Russian Community Education Development Centre
is an analytical, educational resource centre of support for non-profit social initiatives in the field of education and development of civil society in Russia.
Our mission lies in the development of educational initiatives at the local level in the regions of Russia in co-operation with Russian and foreign non-profit organisations and also we are trying to foster the educated civil society in our country.
Our strategy is based on the following principles:
- new philosophy of civic education based on the tolerance principles (in accordance with UN model),
- local residents, non-profit organisations and local institutions are considered as possible equal partners for the development of common approaches to the problems of their communities,
- using of the power of volunteerism in the process of education and solution of the local problems,
- transformation of School into the information and resource centre for local community,
- using of new informational technologies for the purposes of civil education
Directions of our work:
Search of the resources for financial support of educational projects at the local level,
Development of the effective models of School management,
Adaptation of the foremost foreign experience in collaboration with local educational institutions,
Translation and propagation of the foreign publications concerning the actual problems of education,
Performance of the conferences, seminars and training programs
Creation of the free-access Internet resources on the problems of education in local communities for Russian and foreign specialists
Independent studies on the actual problems of education in the regions of Russia
In our days the role of education became so high as never in the human history. After we left behind the age of industry and entered into the age of information the value of education has started to grow rapidly.
In the age of industry it was possible to get good education and to built one's career on its basis. Usually in order to reach some success in life it was not necessary to get additional education because situation did not change so rapidly. In other words, the knowledge once obtained might be sufficient to the end of one's life.
But today many people discover, that their education is absolutely not enough for the life under conditions of the changed world. For the first time in history a lot of brilliantly educated people suffer from the same difficulties that almost illiterate people. They constantly meet the necessity to acquire new knowledge and skills without which it is hard to correspond to the requirements of the modern world.
In the age of information the Moor law became the determinant of the epoque. This law says that every 18 months the amount of information doubles. In the other world, in order to keep pace with the changes it is necessary every 1,5 years practically to make a fresh start in your education. In the age of information all our expertise stales very quickly. Everything you have learnt is very important but the way how fast you can re-study, change and get accustomed to new information is far more important.
The role of education nowadays is so high as it never was before because the things will change faster than ever.
Some outcomes of activities of the Centre during 2001 and in the beginning of 2002:
- Organisation and conducting of the city conference in Saint-Petersburg and of the regional conference in Petrozavodsk, Karelia with participation of the leading experts in the field of civic education and democratisation of education.
- Publishing of books and methodological materials concerning the problems of civic education,
- Establishment of the Resource Centre of our Program in Saint-Petersburg, including the library in the field of education, free-access Internet hall, training centre.
- Organisation and conducting of the seminars and workshops in the schools of Saint-Petersburg and Northwest of Russia,
- Formation of the team of local trainers and adaptation of the training programs in the field of civic education,
- Support of the Democracy Schools network in Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region,
- Creation of the web-site of the Centre in Russian and English, containing methodological information for teachers, students and administration of schools and analytical materials on the problems of education in Russia.
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