Russian Federation

Reading Instruction in the Primary Grades

In primary schools, there is no specialized reading teacher. The classroom teacher usually teaches all subjects except music and an experienced teacher, such as the deputy principal, is responsible for providing instructional help to other teachers in all subjects including literary reading. The class size in the primary school, according to Ministry recommendations, should not exceed 25 students.

Teachers typically work with the whole class during reading instruction. Students or the teacher read aloud to the class, and the teacher organizes class discussion about what was read. Currently, group and pair work is becoming more common. In Grade 1, when not all students can read, instruction may focus on individual or group activities. Sometimes students who can read when they begin Grade 1 are grouped together for advanced learning.

Instructional Time

The school year begins on the first of September and has 170 or 204 instructional days, depending on whether the school has a five day or six day week. The duration of the holidays during the school year is no fewer than 30 calendar days; for students in Grade 1, an additional week of vacation is established during the year.

The Model Basic Educational Program of primary education contains the basic primary education plan. In the plan there is an indication of the total academic hours for the entirety of primary school (Grades 1 to 4). Each academic hour equals 45 minutes except for Grade 1, when the lessons are shorter (35 minutes). The academic hours for four academic years cannot be fewer than 2,904 or exceed 3,345. The number of academic hours for four years in language instruction (Russian language and literary reading) are equal to 1,215 (675 for Russian language and 540 for literary reading), which cannot be less than 36 percent of the total instructional time. The time spent on literary reading cannot be less than 16 percent of the total time.

Instructional Materials

The Ministry of Education and Science annually approves the Federal List of Textbooks, including textbooks recommended for use in primary education. The Ministry releases this list to help teachers to select the program of study and accompanying instructional materials. The textbooks and instructional materials take into account regional and ethnocultural characteristics of the subjects of the Russian Federation. In 2016, special books designed for children with disabilities expanded the list. Teachers choose instructional materials from the list in accordance with their professional preferences, recommendations of the regional authorities, childrenʼs characteristics and interests, and parental opinion.

The Ministry has developed and approved sets of programs and instructional materials for use in primary education. The materials are intended to develop the core learning skills necessary for studying all school subjects. Each set consists of a reader with a collection of texts, a textbook that supplements the reader, student work booklets for answering oral and written questions, a collection of guides for analyzing the texts, books for family reading, and a teacher’s guide. All sets of instructional materials for literary reading include Russian classical literature, foreign children’s classics, children’s literature of different ethnic groups in Russia, and modern children’s literature and are aimed at developing reading competency. Materials for family reading reflect the integrated goals of reading inside and outside school. All sets have a common core of classical literature as well as authors.

The textbooks are available in print and electronic format, contain electronic format adapted visual materials, multimedia elements, and interactive links that extend and complement the textbook content. The Ministry has conducted a comprehensive review of the materials.

Many classrooms in Russian primary schools have a class library with enough books and magazines to accommodate independent reading according to children’s interests during lessons and for home use.

Use of Technology

In the last decade, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) was introduced into general education. Federal and regional projects such as the Development of Common Educational Information Environment, Electronic Russia, and the Informatization of the Educational System were aimed at developing technology infrastructure, developing electronic educational resources, providing professional development for teachers in technology, and introducing ICT into the learning process and school management. Some results of these activities included a national Internet portal, electronic textbooks, and a nationally distributed electronic library of information resources. As a result, all schools in Russia have ICT for use in the classroom and access to the Internet.

Due to the introduction of the new Federal State Educational Standards, the role of ICT is changing considerably from the means of communication and getting information to the means of learning and personal development. The standards determine three levels of requirements for ICT in general education: ICT in the curriculum and the school resources, teacher practice, and student achievement in ICT use in learning. There are three models of the use of ICT in primary school:

• Use of ICT without transforming, illustrating, or manipulating text and objects (e.g., working with the text, sorting, grouping words, drawings, photo, comparing video with the models)
• Use of the technical facilities of ICT as the means of problem solving for increasing the effectiveness of the learning process (e.g., searching for information, modeling transformation of objects, presenting results)
• Use of ICT for creation of new products (e.g., new text such as fairy tales with hypermedia support, multimedia presentations, products of art such as simple melodies, construction of objects like robots, interactive games)

At present, all print textbooks should have a parallel electronic form—structured educational content, ready to run on interactive classroom boards and studentsʼ tablets. Electronic content of the lesson may be displayed on the board, students’ gadgets, and teachers’ tablets.

Role of Reading Specialists

There is no specialized reading teacher in primary schools.

Second Language Instruction

As a rule, students whose mother tongue is not Russian receive instruction in Russian as a state language. Some children whose native language is not Russian come to school without speaking Russian, creating problems; these include Indigenous children and those from immigrant families. The number of immigrants in Russia has sharply increased, and many children from those families do not speak Russian. The organization of instruction in Russian for students who do not speak Russian is under consideration.

Two lines of textbooks were developed covering the Russian language and literary reading, and will provide training in the subjects of the philological cycle of immigrantsʼ children in Grades 1 to 4 of general education institutions. These textbooks are aimed at training immigrant children in the Russian language, reading in Russian, and adapting to a new sociocultural environment. There are many forms of use: in polyethnic schools and classes, these textbooks are used as basics in lessons of Russian language and literature; in mixed classes where there are more Russian students, they are used either in the implementation of the individual educational route of a child or in additional lessons. The issue of paying teachers for additional lessons is the responsibility of the heads of education, including at the level of the schoolʼs management. It has become obvious to most teachers that special textbooks are needed for immigrant children, especially at the primary level, or they do not learn the material and fall behind every day on the school curriculum. Some schools hold special lessons with such children, but only by the initiative of schools. There are no government programs to work with immigrant children. For children who come to school and do not speak Russian, special classes are conducted to develop the skills of oral speech.

Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing

Inclusive education has actively been developing in Russia over the past few years. Children with health problems can attend regular classes in ordinary schools. To educate these students, an individual learning trajectory is being developed. In one of the largest Russian publishing houses, textbooks were published for visually impaired children who receive education under the Federal State Education Standard. The content of these textbooks fully corresponds with that of textbooks for ordinary children, but the font size is significantly larger. For children with serious intellectual disabilities, the special standard was developed. The instruction and assessment of these childrenʼs achievements will be conducted in accordance with the special standard. This practice has just been introduced.