general information

GENERAL EDUCATION

General education consists of four levels: pre-school education, primary general education, basic general and secondary general education. Pre-school education is provided by licensed institutions for children up to age 6,5 - 7 years, that is, before they enter formal school. Primary general education takes 4 years; basic general education takes 5 years and comprises grades 5–9. Secondary general education takes two years (grades 10–11). School children complete secondary education at the age of 17-18 years.
All four levels of general education are provided on the basis of their own state standards.
Secondary general education with 11 years of formal schooling is compulsory nowadays.
General education curricula normally stipulate 34 weeks of study per year and, as a rule, 27 to 38 hours of study per week. The school year starts on 1 September and runs through the beginning of June. Unified state examinations scheduled in the end of May - beginning of June are culminating school studies.

A state educational standard for general education lays down requirements to the minimum content of education and the workload of students. It also prescribes compulsory fields of study (Humanities with a special emphasis on Russian language, literature, social sciences, and physical education; natural sciences with priority given to mathematics; technology). Social sciences can include such subjects as foreign languages, Russian history, world history, economic and social geography, law, political science, economics, etc. Natural sciences can cover biology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, ecology, etc. Technology normally includes drawing and a number of disciplines for the imparting of certain basic skills of general utility for pupils, such as home economics, sewing, cooking, metal work, carpentry, etc. In upper school grades basic skills for the exercise of certain professions are offered. Local authorities and schools have the right to set up good proportion of curriculum. In practice each school designs its own curriculum, basing it upon the state education standard offering Basic curriculum. Latest standards of general education give more initiative to local authorities and schools in designing curricula with the purpose to facilitate independent activity of students.
Russia has well-developed networks of schools offering advanced programs which are based on the Basic curriculum and can be offered in a number of ways:
through schools offering advanced programs in selected disciplines such as foreign languages, mathematics, physics, etc.;
through schools with developed out-of-school activities giving a profound mastery of fine arts, philosophy, economics, sports, and other fields;
through schools in which senior grades work under tutorship of HEIs and use the academic staff and facilities of the latter.


On completion of basic general education (grade 9), graduates take final examinations (State final attestation) and are awarded the Certificate of Basic General Education (Attestat ob osnovnom obshchem obrazovanii). This Certificate entitles its holder to be admitted either to secondary general education or to non-university post-secondary education (srednee professionalnoe obrazovanie).
On completion of secondary general education (grade 11) a school leaving certificate is awarded. The name of this qualification is the Certificate of Secondary General Education (Attestat o srednem obshchem obrazovanii).

The general secondary school study program is culminated with mandatory state final attestation of each graduate in the Russian language and mathematics, which is an obligatory part of the Unified State Examination (USE). Graduates who have successfully passed the USE in Russian language and mathematics are issued Certificates of Secondary General Education. In this Certificate the final marks are set, which are defined as the average of the annual assessments for the graduate in grades 10 and 11.

Exams in other subjects, such as: literature, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history, social studies, foreign languages, informatics and ICT graduates pass as a part of the USE on a voluntary basis and by their own choice. Graduates who have passed the state final attestation in the form of the NSE are given a Certificate of the USE results. In certificate the results in the subjects on which assessment is not below the approved minimum level are indicated. These results are presented for competition of entrants to those universities, which plans to enter a school graduate (up to 5 universities). Nearly 100% of new students are admitted to HEIs by the result of the Unified State Exam now.
The school leaving certificate (Certificate of Secondary General Education) entitles its holder to pursue professional education: non-university post-secondary education and university level higher education.

Public and private schools at all levels are required to go through the procedure of state accreditation, which is held by the local authorities. A successful passing through this procedures leads to authorization to issue nationally recognized school leaving certificates.
Quite a number of private schools have been established in the Russian Federation: more than 600. Certificates issued by non-accredited schools do not grant the right to be admitted to higher education institutions.

About the USE (Unified State Examination)

Unified State Examination as Final Examination at School.pdf (160,8 kB)
 

About the SFA (State Final Attestation)

ГИА по англ. яз. в 2012.ppt (365 kB)