Teaching Staff Background of Reforms in Russian Preschool Education and the Professional Development of Teachers

AbstractThe article presents the international assessment system «Early Child Environment Rating Scale (revised edition)» (ECERS-R) as the tool for enhancing of preschool education quality in Russia and for professional development of teachers. The discussing points of the survey of teachers’ readiness to the educational reforms are revealed. Some ways of staff training with the help of ECERS-R are discussed which were designed in the Laboratory of Child Development (Institute of System Projects of Moscow City University)

Structural dialectical approach in psychology: problems and research results

In this article dialectical thinking is regarded as one of the central cognitive processes. Because of this cognitive function we can analyze the development of processes and objects. It also determines the possibilities for the creative transformation of some content and for solving problems. The article presents a description and the results of experimental studies. This evidence proves that dialectical thinking is a specific line of cognitive development in children and adults. This line can degrade during school time if the educational program follows formal logical principles, or it can become significantly stronger if the pedagogy is based on dialectical methodology