A few years ago, at one of the BETT exhibitions in UK, Moscow introduced us to its mega-project of the Moscow Electronic School (MES). Now the whole world of education is again preparing for the next BETT exhibition, which will be held in Brazil in the near future. We decided that this is the most suitable moment for the material on how the educational process in Moscow has changed due to the introduction of a number of innovative projects in all urban schools.
Recall: the MES project started in the capital of Russia in September 2016, and today, by the end of the third trial year, it has already been implemented in all Moscow schools. Thanks in large part to this, Moscow school children show tremendous results, both at the final exams and at international competitions and contests.
For example, let’s have a look at the results of the graduates of the USE – the unified state exam in Russia. In general, the results of the average Moscow student are better than the results of a student from any other Russian city by 30-50%. Gaining more than 200 points on the USE (which is really not easy), now 13-30% of young Muscovites finish school more than before the start of the MES project. And, as a result, the percentage of graduates easily entering a variety of universities increased 1.5-2 times. The percentage of winners of international competitions among students in Moscow schools also continues to grow from year to year.
Of course, the reason for the rapid development of Russian education lies not only in the appearance of the MES project alone. The mechanism for achieving the results that Moscow schools now show is made up of a combination of many details.
Firstly, it is a new approach to the equipment of school classes. Each class of the Moscow school is now equipped with a multimedia touch panel, a computer and a printer for the effective work of the teacher. Teachers also have unlimited and free access to all materials needed for the lesson. At the same time, there is no longer any specific “correct” educational program in Moscow
Secondly, it is competent financing of schools. This also includes a new multi-stage scheme for calculating the remuneration of teachers, which now largely depends on the results of work with students. Thus, it turns out that all teachers are motivated to achieve the best results and look for an individual approach to each student.
But perhaps the most important thing is to follow the principle “Every child is talented.” And one of the important steps in the implementation of this principle is the integration into the educational process of the so-called preprofessional classes in combination with the development of the additional education area.
Additional education today is developed in Moscow so much that it becomes available to children already from 2-3 years of age – over the past three years the number of children attending pre-school institutions has increased about 1.5 times. At the same time, parents have the opportunity to give their children to the already familiar language or creative activities, as well as to highly specialized ones. So, recently such areas as aircraft modeling, robotics, and so on have become increasingly popular.
Interestingly, now Moscow supplementary education is not only a set of classes in educational institutions. In this area schools, museums, and lecture centers, where master classes are held, cooperate fruitfully. We can say that the whole city is a single educational platform, accessible to every child.
Such accessibility of additional education, designed for any age, combined with a high level of teaching leads to the fact that at the age of about 14 years, most children are ready to decide on a profession. Therefore, preprofessional 8th and 9th grades have recently appeared in Moscow schools. There are engineering, medical, natural science, scientific and technical, and cadet classes. This program is carried out in partnership with school and university education: in all preprofessional classes, specialized classes are conducted by teachers from leading universities in Moscow. For example, in medical preprofessional classes, some subjects are taught by teachers of the Sechenov Academy. Such classes differ from general education also by the level of equipment – here you can find everything you need to master your chosen profession. If we talk about the same medical class, students develop first-aid skills in specialized laboratories on medical simulators and mannequins.
As a result, after the pre-professional classes, students are ready to go to the profile upper classes. And by the time of graduation, many students perfectly pass the pre-professional exams, thanks to which children have the opportunity to gain additional points needed to enter the university.
The most important thing is that in Moscow they are not going to stop at what has been accomplished, and they certainly are preparing something special for the upcoming BETT Educar exhibition in Brazilian. Well, we are looking forward to it!
International Moscow Forum “City of Education” is one of the most significant events in the world of metropolitan education. The main objective of the forum is the exchange of experience in the development of various stages of the educational process, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate the latest educational technologies, resources and equipment. With all the latest innovations and advanced educational technologies will be available at the next forum “City of Education”, which will be held in Moscow from August 29 to September 1, 2019.