All articles

The issue of pre-school education quality has a long history in Russia as its system of preschool education has traditionally been in existence for a long time. On the strength of international practice the author shows that quality assessment of preschool education programs is applicable to different objects and based on different perceptions of quality. The article describes the ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale), an integrated assessment of education quality in preschool educational establishments, in particular, its latest version – the ECERS-R Scale, which has been translated, adapted and tested in different regions of Russia. The author notes that the ECERS scales present a very interesting tool for studying the quality of preschool programs, especially in view of global comparative research since they are indisputable leaders in the amount of countries in which they are used. In addition to high reliability and validity, the Scales have a high level of quality development tools in terms of their reliance on the humanistic pedagogy of early childhood development. This experience proves to be highly beneficial in the Russian context because the Federal State Educational Standard for pre-school education introduced five educational areas which are almost identical to those on the list of subscales and indicators contained in these tools.

In the article the problem of variability of exemplary educational programs of preschool education is analyzed. It is shown that a variety of educational programs contribute to the quality of preschool education and its accessibility. The problem areas of Russian preschool education are shown and the positive aspects of the introduction of variability in preschool education are analyzed. The author stresses that the variability of preschool education ensures the maximum possible degree of individualization of education, makes the educational process “child-centered”, creates special relation of personality to the objectives, content and process of education. The author gives a generalized characteristics of exemplary educational programs, which to date have been developed under the Russian Federal Standard of Preschool Education.