3.32. CURRENT STATE OF PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN RUSSIA

The development of a system of public preschool education in Russia has several stages: the stage of formation (late XIX - early XX centuries), the stage of development (40-80s of the XX century), the transition to a new quality (90s XX century - the beginning of the XXI century.). The last stage can be divided into two periods: the period of the collapse of the Soviet system of public preschool education (1991-2001) and the period of the formation of a qualitatively new system of preschool education (2001 and beyond). Each of them has its own distinctive features.

The prerequisites for the collapse of the Soviet system of public preschool education are due to socio-economic reasons — the transition of the country in the early 1990s. last century to a market economy, which led to a reduction in social spending in general and education in particular. There have been changes in the system of public preschool education. In 1991, there were 87.6 thousand pre-school educational institutions in Russia, and in 2001 their number decreased by 37.6 thousand. The number of children attending pre-school institutions decreased by half (from 8433 thousand to 4266 thousand people, respectively). Especially these trends were characteristic of the countryside. The coverage of children in preschool institutions has significantly decreased. According to statistics, in 1991, 64% of the total number of children of corresponding age attended kindergartens, and in 1998 only 54% attended kindergartens.

The analysis showed that the main reasons for this decline were: the general decline in the economic activity of the population in the country, the differentiation of incomes in society and the formation of a layer of rich people,

the effect of the demographic factor (the drop in the birth rate in the country from 1988 to 2000), the decline in the quality of services provided in preschool institutions, the low wages of preschool workers, the insufficiency of budget financing.

However, during this period, measures were taken to preserve the network of pre-school institutions and create conditions for the transition of the pre-school education system to a new quality. In 1995, a new model regulation on pre-school educational institution ( pre-school ) was approved, which is aimed at regulating the activities of state and municipal pre-school educational institutions of all kinds. A package of documents that implement the Model Regulations and include the approximate charter of the DOE; an exemplary agreement between the DOE and the parents (persons replacing them) of the child attending the DOU; approximate agreement between the founder and the DOE. The approximate requirements for the conditions of stay of children in pre-school are determined: to the content of pre-school education programs, the interaction of teachers with children, to the subject-spatial environment of the child’s development. These requirements still fulfill the role of the state standard of pre-school education and are the basis for an objective assessment of the activities of pre-school institutions during their certification and subsequent accreditation.

The beginning of the XXI century. characterizes the new period in the development of preschool education in the country. Since 2001, there has been a trend towards an increase in attendance at kindergartens (in 2001, 57.2%). This is due to the stabilization of the economy in the country, an increase in the employment of the population (mothers), and an increase in the birth rate. These factors require a change in the system of preschool education. The priority directions of change are: the spread of new, flexible forms of pre-school education (groups of short-term stay of children, especially in rural areas); the creation of a pre-school education system for all children of 5-7 years of age in order to level out the social conditions for the start of school education; transfer to the share financing of pre-school institutions by reducing the volume of federal funding and increasing the share of local funding.

The current state of preschool education in the Republic of Khakassia reflects the trends identified above. In 2003, the coverage of children by preschool institutions was 51.4%, which is 3.6% lower than the national average for the corresponding year. At the same time, the existing DOW network does not fully satisfy the need of the population in kindergartens: the republic maintains the sequence for receiving vouchers to DOW. The problem of attending preschool institutions for children with disabilities remains unresolved. In spite of the fact that variable forms of work on the basis of short-term stay of children began to be actively introduced in pre-school educational institutions of the republic, the discovery of new forms of pre-school education remains an acute problem, especially for rural areas.