A Visit To The School For Self-Determination in Moscow, Russia

Click on writing link to left, to see the index to all the parts. You are viewing the Appendix.

(click here for AFTER my edits)

BEFORE MY EDITS

Why does the structure of your school differs from that of most of the other ones?
From the very birth each person possesses his own individuality, predisposition, he realizes in the course of his life. It determines the process of personal self-determination, person's choice of one or another line in his life and means of achieving his goals. The main task of general education, as we see it, is to help the child in forming and developing his own methods of the maximum self-actualization in the life. The part of school in this process is to create a system of conditions for personal self-perception, self-expression, self-determination towards nature, culture, society and himself.
There are flexible educational, playing, artistic, legal areas a student can choose between, the area of labor and of social life.
 

Will you teach the child to write and read in the elementary school?
Yes! At individual for each child pace. The significance of means of expressing his experience, feelings and interests is particularly emphasized. Free educational area of the primary school means weekly Days of Free Workshops when every child choose of various activities (from beading to a science research) in 20 workshops (age is of no matter). These classes are conducted by teachers of different grades and parents – that forms skills of communication and cooperation based on common interests.
Each child can do his favorite, "look for himself" in various kinds of activity.
Training self-evaluation is considered to be another priority. Junior students compose a hand-written book "I myself", take part in the exhibition of personal achievements and define criteria of their progress.
Our primary school is an active participant in the life of the whole association. Communication between students of different age, taking part in all the areas and affaires of the school are essential parts of children's education.

What do students do at the lessons in the secondary school?
The task of the secondary school is in providing conditions for a teenager's "trial of strength" in various kinds of activity. Both subject and intersubject studies are multichoice: the content of a course (theme) is represented as a raw of hypothesis equal in rights, several possible methods of work. It's not a necessity to give the only right answer. The incompleteness of a matter stimulates independent search, promotes in forming a personal, unique image of the world.
Beside of core courses in the school timetable there is enough time for electives, for the work at individually chosen themes and projects in the school labs or in the open air. In the end of the year we have an examination – children defend their original works of art, researches and projects. A lot of people are invited: classmates, parents, experts. The defense becomes a demonstration of the personal progress.
In the secondary school teachers often join hands in teams, draw up different models of the experimental work.

 Is it true that study is the last thing you concern about in your school?
Our educational area is built according to the principles of:

• student's free choice of a teacher, theme of study, methods and pace of his work;
• involving the child in setting his personal objectives and tasks, in working out of collective and personal study plans;
• active mutual appraisal of all the subjects of the educational process;
• self-evaluation of the process and results of child's  education.

How do you prepare children in the kindergarten for school?
Preparation for school in our kindergarten means not only forming the skills of reading, writing and counting but also the preparation for the living in the free educational areas of the school, skills of communication with nature, culture and other people. The main emphasize is placed on the development of the senses: of touch, of smell, of hearing, of sight, of controlling the body. There are children of different ages in the groups. Together with their teachers children get through various events of personal and community life, change of seasons, traditional holidays, they perform role plays and                      games, play theatre, circus, museum. Children grow plants and watch their growth, cook, have classes of crafts, music and gymnastics. We don't programme children's activities. A teacher should see the demand of the day, the mood of the group and of each child in it, he should create conditions for cooperation, self-actualization and initiative.

What does the high school specialize in?
In the high school (10 and11 grades) there are only a few core courses – all the others are electives a student study according to a personal curriculum he composes himself. The main form of                      is a workshop conducted by a teacher or an invited specialist. For those who want to master all the core courses of the basic curriculum there are "intensives" where a student can master the state minimum.
Keeping the principle of subject learning we aim at re-orientation of the curriculum of courses into two equal in rights, interrelated parts:

• introduction in culture;
• formation of universal, culture conformable skills and competences in other words – methods that can be used in cognition, mastering and transformation of several spheres of education, different fields of activity. A child forms his competence himself according to his personality, the task of a teacher is create conditions for children to form and realize their method of work and the limits of its use.

What's the use of games in school? Studies are a serious thing!
Theatre and play are essential parts of all the traditional subjects, of the creative exams, of the defense of personal projects. There are a lot of traditional holidays when the playing and the creative                     are at the first place: Lyceum Week, New Year, the School's Birthday. The main features of the playing area are:

• creation of situation for a child to understand the meaning of what's happening, to understand aims and objectives of an activity (a game starts only as a result of the joint resolution of teachers and students together after all the goals and conditions have been discussed);
• children's participation at all the stages of designing and organizing of the game;
• availability of choice (an opportunity to choose forms, means of activity, roles) encourages the natural necessity of self-determination;
• the feature of open, team or individual competition gives a child the opportunity to watch his place and position in the process going;
• a visible end, a significant (for both  the participants of the game and for the other people) result of the activity: the museum of the XXth century, the theatre performance "Dekabrists", the school celebration of the Victory Day e.t.c.
• availability of a place and time for reflexion during the game helps a child to check himself and his progress in the game.

Will your students be able to find their place in the real life?
Our students are constantly involved in social work and labor activity. One day a week there are working classes: children choose various workshops (joiner's and mechanic's, sewing and designing, cooking programming, art, library, upbringing of junior children e.t.c.).
Together with parents we organized (using the possibilities of a large city) several places for social and labour practice of the students: commercial and industrial companies, a bank, a hospital, community works e.t.c. There is an annual business game when children can try the roles of a businessman, an official, an office worker and can understand the economical and social structure of the contemporary society.
 In the high school there are probation periods when students work in the companies or study in the institutes of higher education they have chosen. The main task of this probation periods is the assistance in trying roles of a worker or a student, learning their own abilities, in understanding social and personal relationships in companies.

Creative area is for talented children! Is everybody  capable of creation?
 Art in our school means a great choice of activities available to discover a child's inclinations, interests and talents. On the other hand children use this wide variety of forms and means of art for discovering the world and self-expression in various fields of activity. Art is one of the most essential parts of the school life.
 In the school there are laboratories of drawing, music, world art culture, equipped with various materials and tools a child can use according to his plan. You can also visit theatre, cinema, dance, crafts and design studios.

Children in your school are too free! Everything is allowed!
We established the democratic way of life in our school when the freedom of a person is limited only by the freedom of the other members of the society. The rules of everyday life are approved by common agreement; tolerance of other people habits is a norm of behavior.
We built the law system of the school as a working model of a democratic society with the following rules:

• all the people who teach and study are citizens of the school possessing equal rights, the right of citizenship is given to  the graduates and parents upon their request;
• children and adults together work out rules and standards of the community life, there are school laws, the school constitution, the democratically elected school council;
• there are conditions for every student and teacher to take part in making important decisions: we have assemblies, gatherings and referendums;
• an elective organ - court of honor resolves conflicts and tries cases of the violation of the laws;
• institutions of local governing in grades and other primary collectives make decisions based on the laws.

Our school has elaborated a procedure of examining of the democratic life style in a collective; our students and teachers take part in the democratic reforms in Russian schools, they are participants and organizers of various forums dedicated to the problems of democratization. An important part of this work is the "Upbringing of democracy" – project carried out together with German students. There are also other international projects. For years German schools(the Bettina-von-Arnim Schulle and Ernst Scherring Schulle from Berlin, Gesamtschulle Heistall from Bad-Hersfeld) are our traditional partners. The most interesting recent projects are the organizing of the exhibition "Berlin with the eyes of a child", the planning and creation of a virtual business office, the "Antifascism" project and the project dedicated to the soviet people who were forced to work in Germany during the Second World War. All the projects stipulated student exchange, living in families, setting up mutual camps and other forms of personal and virtual communication.

Since 1991 – an associate school of UNESCO,
Laureate of the President's of Russia Award,
Laureate of a grant of the institute "Open Society", participant of international projects,
Member of the International Association of democratic schools.
School of Self-Determination is a complex educational institution aiming at upbringing and education of children according to the principles of freedom, development of their own personalities and forming their personal methods of cognition of culture, society and themselves.

In our school there are:
620 students,
150 pupils in the kindergarten,
198 teachers and other employees,
The council of trustees consisting of the parents and graduates,
Workshops and studios,
Sport and tourism clubs, hobby groups,
Library, 3 gyms, school café,
Computer center, summer and winter camps, hikes, excursions and expeditions.
Among those working here there are:
6 honored teachers,
53 first-class teachers,
4 Educational Doctors.

About our school there are movies and articles made by journalists from Russia, Germany and the United States.
The school has elaborated the standard of public, professional examinations of pedagogic work, our work's got a high appraisal of three commissions of well-known Russian and foreign experts such as members of the Russian Academy of Education – B.M Bim-Bud, V.A. Petrovsky, A.M. Tsyrulnikov, professors M.S. Zhamkochyan, Y.I. Turchaninov, V.I Slabodchikov, professor of the Harvard University – J. Valiant, professor of the Manchester University – T. Shanin and others.
We look for creative answers to interesting questions.

Our school is:
     - a scientific laboratory,

• extension courses for teachers and principals of other schools,
• international pedagogic festivals, conferences and seminars.

Teachers from Russia and the CIS, Australia, the Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Lithuania, the USA, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia, Republic of South Africa and Japan studied our experience.
Our colleagues
Have written over ten books about their work, they take part in editing of the magazine "Democratic School" and other scientific pedagogic editions.

A significant feature of the School of Self-Determination is that it constantly changes: teachers and students try different forms of organization for life and studies. Surely it poses some problems but there is no other way to get the real education.
When applying for a place in our school for your child be aware that indispensable condition is your consent to his upbringing and education in an experimental educational institution.

Our site: www.schools.keldysh.ru/schop
Our address: 58a Syrenevy boulevard, Moscow, 105484
Tel: +7(095)461-06-32, 461-06-23
Fax: +7(095)461-08-45
e-mail: schop.edu@mtu-net.ru

General director of                         "School of Self-Determination" Alexander Naumovich Tubelsky,
Ed. D., honored teacher of Russia, laureate of the President's of Russia award in the sphere of education.

The principal of the school – Olga Ivanovna Lebedeva,
Honored teacher of Russia.
The principal of the kindergarten – Margarita Fedorovna Golovina,
Honored teacher of Russia, laureate of the President's of Russia award in the sphere of education.

AFTER MY EDITS

Why does the structure of your school differ from that of most other schools?
From birth, each person has a unique character, which he realizes in the course of his life. This personal character is fundamental to the process of self-determination. The main task of general education, as we see it, is to help the child in forming and developing his capabilities for his own self-actualization in life. The role of school in this process is to create an environment for developing self-perception, self-expression, and self-determination in relation to nature, culture, society and self.  At school, there are flexible educational, recreational, artistic, and legal areas a student can choose between, as a model training ground for similar choices later in professional and personal life.
 

Will you teach the child to write and read in the elementary school?
Yes! At each child’s own pace. The importance of expressing experience, feelings and interests is particularly emphasized, both in speech and in writing. One free educational area of the primary school is the weekly “Day of Free Workshops” in which each child chooses his own activities from among 20 possibilities (from beading to science research). These workshops are conducted by teachers and parents.  In these workshops, students of different ages work alongside one another on projects of common interest, developing communication and cooperation skills.  Each child chooses his favorite activities, "looking for and experiencing himself" in a variety of contexts.
Training self-evaluation is considered to be another priority.  Students compose their own hand-written books ("Who am I?"), define criteria for their own progress, and take part in an exhibition of personal achievements.  Our primary school is an active participant in the life of the whole school. Communication between students of different ages, as they take part in all the areas and affairs of the school, is an essential part of education.

What do students do at the lessons in the secondary school?
The task of the secondary school is to provide conditions to test a teenager's strengths. Both subject and interdisciplinary studies are embraced.  The content of a course may be represented as a basic theme, lending itself to multiple approaches.  It's not a necessity to constantly strive for the one right answer or method.  We know that open questions can stimulate independent search and promote the development of critical thinking and personal identity.
Alongside core courses, there is also enough time for electives, for work at individually chosen themes, and for conducting science projects in the school labs or outdoors. At the end of the year, we have an examination where children present and defend their original research, projects, and artwork. Many people are invited to these examinations, including classmates, parents, and experts (who can be students, teachers or anyone from outside the school, provided they understand the subject better than the person doing the presentation). The defense becomes a demonstration of personal progress.

Is it true that study is the last thing you are concerned about in your school?
No.  Study is important here, but must be understood and experienced in the context of our principles:

• student selection of his teacher, subject, method and pace of progress;
• student involvement in setting his personal objectives and tasks, in the course of developing collective and personal study plans;
• active mutual appraisal of all participants in the educational process;
• self-evaluation of the process and the results of each child's education.

How do you prepare children in the kindergarten for school?
Preparation for school in our kindergarten means not only developing the skills of reading, writing and counting but also preparation for participating in the personal and interpersonal experience of learning and working together.  Emphasis is placed on skills of communication with nature, culture and other people, as well as development of the senses (touch, smell, hearing, sight), and control of the body. There are children of different ages in the groups. Together with their teachers, children experience developments in personal and community life, the change of seasons, and traditional holidays.  They also perform role plays such as theatre, circus, and museum exhibits. Children grow plants, cook, make crafts, play music and do gymnastics. We are careful not to overdo the planning of children's activities. A teacher should recognize the needs of each day, the mood of the group and of each child in it, and he should create conditions for cooperation, self-actualization and initiative.

What is the emphasis of the high school?
In the high school (10th and 11th grade) there are only a few core courses – all the others are electives selected by each student as part of his personal curriculum. The main forms of classes are workshops conducted by teachers and invited specialists. The core courses are "intensives" where students can master the state minimum requirements.
Both within the context of subject learning in these “intensives” and in electives, we aim to retain our approach of modeling the two equal, interrelated parts of learning:

• knowledge (“subject”/ explicit curriculum);
• universal, flexible skills and competencies that are applicable to all fields of activity. (In this aspect of learning, a child forms his competence himself according to his personality.  The task of the teacher is to allow children to develop and understand their own methods of work and the appropriate areas where those methods can be applied.)

What's the role of games in school?  Studies are a serious thing!
In our school, theatre and play are inseparable from academic learning, self-actualization, and presentation/defense of personal projects.  There are also traditional holidays when play and creativity dominate school life: Pushkin Week, New Year, and the School's Birthday. The main features of these creative activities are:

• creation of situations for children to understand the meaning of what's happening, and to understand aims and objectives of activities (games start only as a result of the joint resolution of teachers and students together after goals and conditions have been discussed);
• children's participation at all the stages of designing and organizing of the activity;
• availability of choice (the need to choose forms, means of activity, and roles naturally encourages self-determination);
• in some activities, team or individual competition gives children the opportunity to observe their place and position in time;
• significant results visible for both the participants of the game and for the other people, such as The Museum of the 20th Century, and the showing of documentary films edited by students;
• availability of a place and time for reflection during or after the activity, which helps children to check their progress.

Will your students be able to find their place in real life?
Our students are constantly involved in using life skills and professional skills. One day a week there are working classes during which children choose various workshops.  (Choices include joinery and mechanics, sewing and design, cooking, art, library, and childcare.)
Together with parents, we make arrangements for internships, taking advantage of our location in Moscow.  Students do work with commercial and industrial companies, banks, hospitals, community service organizations, and more.  There is also an annual business game at the school itself where children can try the roles of businessman, official, or office worker, in the process developing an understanding of the economic and social structure of contemporary society.
In the high school there are probation periods when students work in these internships or study in the institutes of higher education they have chosen. The main functions of these probation periods are for students to gain an understanding of their own predispositions and inclinations in real-world contexts, as well as the practical and political realities in companies, facilitating a smooth transition as they leave the school.

Creative area is for talented children! Is everybody  capable of creation?
Art in our school means participation in a variety of activities to discover one's own inclinations, interests and talents, while simultaneously discovering the world and developing self-expression in various fields of activity. Art is one of the most essential parts of school life.
In the school there are rooms for drawing, music, and world art culture, equipped with various materials and tools a child can use according to his plan. Children can also use theatre, cinema, dance, crafts and design studios.

Children in your school are too free! Everything is allowed!
We established the democratic format of our school, striving to realize the ideal in which each person’s freedom is limited only by the need to respect the freedom of the other members of the society. The rules of everyday life are approved by common agreement; tolerance of other people habits is a norm of behavior.
We built the law system of the school as a working model of constitutional democracy with the following rules:

• all the people who teach and study are citizens of the school possessing equal rights (the right of citizenship is also given to graduates and parents upon their request);
• children and adults together work out rules and standards of community life, including school laws, the school constitution, and the makeup of the democratically elected school council;
• there are formats for every student and teacher to take part in making important decisions, including assemblies, gatherings and referendums;
• there is a “court of honor” with elected membership resolves conflicts and law violations;
• there are procedures for self-government in classes and other primary collectives.

Our school has elaborated a procedure for examining of the democratic life style in collectives.  Our students and teachers take part in democratic reforms in Russian schools.  They are participants and organizers of various forums dedicated to the problems of democratization.  An important part of this work is the "Upbringing of Democracy" project carried out in collaboration with German students. There are also other international projects. For several years, German schools (the Bettina-von-Arnim Schulle and Ernst Scherring Schulle from Berlin, as well as Gesamtschulle Heistall from Bad-Hersfeld) have been our partners in this work. The most interesting recent projects are the organizing of the exhibition "Berlin With the Eyes of a Child", the planning and creation of a virtual business office, the "Antifascism" project, and a project dedicated to the Soviet people who were forced to work in Germany during the Second World War. All the projects stipulated student exchange, living in families, setting up mutual camps and other forms of personal and electronic communication.

Since 1991 – an associate school of UNESCO,
Laureate of the President of Russia Award,
Laureate of a grant of the institute "Open Society", participant of international projects,
Member of the International Association of Democratic Schools.
The School of Self-Determination is a complex educational institution dedicated to raising and educating children according to the principles of freedom, development of children’s own personalities and the formation of personal methods of cognition of nature, society and self.

In our school there are:
620 students,
150 pupils in the kindergarten,
198 teachers and other employees,
The council of trustees consisting of the parents and graduates,
Workshops and studios,
Sport and tourism clubs, hobby groups,
Library, 3 gyms, school café,
Computer center, summer and winter camps, hikes, excursions and expeditions.
Among those working here there are:
6 honored teachers,
53 first-class teachers,
4 Educational Doctors.

There are movies and articles about the school made by journalists from Russia, Germany and the United States.
The school has pushed the standards of public, professional educational standards, with high appraisals from three commissions of well-known Russian and foreign experts including members of the Russian Academy of Education – B.M Bim-Bud, V.A. Petrovsky, A.M. Tsyrulnikov, professors M.S. Zhamkochyan, Y.I. Turchaninov, V.I Slabodchikov, professor of the Harvard University – J. Valiant, professor of the Manchester University – T. Shanin.
We look for creative answers to interesting questions.

Our school is:
     - a scientific laboratory,

• extension courses for teachers and principals of other schools,
• international pedagogic festivals, conferences and seminars.

Teachers from Russia and the CIS, Australia, the Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Lithuania, the USA, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia, Republic of South Africa and Japan studied our experience.
Our colleagues have written over ten books about their work, they take part in editing of the magazine "Democratic School" and other scientific pedagogic editions.

A significant feature of the School of Self-Determination is that it constantly changes: teachers and students try different forms of organization for life and studies. Surely it poses some problems but there is no other way to get real education.
When applying for a place in our school for your child, be aware that an indispensable condition is your consent to his upbringing and education in an experimental educational institution.

Our site: www.schools.keldysh.ru/schop
Our address: 58a Syrenevy boulevard, Moscow, 105484
Tel: +7(095)461-06-32, 461-06-23
Fax: +7(095)461-08-45
e-mail: schop.edu@mtu-net.ru

General Director of "School of Self-Determination" Alexander Naumovich Tubelsky,
Ed. D., honored teacher of Russia, laureate of the President's of Russia award in the sphere of education.

The principal of the school – Olga Ivanovna Lebedeva,
Honored teacher of Russia.
The principal of the kindergarten – Margarita Fedorovna Golovina,
Honored teacher of Russia, laureate of the President's of Russia award in the sphere of education.