Civic and Patriotic Education of Schoolchildren in Modern Russia: Relationship Between Concept and Attitudes of Educators

This paper attempts to examine to which extent civic and patriotic education in Russia can be regarded as a consolidated system designed by the state and supported by educators’ attitudes. A comparative study of the concept, presented in policy documents (Federal State Education Standard, “Patriotic Education of Russian Citizens 2016-2010” program and “Moral Education Development Strategy 2016-2025”) and educators’ perceptions, is conducted based on qualitative content-analysis. As the result, two core approaches to civic education in Russia are described – moral education of “post-soviet man” and development of civic literacy. There is a move from the latter to the former in contemporary education policy in Russia, but the same shift in school practice is doubtful. First, comprehensive moral education of “post-soviet man” is doomed to be unfeasible in the face heterogeneity outside the schooling system and, second, the same practice is interpreted and applied differently by different educators, which makes restoration of certain elements of Soviet education not predefines in terms of its possible effect.