How Russians see the future of school and education
Expectations from school education over the past quarter century have “changed significantly” – now Russians are focusing on the development of critical thinking among schoolchildren. The importance of this function of education has increased by 10 percentage points compared to 2000. This is evidenced by the results of the study of the VTIOME. Moreover, during this time the number of people who believe that good estimates significantly affect the future career decreased. The share of those who believe that schoolchildren are overloaded with the school curriculum today have decreased from 52% to 45%.
VTsIOM Published A study on the expectations of Russians from school education (based on a telephone survey of 1.6 thousand respondents over 18 years old, was carried out in April 2025). A similar survey was conducted in 2000.
As before, participants in the study said that the school should first prepare cultural and educated people. But if 25% of the respondents chose this option 25 years ago, now only 45%.
Much more popular (10 percentage points, p. P.) Turned out to be a request for the development of critical thinking among schoolchildren.
And the request for the preparation of people who can provide their well -being, on the contrary, fell almost double – from 31% to 16% (other results, see the graphics). “Apparently, a number of tasks that were previously assigned to school are now ready to delegate,” the authors of the study noted, “the education and development of cultural and human capital-family, training in earnings-other steps of education (schools, colleges and higher educational institutions).”
Also in 2000, more attention was paid to estimates: then 62% of respondents said that school academic performance was “essential” for a future career. This year, 56% of respondents already answered. The number of those who are sure that estimates have no importance for a professional path has also increased-from 4% in 2000 to 7% in 2025.
“The expectations of Russians from the education system have become more concretized,” comments on the study by Natalya Bondarenko’s operating director of the New Glance school. “At the same time, the general system of priorities and expectations is stable, despite the change of the whole generation. The demand for a value-semantic component and subject skills remains generally at the same level. ” According to the expert, this is due to the fact that over 25 years “it was possible to stabilize the situation with the quality of education and saturate the market with proposals that meet the request and capabilities of the families”: specialized and private schools, a system for supporting talented children have appeared.
It should be noted that over the past quarter century, the number of people who believe that the level of training of graduates of schools is low has increased. This option was chosen by 40% of VTsIom surveyed compared to 30% in 2000. However, the high level of training of graduates also called more respondents (9% now, 6% in 2000). By 8 p. The share of those who believe that the schoolchildren are overloaded with the school curriculum today, decreased from 52% to 45%, and they were unloaded – from 11% to 20%.
