Education for Decline : Soviet Vocational and Technical Schooling from Khrushchev to Gorbachev / Dennis Soltys.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Soltys, Dennis, Author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vocational education--Government policy--Soviet Union.

Vocational education.

Technical education--Government policy--Soviet Union.

Technical education.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 222 pages)

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2020]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Perestroika – economic and political reform – is what the world associated with Mikhail Gorbachev when he led the USSR. There were, however, some political scientists in the West who saw Gorbachevism as a time of conservatism, not of radical change. Dennis Soltys confirms the latter view in this study of educational policy and institutions in the former Soviet Union. Focusing on vocational and technical schooling, Soltys reveals very strong continuity from Khrushchev to Brezhnev to Gorbachev. In 1991, schools still functioned on the principles of vocational education and applied science inherited from the Khrushchev era, instead of embracing a more forward-looking model based on technical education and basic science. Soltys examines the role of ideas, institutions, and societal actors in the development of education policy, with emphasis on the period from 1981 to 1991. He demonstrates how poor conceptual design and institutional fragmentation damaged Soviet education at all levels. Education for Decline offers more than a lesson in educational and public policy making. It provides an important baseline for understanding state- and society-building in Soviet successor countries. Commercial entrepreneurs, diplomats, and development agencies should give this book serious consideration.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Tables

Note on Translation

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. The Vocational Paradigm: The Khrushchev Legacy and the Challenge of the Brezhnev Era

3. The Extensive Economic Model: The Union-Level Terrain of General, Secondary Vocational, and Higher Education

4. The Interests behind the 1984 School Reform

5. The Design and Substance of the 1984 School Reform

6. The Central Government’s Implementational Measures

7. Implementation at the Micro Level

8. The 1988 Educational Debates: Paradigmatic Change and Institutional Continuity

9. Institutional and Societal Realignments in Vocational Education, 1989-1991

10. Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

1-4875-7397-9

OCLC:

1153475419