TITLE: Virtual Interview with Teachers and Administrators of Different Russian Preschools

AUTHORS/PARTICIPANTS: Natalia A. Rakitina¹, Dr. Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya², Margarita F. Golovina³, Daria V. Durnavo⁴.

DESCRIPTORS: principles of preschool education; preschool programs; private preschools; traditional preschool day; games and creative activities; music teaching; art instruction; religious education; a portrait of an average preschool teacher; home schooling; foreign experience, an ideal preschool; preschool education reform.

SYNOPSIS: Through the answers to different questions, important for the field of early childhood education, the reader can learn how preschool teachers and administrators see daily routines of their schools, how they react to numerous innovations, how they describe most favorable for children’s development conditions and activities and how they characterize a possible reform. 

Virtual Interview with Teachers and Administrators
of Different Russian Preschools

What are the main principles on which preschool education operates in Russia?

Natalia A. Rakitina: For decades preschool education in Russia has operated on a residual principle. State monopoly on education brought about the emergence of standard preschools characterized by a set of unified forms, methods, and educational content. A child was viewed as a uniform standard: an individual approach was declared, but never implemented.  Education was aimed at developing the required ideological attitudes in children, passing on a certain volume of knowledge and training a number of skills in a behavior-controlled mode. All of that led to overly organization and rigid regulation of preschool life for both children and adults, and greatly affected their emotional health and personality development (especially in the area of imagination and creativity). The changing social and political environment impacts all of life institutions, especially education and culture. It took two decades to introduce positive changes in preschool education. 

The main principles of preschool education (in Russia) are:

1. Humanization – education and character formation is focused on sustaining a child’s health, his/her physical and psychological development as well as emotional well-being.
2. Deideologization of education and character formation, introduction of universal values.
3. Freedom to choose out of a variety of educational forms, methods, and content for both parents (legal representatives) and teachers.

Daria V. Durnavo:  I prefer to stay away from generalizing and say that each preschool in such a big country as Russia is unique (although not always in a positive sense). Our preschool operates on fairly simple principles: 

• Faith in a child, his/her abilities and individuality;
• Priority of free play as the most natural activity for a preschooler;
• Multi-age setting as a space for socialization and gaining experience in assuming various identities.

Could you name some of the Russian preschool programs and outline the differences between them? Which of them are, in your opinion, the most interesting and effective? Are there any required programs, or is every preschool given freedom to select a program that they consider best? If so, does this freedom truly exist?  

Natalia A. Rakitina: There are no compulsory programs in modern preschool education. Preschools enjoy true freedom of choice in this area.

Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya: Here are some positive outcomes of various programs’ implementation:

• Introduction of new, non-traditional preschool activities, such as dancing (choreography) and eurhythmics, foreign languages, art (techniques, etc.) and culture studies, computer-aided learning, etc.
• An emphasis on creating a setting in which a child could experiment and explore the world, encouraging him/her to think and act creatively, express him/herself and improvise in the process.
• Multiple activities’ integration; complex educational content adds variability to the instructional process.
• Attempts to emotionally enrich the atmosphere of learning and thus to help a child escape the teacher’s disciplinary practices.
• Acquisition of new teaching/educational methods and techniques in the context of individual-oriented interaction – developing a new style of child-adult communication.
• Emergence of new forms and content of teacher-parent cooperation as a way to overcome formalism in maintaining continuity of upbringing and education at preschool and home.
• New preschool facility design and inventory, which provides for a child’s need of peer-group interaction and create a setting for individual activities, critical for making an individual approach to children a reality. 

Margarita F. Golovina: In the process of establishing and developing our teachers' team we came to understanding and using two main factors: 1) a children's festival (or a holiday) as the primary element of organizing children within one group and a preschool on the whole; and «educational meetings» or «circles» (as we call them) as a very important form of exchanging ideas and experience, a type of an educational workshop. I recall how twenty  years ago we started a new tradition of holidays while celebrating New Year’s eve together with children. The teachers were really anxious since «nothing was prepared or rehearsed,» nothing was memorized, and it looked more like a family gathering, free and vibrant, than a standard preschool event. The party guests were «actors» from the school theater. This event has become eye opening for our teachers. Immediately after the party we felt an urgent need to discuss our expectations and results, and also to share our future plans. That is the time when our «teachers' circles» were born. Since then we have developed a habit to meet once a week during the children's «sleeping hour» and discuss all the past events and future weekly plans, share with each other our observations, thoughts, questions, and problems. We believe that a teacher's mental and emotional «return» to his/her own childhood, thinking of what a New Year was for him/her when s/he was a child, joys and sadness connected with this holiday are extremely important.

We celebrate a number of holidays, a traditional list of which was developed during the first five years of our new existence. Our holidays are mostly nature-oriented and include such as New Year, Meeting the Birds, Meeting the Fall. We also celebrate a Lyceum Day on October 19th (this is a «preschool replica» of our school tradition – on this day we talk and listen to Pushkin's fairy-tales, organize a children's ball, etc. Besides, we also have two more holidays, which help to celebrate children's new status – September 1st (the beginning of a school year) and A Farewell to the First Grade (a move to the school proper). One more «out of the calendar» holiday is Circus. The primary principles of our holidays' celebrations are the following: a variety of different types of activities, transformation of spaces, a spontaneous character of every action, and freedom of participation for every child. We have never had holidays which were «handed out» to us in the form of a ready-made script; and in twenty years we have never repeated our stage decorations or ourselves. We also try to pursue a set of three equally important consecutive actions: “pre-performance – performance – post-performance”.

Daria V. Durnavo:  I believe every preschool still enjoys the right to select a development-and-character formation-program, which they think is the most appropriate and goes in line with the school’s foundational principles. These programs are numerous, and it would be unwise to use one of them (along with its supplements) arbitrarily, i.e. without giving it much consideration. Any resource needs to be thought through by an educator and the pedagogical community he/she belongs to.  The best option for a preschool is certainly to write its own curriculum.

What do you think of private preschools? In your opinion, what are their advantages and disadvantages?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Municipal preschools in Russia are government funded, while private preschools are self-financed. Public preschools charge parents 20% of the actual cost  (per child per day). In addition to that, parents with two or more kids are entitled for a reimbursement: 20% of the daily cost - for one child; 50% - for the second child; 75% - for the third child. For most Russian parents private preschools are not affordable, therefore, they are not quite popular here. 

Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya: A demographic peak in Russia, which resulted in an increase in birth rate at the beginning of the 21st century called for a far more (than available) preschools. Private preschools became a partial solution to this problem. According to art. 11.1. of the Federal Law "On Education” (1992), state and private preschools can operate in organizational and legal forms, provided for by civil legislation of Russian Federation for non-profit organizations.   

A private preschool is a duly registered preschool, which operates in accord with the Russian Law “On Education,” has a state license and a facility, meeting the state requirements (it is normally a private or rented low-rise facility with the adjoining enclosed area). In urban areas private preschools usually occupy former state and departmental preschool buildings. A preschool in rural areas is normally housed in a small cottage, constructed and designed so as to meet the state requirements and children’s housing needs. Major competitive advantages of a private preschool (as compared to home preschools) are security (security service, an enclosed area for outdoor activities) and its legal operation (it is assumed that by giving a private preschool the required permits the state takes the responsibility for potential outcomes of this preschool’ operation). A home preschool is a large (three-four bedroom) apartment part of which is housed by a preschool.        

Daria V. Durnavo: Both private and public preschools have a right to exist. They are different ways of running the program. However, the major advantage of a public preschool is the social benefits.

Could you, please, give our foreign readers a general idea of a traditional preschool group? What does an average school day look like? Does the school provide homemade food? Is there a mid-day nap? Are learning activities combined with play and rest? Are there any outside activities? If so, where are they held?     

Natalia A. Rakitina: Every preschool has an approved schedule. A school day normally starts at 7:00 am and is over by 7:00 pm. Kids usually arrive between 7:00 am and 8:30 am and are met by their teachers. Preschool group facilities usually include:

- an anteroom with lockers for the children and information posters for the parents;
- a bedroom for the children’s mid-day nap;
- a restroom;
- a pantry.

Every preschool offers an individual schedule for each age group.

7:00 am – 8:30 am – morning meeting
8:30 am – 9:00 am – breakfast
9:00 am – 10:30 am – various (in-door) activities
10:30 am – 12:00 am – outside play (year-round)
12:00 am – 12:30 pm – lunch
12:30 - 3:00 pm – nap time
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm – restrooms, hand-washing
3:30 pm – snack
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – activities
5:30 pm – dinner
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm – outside play, individual work with the kids.

Out-door games take place on the preschool grounds. Each group’s play area is usually equipped with a shelter, a sandbox and fixed (non-removable) play units and is landscaped with trees, bushes and flowerbeds. There is also a little garden for the purpose of teaching the children to take care of plants: cultivate, weed, and water herbs and vegetables. Sports activities are held on a sports ground.

Daria V. Durnavo: Our preschool’s rhythm is the following (certain phases’ content may vary depending on the group’s life-style):

• beginning of a school-day, morning meeting at 8:00 am - 8:30 am;
• the first phase of the daily rhythm – «exhale»: 8:30 am -9:00 am.

The teacher awaits the kids’ arrival, knowing that all of them will bring in their own moods and attitudes. Each group has its own way of a morning meeting. One way is creating their own fairy-tales: a child comes, takes a note-pad and depicts his/her mood and (emotional) state – something he/she is willing to share about that day. The teacher then writes down this story, providing a transition from emotional experience to a depicted image and further on – to a verbal text. During the “morning sharing” a narrator is selected. This person will be “the hero of the day” – someone whose fairy-tale will be dramatized. After that – free play.

• The second phase of the daily rhythm – “inhale:” from 10:00 am.
• Kids are involved in various activities  – orchestra, moving to the music, arts, experimenting with water, mathematical games, etc.).
• The third phase of the daily rhythm – «exhale»:  from 11:30 am.

Outside play

• The fourth phase of the daily rhythm – “inhale”:  from 1:00 pm.

A fairy tale before mid-day nap 

• The fifth phase of the daily rhythm – “exhale”:  from 1:15 pm -1:30 pm.

    Mid-day nap

• The sixth phase – “inhale”: from 3:30 pm

Group activities

• The seventh phase – “exhale”:  from 5:00 pm

Evening outside play.
Weekly rhythm is determined by certain group events scheduled for certain days of the week (for example, “Friday tea” – kids prepare treats for their parents at the end of the week; mid-week hikes through the woods, etc.), as well as by the activities’ schedule – i.e. in essence, by meetings with the instructors.

Play is attractive for both kids and adults. What role does it have in the work of a modern preschool? How well are teachers prepared to create and play various games with the kids and give them an opportunity to play games they invent themselves?

Natalia A. Rakitina: The significance of play and recreation in a child’s life is emphasized by an international law. Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) proclaims play and recreation an inalienable right of a child. Quality play with kids means creating favorable conditions for children’s independent and teacher-assisted play. And providing favorable conditions, in turn, presupposes creating proper object-play and developmental environment.   That is why we constantly work on creating conditions for the children’s free independent activity, proceeding from the programs our preschool is using. From the very beginning – these are different elements of adult uniforms (headwear, gowns, aprons, etc.) and toy instruments. In creating object environment it is critical to take into account the children’s age, level of development, abilities, talents, interests, personal qualities, etc. That is why our playrooms are designed to provide the best comfort and equipped with an adequate number of play objects.

As a child transitions from one age group into another, his/her play experience grows, and an object-play environment changes accordingly. This calls for new forms and ways of supervising children’s play as a way of his/her self-expression, self-realization and personal development. Empathizing with the children, we help them learn certain social roles, encourage directed play and use of imagination. However, current research and practical experience show that play is ceasing to be an integral part of a child’s life for a number of reasons. The two major ones are: (1) underestimation by adults (parents) the significance of recreation and play in a child’s life, and (2) lack of skills of supervising a play and selecting appropriate materials. In the meantime, play continues to be a part and parcel of the child’s world. This is the reason why our teachers make sure that every activity in our preschool starts with creating a play situation. As professionals we should understand that playing a game is not just a way of recreation, it contains many other important benefits for a child’s development. It is an opportunity for a child to meet his/her fundamental needs by assuming a certain role in a made-up situation (to become a physician, a sailor, a cook, etc.) and to develop better communication with peers. A play stimulates mental and cognitive development as well as attention, imagination, and speech. Fundamentally, it is a smooth transition to a new type of activity, namely academic study. Nevertheless, while aiming at proper preparation of a child for school, we as educators should try our best to help children live through their preschool years with as little stress and as much joy as possible, following the principle: “to teach by playing, not instructing.” (Learning should be fun!)

What part does music and art instruction play in preschool education? If it is really provided, how and on what principles is it done?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Our preschool offers classes in music (there are two music teachers on staff), folk art, visual art (drawing) and crafts. The instructors help the children to discover their gifts, select an activity to their liking, and invest their energy and time in a productive way. As the children progress, the assignments get more complicated and the skills are refined.  Recreation and play are an essential part of any preschool program. Children’s festivals, fun and creative activities facilitate the educational process and create a favorable environment for a child’s personal growth and development. 

Margarita F. Golovina: In my opinion, only creative activities (together with playing and celebrating holidays) should be the foundations of preschool education and children’s lives. We use various creative forms: rhythmic movements, signing together and listening to music, and drawing. It is important to add that every child has the right to come and do nothing or not to attend a class at all. Our teachers are trying to combine children's creative activities with organizing and arranging festivals. For example, if a child learned a new dance, he will be able to perform it at the preschool ball, but if he can't, he will still come and just watch others. In other words, the most important idea for us is not a skill itself but a chance of transformation given to a child. Parents’ participation is critical as well. For example, parents may participate as designers and producers of the costumes for themselves and their children. We also use such activities as «World composers – to the children» (a few concerts per year, each with the music of one composer, for example «Meet Bach»); «A Song's Festival» (dramatizing a song); «A Poetic Theater», etc.

I would like to mention our Circus – it is a combination of creative activities and physical training. This is also one of our annual holidays, and every preschool group prepares a few presentations, which are usually shown in our big hall several times during a few days with the idea that everyone should see everyone. It is important to mention that «a circus» is the only festival which requires rehearsals. Children usually spend a lot of time preparing for this big event, trying to master all the necessary skills; and teachers help every child to find his/her own way of participating in the Circus.

Do Russian preschools offer religious education? If so, who teaches religious studies, and how exactly is it done?

Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya: Since 1992 there has been an opportunity in Russia to start a network of Orthodox-oriented preschools which aim at raising children in accord with the teachings, values and principles of the Orthodox Church. Learning them in early childhood is crucial for children who will then enter Orthodox schools – gymnasiums (classical schools), pre-gymnasiums and lyceums. The primary areas of religious (Orthodox) preschool education in Russia are:

• Spiritual (religious) and moral instruction in state and municipal preschools;
• Development of a network of Orthodox preschool groups and preschools; social rehab centers, which use spiritual and moral education as a way to solve developmental and behavioral problems of preschoolers;
• Revival of traditional Russian Orthodox family education, upbringing and lifestyle.
  

An Orthodox preschool is the initial stage of children’s Orthodox education. What makes it different from regular preschools is that the teaching of the Orthodox Church here is the source and the foundation for the child’s intellectual, physical, and esthetic development. The program is designed in such a way that it teaches the preschoolers fundamental truths about God, the importance of being obedient to God, to keep His commands, i.e. to become practicing Orthodox believers. Such teaching is done through making the children aware (in a clear and understandable way) of the church doctrines, Bible history, worship, participation in the church sacraments, pilgrimages, reading devotional literature, doing feasible work in the group and in church. Most Russian Orthodox eparchies have started church preschools and groups: each of the 130 eparchies today has from two to five educational institutions of this type. Regular state and municipal preschools start church-oriented groups, and there is a growing number of schools with an ethno-cultural focus. Many preschools offer special classes on Christian life and faith. 

It is quite natural that parents’ primary concern is their children's physical and emotional health. Do preschools in Russia offer opportunities for strengthening children’s health?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Our preschool offers a variety of opportunities to care for and strengthen the children’s physical and emotional health. Every morning starts with morning exercises and later on, depending on the age group; there are certain sports activities. They take place in a gym equipped with a sports complex, trampolines, wall bars, and children’s workout equipment. Training is provided by professional sports teachers. Outside sports activities also take place at a preschool’s stadium. In summer time our preschoolers usually play basketball and soccer, in winter they do skiing.   

Margarita F. Golovina: First, I need to remind the reader that a child's life is a constant movement by itself; every child is learning his own body that remains his constant and natural need. Mobility is the basics of all children's festivals and games. It is also something that children badly lack. Every group in our preschool has its own sports facilities that allow independent children's activities. Besides, we have a sports gymnasium with different complicated equipment where children have classes of physical education. For the teachers to understand how a child feels with this equipment we require special seminars where all teachers study the equipment themselves — this changes their attitude towards the concept of children's safety and security. After such seminars they realize what opportunities and risks such physical classes present to the children.

We also have three different Olympic games (Fall, Winter, Spring), each of which includes three types of competitions: individual, group, and together with parents. In general, we believe that in the sphere of physical culture (as in any culture) we need to provide children with trust and permission to move and develop in their own rhythm in contrast to meeting certain requirements or impersonal standards. Sergey V. Reutsky, our long-term coach, wrote about his experience in the book «Physical Training About a Different Thing» (St. Petersburg, 2006). The full title of this wonderful book reads as such: «Physical Training About a Different Thing, but for everybody and about everything: from simple to complex». This book would be interesting for everyone who is concerned about providing for children's harmonious development that combines physical, emotional, logical, and moral spheres.

Daria V. Durnavo: Physical training in a preschool context, as we view it, is the development by the children an idea of their own body functioning – its capacities and limitations. This area is one of the most important for a preschooler, given their need for extensive physical activity and interconnection of mental and physical development. It is the area that calls for extra measures of safety, which is provided by demonstrating trust to a child (which, in its turn, helps children to have a better faith in themselves and their abilities) as well as introducing (or partially working out together) safety rules and regulations. An essential part is that physical training is a way of self-awareness and the awareness of the world.

Would you describe in brief an average preschool teacher?

Natalia A. Rakitina: A preschool teacher is a professional with a degree in education. This is someone who does everything the job description requires (for a fairly low salary) and on top of it gives most of him/herself to the children. Those with a lack of commitment usually quit.   

Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya: A preschool teacher’s job today is complicated and demanding. High performance in this job requires high competence. First of all, a preschool educator should be able to do primary educational and psychological monitoring as well as pedagogical observation. Secondly, he/she needs to have an ability to determine and practice a correct way of interaction with the children, proceeding from the main motivation and needs of each preschool age group. Other important aspects of the job are working within a personality-oriented (developmental, humanistic) paradigm, willingness to develop and change, his/her flexibility and ability to constantly reflect on educational issues.  

Margarita F. Golovina: Considering our preschool it is more logical to talk about a portrait of a nonstandard teacher. One of the books published by our school is entitled “A Teacher Who Works in an Opposite Way.” Our preschool teachers can say exactly the same about themselves: they are creative, they constantly play and they call it fun; they search for some new ways and nontraditional decisions; they are not afraid of looking silly; they respect children’s self-esteem; they are aware of children’s feelings, and they don’t try to impose their own decisions on them as does happen in traditional preschool education when a teacher knows what is best for a child.

It is quite obvious that a higher involvement of the parents in the preschool work makes this work more effective. Could you share any positive experience of such cooperation?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Russian Federal Law on Education, Art. 18, states that initial parenting and character formation are to be done by parents. It is their responsibility to lay the foundations of their children’s physical, moral and intellectual development in early childhood. The system of preschool education is aimed at helping families in the areas of parenting and education, sustaining their children’s physical and emotional health, providing opportunities for their personal growth and development and, if necessary, correction of developmental problems and disturbances. The relationships between preschools and parents (legal representatives) are regulated by an agreement between them, which cannot restrict their rights, provided by the law.  We meet with the parents on a daily basis (primarily in the morning and evening hours, when the children arrive and leave) for consultations and counseling. In addition, we invite them to parents’ and group meetings, special preschool events, “open door” days and craft exhibitions. I am fully convinced that close teacher-parent cooperation results in a higher quality schooling. A contemporary generation of parents often demonstrates pedagogical incompetence by not seeing to the required continuity, not building a significant link between preschool and home education.  

Tatyana N. Boguslavskaya: Integration of family and public education includes a number of guidelines for action:

• Creating a medical, psychological and educational service which would work on a health-promotion and disease prevention program, do family counseling for the purpose of individualization of interaction, set up a hot-line service and start a “New Family” counseling group.
• Sharing positive experience of home preschool education and creating a “bank” of its best accomplishments (group brain-teasing games, radio-news-release, involvement of the parents in preschool’s activities, writing scripts of preschool’s special events).

New models of family-preschool interaction. Teacher-parent interaction in a preschool is ensured by involving parents in character formation and education of their children through encouraging them to keep a parent’s journal. This journal’s content is designed to include a description of the preschooler’s personal achievements and accomplishments, his/her feelings and emotions, development dynamics and individual recommendations. Such journals, as the parents believe, help to track their children’s personal growth and development. And later on they are used by first-grade teachers as their new students’ personal profiles. Some preschools have exchanged traditional forms of parental involvement – information posters, monthly/quarterly meetings – for a more interactive type of work (group and one-to-one dialogue with experts in parenting, tests on self-evaluation/self rating for the kids, exhibitions of their craft works, etc.).

What arguments would you use to make a case for preschool/kindergarten education as an alternative to home schooling?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Every child is a full-fledged member of society. One of the disadvantages of home schooling is that it doesn’t provide the necessary interaction of a child with peers, an opportunity to find his/her niche in a social group, to build relationships with other kids, etc. We believe that a child’s social development should start at a preschool, where he/she learns to function in a group setting, to affirm him/herself as a member of the society comprised by both children and adults.

Do you use any foreign experience in your preschools’ operation? If so, what is it, and how effective does it prove to be?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Yes, we do, especially elements from Montessori pedagogy.

Margarita F. Golovina: We are open to all types of different experiences, foreign and Russian as well. We are happy to learn from others, and we do learn while attending seminars of Waldorf educators, Montessori teachers, etc. But we have never planned to directly apply somebody's experience as a ready-made product. We always try to study something new, and then creatively adapt it to our individual and preschool peculiarities.

What in your opinion an ideal preschool should look like? Is it realistic at all?

Natalia A. Rakitina: But for world economic crises, which affect the funding of various state services in general, and a preschool system in particular, each Russian preschool could be called ideal. And as for creative and committed teachers, well, there has never been a shortage of those. 

If you were granted an opportunity to carry out a reform of the system of preschool education, what would you change in the first place?

Natalia A. Rakitina: Here are the changes I would introduce in the first place:

• Complete funding of institutions of preschool education.
• Adequate salaries for preschool educators.
• Making parents (legal representatives) do their parental duties; enforcing the law which states that initial parenting and character formation are to be done by parents (Federal Law, issued on July 21, 2007, #194), while preschools play a secondary and supportive role in this process.

Margarita F. Golovina: First and most, I would prefer not to put our teachers into any standard framework (as our late principal Alexander Tubelsky always said, «A standard can be of only one type – «A federal government makes a commitment to create all the necessary conditions for...»). Today, following Tubelsky’s ideas we consider that treating teachers with respect and trust is truly critical. I recall the words by Fyodor Dostoevsky who once said that we cannot fully «calculate» a personality. On the contrary, all modern standardized technologies try to do the job of calculating teachers, and when teachers respond positively to this and accept a standardized approach, they loose their genuine professional values and start lying to others and themselves.