Development of pedagogical higher schools in Russia and Germany in the 1920s: a comparative analysis of the educational environment

The subject of research in the article is the educational environment of pedagogical higher schools in Soviet Russia of the 1920s and in the Weimar Republic. The rationale for the comparison is the idea about creating of national teachers training systems in both countries in the 1920s, as well as a number of similar socio-political conditions in the both states caused by the revolutions like unemployment, inflation, social reforms and the change of power. Those conditions determined features of the educational environment in higher education institutions and were supplemented by internal conditions of pedagogical training in the two countries by the period considered (like democratization of the educational process, pedagogical search in educational institutions, moderate humanism and liberalization of the pedagogical process, at the same time instability of the environment and authoritarianism of education management, as well as centralization of management and unification of the education structure in Russia). The aim of the article is to compare some aspects of the educational environment structure in pedagogical higher schools of the Weimar Republic and the young Soviet Russia, namely, the extensional, communicative-organizational and curricular-methodological components. The comparison of the extensional environment of the educational process confirms that due to the difficult financial situation in the 1920s living conditions were not easy for students and teachers in the both countries. The system of social support for students was more successful in Soviet Russia than in Germany. In the two countries students themselves played an active role in improving the financial conditions of life, helping the most needy in student communities. Most of the Soviet and German students had to earn extra money. It turned out that German girls faced bigger difficulties in obtaining education than Russian ones. Studying the communicative-organizational component the authors have found some specifics of the student contingent in pedagogical higher schools. They notice that the revolution simplified access to higher education only in Russia, but in Germany teachers training at universities was more elitist due to the higher level of general education and social status of students. Because of unemployment, the number of students in German pedagogical higher schools was significantly lower than in Russia, like the number of girls in higher educational institutions. But the teaching staff in Germany is considered as more skilled. In comparing the curricular-methodological component of the environment, the authors conclude that the main forms of education in pedagogical higher schools of the USSR and Germany were lectures, seminars, laboratory works and practical trainings; students were engaged in scientific work and internships. The final exam as a form of final control had a more complex structure and content in Germany. The authors make a conclusion that, although the 1920s were a difficult period for the young Soviet Russia and the Weimar Republic, academization, democratization and expansion of teacher education systems took place in these years.

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