboration and technology of providing of teaching-learning aids and also the technology of education by correspondence. At the Moscow National Linguistic University is functioning Department of pedagogical anthropology (headed by Nikolay N.Netchayev, Professor, Academician and Principal Scientific Secretary of Russian Academy of Education). The faculty of this department carries out some researches on comparative adult education, above all on the level of higher education. Problems of adult learning are studied in some extent in the framework of the pedagogy of higher education, in particular by the faculty of Department of pedagogy of higher education at Moscow State Pedagogical University, headed by Vitaly A.Slastenin, Professor and Academician of Russian Academy of Education. Problems of organisation, contents and technology of training and continuing training at post-graduate level are studied in some educational institutions of higher education but mainly in the institutes and the departments of continuing education (training). These researches are co-ordinated by the Department of supplementary professional education of State Committee of Higher Education of Russia. The main purpose of these researches is to introduce into the practice of continuing training of professionals possessing diplomas of higher education, and first of all the teachers, the fundamentals of psychology, pedagogy and andragogy and the modern technological procedures of teaching and learning. The researches on continuing training are financed by the Government. Educational (pedagogical universities and institutes) and research establishments attached to the Ministry of Education of Russia carry out research work dedicated to the problems of vocational, general secondary, secondary specialised, higher pedagogical education of adults and continuing pedagogical training. These researches mainly concern elaboration and providing of teaching-learning aids. Practically the unique organism in the system of the Ministry of Education entirely devoted to the adult education investigations is Department of Andragogy at the Institute of General Education. Researches carrying out in this institution mainly concern problems of philosophy of adult education and of lifelong education, the theory of adult learning (andragogy), the educational guidance service, the training and continuing training of teachers for adult, continuing and higher education. In this department, in collaboration with investigators from other educational and research institutions, have been elaborated the concept of the system of adult education as a sphere of educational services, a prospective model of the development of adult education in Russia, a concept, a model and practical recommendations for implementation of the educational guidance service, a concept, a model and a sample curriculum of training of adult educators (andragogues) on the levels of BSc and MSc in Andragogy; essential principles of adult learning and conditioning of their realisation in the process of adult learning and continuing education. Our department has been initiator of the inclusion of andragogy into the official list of branches of training in the framework of the university education. The Department of Andragogy has good relationships with many educational and research institutions and also with individual researchers from Russia, Estonia, Slovenia, France, Great Britain, United States of America, Germany, Finland, with such international organisations as, for instance, International Council of Adult Education, European Society for Research on the Education of Adults and others. The elaboration and the providing of teaching-learning aids in Russia concern all branches of adult education. The most important trend in this area is the application and the further development of the theory of adult learning (andragogy) in the process of education. The andragogy, this "art and science of helping adults learn"(Knowles M.S. (1980), p. 43), or, more precisely, the theory of adult learning which scientifically founds the activities of learners and teachers in the process of determination of goals and tasks, of contents, forms and methods, of organisation, technology and realisation and evaluation of learning, is considered by now by many Russian scholars and teachers as a fundamental theoretical base for adult education, in particular, for creating teaching-learning aids. The andragogical model of learning, conceived and delineated by M.S.Knowles (1980), P.Jarvis (1983), R.M.Smith (1983) and some other eminent scholars, is developed in Russia (see: Zmeyov S.I. (1995) and is introducing in the practice of adult education and training and continuing training of adults, and first of all, of the teachers, of adult educators. The scientific fundamentals of training and continuing training of teachers for adult, continuing and higher education are nowadays in course of elaboration in Russia, in particular, in the Department of Andragogy. These fundamentals, based on the modern achievements of psychology, pedagogy and andragogy, include a model of activities and functions of a teacher-andragogue; a set of professional requirements for an andragogue; a model of training of this kind of teachers. Actually in Russia is elaborated a standard of training of teachers-andragogues which represents, in fact, the compulsory minimum of competencies of an adult educator. The year 1995/1996 this standard begins to realise at the Moscow State Pedagogical Open University. Summarising it could be said that the perspectives of the development of adult education in Russia concern the application and further development of the andragogy, the enlargement and the diversifying of the sphere of educational services, the creation of the educational guidance service, the promoting of the training and continuing training of the personnel for the adult education, the development of andragogical researches. R E F E R E N C E S 1. Bim-Bad B.M., Sokolova L.I., Zmeyov S.I. (1992) "Russia".- In: Perspectives on Adult Education and Training in Europe. Ed. by P.Jarvis. Leicester, NIACE. 2. Bim-Bad B.M., Zmeyov S.I. (1991) "Open Problems of the Open Learning".- "Vestnik Vischey Shkoly", Moscow, N 10 (in Russian). 3. Boot R.L., Hodgson V.E. (1987) "Open Learning: Meaning and Experience".- In: Beyond Distance Teachig Towards Open Learning. Ed. by Hodgson et al., Milton Keynes. 4. Jarvis P. (1983) Adult and Continuing Education. London. 5. Knowles M.S. ( 1980) The Modern Practice of Adult Education. From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Chicago. 6. Onushkin V.G., Tonkonogaya E.P. (1984) Adult Education in the USSR. Prague, European Centre for Leisure and Education. 7. Smith R.M. (1983) Learning How to Learn. Applied Theory for Adults. Milton Keynes. 8. Vladislavlev A.P. (1985) The conceptual Framework for Lifelong Education in the USSR. Paris, Unesco. 9. Zmeyov S.I. (1992) "Andragogy: A Way Into Tomorrow".- "Tatyanin Den", N 4, Moscow, Russian Open University (in Russian). 10. Zmeyov S.I. (1995) "Andragogy: Origins and Ways of Development".- "Pedagogika", N 2, Moscow (in Russian).