He continues his research in the field of pedagogical innovation. The object of attention of the winter session was the school, which is called “New”; an excursion to it allowed the participants to personally assess the degree of novelty.

Moscow New school in its ideological embodiment has existed since 2005, but it gained walls only recently. The Dar Foundation, managed by Yulia Veshnikova, spent 12 long years searching for a building, forming a team of like-minded people and understanding the concept of an approach to education.

On September 1, 2017, the process of learning and settling in began at the New School, since attending lessons and obtaining the necessary knowledge for life should not run counter to life itself, which is full and rich. Teachers at the New School believe that childhood does not end at the threshold of school, and academic results are the fruits of a keen interest in knowledge, rather than effective cramming. More and more often in pedagogical circles the common idea is heard that children are, first of all, people, and not students. This “human” approach to education is based on the idea of ​​free choice and taking into account the characteristics and interests of children. So at the New School, the implementation of the child’s skills and abilities and learning to harmoniously interact with the world are of paramount importance. However, first things first...

Coffee and croissants with the friendly director of the New School, Kirill Medvedev

“There must be some kind of “safe” place for teachers at school,” says director Kirill Medvedev. At the New School, such a place is a cafe for adults. It was there, in complete “safety,” that the first part of the meeting of the School of Teachers and Directors took place. The New School team, from the director to the curators, is very young (if not in age, then in soul). Surprisingly, we managed to gather professionals who do not know how to boast about this at all and are passionate about the idea of ​​​​raising thinking people who are ready to make decisions and bear responsibility for them.

Children and parents are selected to suit themselves: it’s a common cause. Therefore, an interview with parents is a mandatory stage of admission to school, says Sergei Plakhotnikov, head of an elementary school ( note: on his bright red sweatshirt there is the inscription “Open notebooks, shut mouths” - one of the most common phrases secondary school, now consigned to history).

demonstrates to the participants of the Winter Session the structure of the “joiner”

Mathematics, Russian and English, of course, have not been canceled either, but it is more important to check whether all three partners are suitable for each other: student-teacher-parents - no one is going to play “tug of war” here. Even for short story school, there was a precedent when parents, amazed by the lack of diaries, grades and comments in red pen, were so confused that they took the completely happy girl into a structure that was more understandable to them (nothing is known about her further fate, but we think everything is more or less good). And the school reserves the right to refuse admission without explanation, which, frankly, only doubles the demand.

By the way, about the economy: one month of a child’s education at the New School will cost parents 40 thousand rubles. True, this amount includes meals in the school restaurant (the creators insist on this name, it must be admitted, not without reason), as well as a package of additional education courses. However, the New School is still not a story of making money, because the conditions created there for students, equipment, and maintenance of the building are much more expensive. For example: one room for the so-called “3D physical education”, which has everything from a climbing wall to a slide, cost, according to rough estimates, 1 million 800 thousand. rubles Children at school have access to pottery and cooking, carpentry and a 3D printer, and even a huge aquarium with a couple of friendly green geckos, whose name was chosen through an open competition. And the theater hall of the New School could be the envy of some Moscow chamber theaters.

The New School's theater hall can host real plays and school assemblies.

Much attention is paid to sports and technology at the school. Seven sports teachers work with children (including rhythmic gymnastics and wrestling) and four in technology. There is no grade system: the New School tries to stimulate motivation for learning by other means. There are no calls from or to class. They are replaced by philosophical remarks a la “Nine-thirty-nine, but did you manage to do everything?”...

They also try to avoid homework - there is already a lot of work in class. It is customary for children to do the so-called “visiting” (walking around classes and getting to know other parallels); some classes are even held in mixed groups. The first school assembly took place in early December. For high school students, the “pass” to the assembly was a student from a junior school, with whom they absolutely had to get acquainted and make friends. The selection process at the meeting of generations was based on personal sympathies and similarities. But “no one left offended.”

Once a month, children visit a museum, having previously chosen it. School assemblies are held weekly. Parents are involved in physical education classes (“exercises with parents”), as well as joint evenings, often with a guitar, games, and creative improvisation.

New School Gymnasium

In the basic school, tutors and mediators work with students ( special people designed to resolve emerging conflicts). Tutors serve as a kind of “structuring mirror” for a teenager: they record his goals, aspirations, changes in interests, but do not put pressure, do not call him to responsibility and do not reproach him. Over three months, more than one hundred and thirty training seminars were held for teachers and tutors.

The system of additional education is also widely developed. Currently, about four hundred and eighty children are enrolled in the program. The main directions are sports, music, art and technology. There are robotics classes that are extremely popular, undoubtedly computer classes. They prefer ethnic drums and electric guitar to piano lessons. Both boys and girls attend cooking classes.

Director for the Development of Additional Education at the New School, Yana Kudryavtseva, talks about the specifics of her field

The new school, in a sense, “trolls” the prohibitions adopted in the old school: in the corridors and reading room you can find an electronic piano and a drum set with inviting inscriptions “You can play!” (fortunately, in modern world headphones are widely used).

At The New School you are allowed to write on the walls!

While children everywhere are prohibited from drawing on walls, here they even create special walls for writing and drawing. So what?! After all, this is self-expression!

Moreover, according to the teaching staff and administration of the New School: “A school is not only walls!” And even, it would be more accurate to say, first of all, not them.

Photo by Nikolay Seredina

Interesting topic professional development teacher and leader?

Forbes Life took a look at the schools created with the support of members of the Forbes list.

School “Letovo” by Vadim Moshkovich

Reputation future school(opening scheduled for September 1, 2018) is ahead of reality. Three years before the start of construction, Vadim Moshkovich (graduate of the 57th Moscow mathematics school) and school director Mikhail Mokrinsky (former director of Lyceum 1535 on Sports, the best school in Moscow and Russia) made dozens of trips to personally study general education systems in Europe, America and Asia. The school's program is divided into eight subject areas, with great attention paid to interdisciplinary connections. IN educational process built-in different types experience: creativity, scientific, research, project activities. The educational model combines the systematicity and integrity of the program with the choice of an individual development trajectory for the student.

Education will begin in “Letov” from the 7th grade. Recruitment is on a competitive basis: you need to have high grades in Russian, foreign languages and mathematics, achievements outside of school and take a test from a school psychologist that reveals the characteristics of motivation. The consonance of the goals and values ​​of the family and the school is also important. The families of students enrolled in the school undergo scoring, for which Sberbank is responsible. School fees are calculated based on scoring results. Talented but poor people can count on 100% coverage of their educational expenses with a scholarship. They will speak with students in “Letov” using “you”.

“I am confident that our project will change attitudes towards non-state education. Non-state education and how it was originally laid out is a niche story. Motivated students were more likely to choose public schools. We hope that Letovo will be perceived not as a non-state school, but as an independent school with its own target audience,” says director Mikhail Mokrinsky.

The cost of training is 1.1 million per year. Excluding scholarships

Oleg Deripaska and MES

The Moscow School of Economics was founded in 1993 by employees of the capital's Department of Education Yuri Shamilov, Olga Snyatkova and Valery Svetlichny with the support of a group of businessmen led by Yuri Milyukov, at that time the president of the Moscow Commodity Exchange. Over time, the project was supported by entrepreneur Oleg Deripaska and former president of Svyaz-Bank Alla Aleshkina. Today, the central building of the school and kindergarten is located in the Krasnaya Presnya area, the branch is in Odintsovo. “The idea is to create a school using the best teaching experience Russian and foreign schools. This is how the first International Baccalaureate school in Russia was born. MES graduates, of whom there are already more than 750 people, form a community of successful businessmen in Russia,” says Natalia Kadzhaya, director of the Moscow School of Economics. “Our students, and we call all children this way, starting from the age of three, have the opportunity to receive two diplomas: a Russian Federation certificate of complete secondary education and a certificate of the IB diploma program,” noted Ilya Gegeshidze, deputy director of the Moscow School of Economics.

Tuition fee - 1 million per year

Nikita Mishin's new school

On September 1 of this year, a New School opened in Moscow, created by charitable foundation"Gift" of entrepreneur Nikita Mishin. “If a society wants to be successful, it must care about education. As a humanist with a diploma in teaching philosophy, the topics of pedagogy have always been close to me. In my circle it was often discussed what a truly good modern school, how much it can and should take from the classical tradition. It took us thirteen years to open our own school,” Nikita Mishin told Forbes Life. The building on Mosfilmovskaya Street was designed specifically for a school for 600 students. “When selecting a team of teachers, we looked for interesting and original professionals in their field, as well as motivated young specialists. Our teachers are not indifferent; working at school is not just a job for them, but a matter of life,” says school director Kirill Medvedev. The Department of Literature was headed by Sergei Volkov, former teacher Russian language and literature school No. 57, one of the best Russian literature teachers.

Tuition fee - 400,000 rubles per year

First Moscow Gymnasium Elena Baturina

The first Moscow gymnasium was founded in 2002 by Elena Baturina on the basis of a Soviet pioneer camp near the village of Nikolina Gora. 5 years later, the deal with Baturina was made by the former vice-president of Norilsk Nickel, Anatoly Avdeev. “The Soviet school was distinguished by patriotism, quality of knowledge, high level disciplines. These three things matter to us special meaning. We create an alternative foreign education so that the child does not leave, but studies in home country, at least until he reaches 21 years old,” Avdeev is sure. He believes that a citizen can only be raised through the joint efforts of family and school. “If parents have not created conditions in the family for normal upbringing, then the child, no matter how the school deals with him, will not become a citizen with high moral and ethical qualities.” Therefore, Avdeev personally meets with all parents of applicants to study at the gymnasium.

Tuition fee - 1.7 million rubles per year, entrance fee - 1.5 million rubles

Pavlovsk gymnasium of Sergei Bachin

The gymnasium, designed for 880 students, opened in New Riga in September 2009. On ten hectares there are kindergarten, school, sports and cultural-administrative complexes. The idea of ​​creation belongs to the general director of the Rosa Khutor resort Sergei Bachin and his former partners. “I was brought up by the Soviet education system, I think it was one of the best in the world. At the same time, when I lived and worked in the States, I saw their best private schools and very decent public educational institutions. I had the opportunity to compare the two systems. When he returned to his homeland with his children in 1998, he was faced with the collapse of the education system: complete neglect and lack of discipline reigned in schools. None of the educational institutions of that time even remotely resembled the ideal model that seemed to me. The condition of the school reflected the general situation of the collapse of the system. It was painful to watch everything that was strong collapse Soviet Union: heavy engineering, rocketry... Research in the field of fundamental sciences has stopped. It was then that the understanding came that the time had come for my essential choice of how to live on. The realization has also come that you can change anything in the world around you only by personal example. In general, the same approach applies to raising children. I proceed from the fact that we are not temporary workers on this earth. And my mission, no matter how pretentious it may sound, is the revival of the country through education and raising children. “I want to live in my homeland, raise my children here, and for my children and grandchildren and grandchildren’s grandchildren to live here,” Sergei Bachin told Forbes Life about his decision to build a school: In preparation for the construction of the school, I studied literature on architecture and the history of education. After all, buildings are built to last 100 years, and the educational program becomes outdated every 10 years. Thus, a large educational complex was created with the most modern infrastructure and technical equipment at that time: rarely does anyone think that for an active thought process, children need oxygen-saturated air and a certain temperature regime. During construction, we not only complied with SanPin requirements, we deliberately exceeded them by applying the standards for class A office premises,” notes the entrepreneur.

Now Sergei Bachin heads the Board of Trustees of the gymnasium. The council meets once a month; in addition, Bachin is in constant interaction with the director of the gymnasium, Olga Ragozhina.

Sergei Bachin is convinced that the future elite should be educated on Russian soil. “I am sure that a child’s socialization should take place in his native country, next to his parents. But what happens here is that they send a child abroad to study and think that they have fulfilled their duty. And when the child returns home, there is an abyss between him and his parents.

The task of our gymnasium is to raise and educate the future elite of the country, patriots of their Fatherland, who know and understand the history of our Motherland, share its spiritual values, and form the correct social guidelines. Belonging to the elite is conditioned by excellent education, sociocultural level, moral and ethical values ​​and, of course, responsibility for oneself, for society, for the country.

I believe that I am solving a task on a national scale - educating the future Russian elite, children of today's political and economic establishment, who will rule Russia in 5-10 years. And we are raising the future elite on Russian soil, so that children absorb the best Russian traditions and spiritual values. I will emphasize, and this is my tough position, we do not train personnel for “abroad”, which is why we are not supporters of the International Baccalaureate system, and this is our fundamental difference from other private schools that prepare children for admission to Western universities and colleges . We aim our high school students to enter the most prestigious Russian higher education institutions.”

Tuition cost - 1.5 million rubles per year

Kirill Medvedev

Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, one of the methodologists of the “Teacher for Russia” program, director of the “New School”

Sergey Volkov

teacher of Russian language and literature at school No. 57 (1992–2015), associate professor of the Faculty of Philology at the Higher School of Economics (2011–2015), head of the literature department of the “New School”

Yulia Veshnikova

Graduate of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, director of the Dar Foundation, founder of the New School

- What principles were you guided by when creating the “New School”?

Medvedev: Any school is looking for an answer to the question of what it should be modern education. In private schools, a common theme is closedness: we just want to work in the paradigm of openness, we try to attract professionals who are interesting to us. In this sense, the “New School” is a sociocultural project that includes both the school itself and the educational center.

Veshnikova: At school, we strive to turn almost everything into the educational process. What is called “Education-360”, when the child is constantly in the process of learning. Unfortunately, Primary School often makes sure that the child asks as few questions as possible. And only as they grow up do people understand that asking the right question is 80 percent the solution to the problem. So we encourage children to learn to ask questions.

Your school welcomes future students from the threshold with an unusual space. What kind of interaction do you expect with him?

-Medvedev: We are building a school - an environment for the development of the entire community - children, parents, teachers. The corridor, for example, not only performs a transport function, but is also a place where a child could interact with school, study, and communicate. We deliberately did not add a lot of color, because we believe that it should come along with the children, who will rethink and refine it. It’s the same with cabinets: they are designed in such a way that you can move furniture in them quite freely. As you can see, the topic of choice and awareness is very important for us: children must appropriate the space and decide for themselves what will be there. We have a nice fantasy - to put electronic music next to the cabinet musical instruments with headphones so children can play without disturbing anyone.

The same goes for the continuing education center, which operates in the afternoon. At this time, completely different people, including adults, will come here, and for them this space should also be unusual, conducive to activities.

The summer reading list for students of the New School is quite extensive and differs from the programs of leading humanitarian schools in Moscow. Will this be a purely proprietary course with a specific trajectory and aimed at a specific result?

Chemistry laboratory

© New school

- On what basis was the corps of teachers recruited?

Volkov: I recruited wordsmiths. I needed people who know the subject, who are adequate, who are interested in life, who are ready to listen and hear others, enter into dialogue with the student, and who themselves want to learn. They took them like that.

Medvedev: Interesting and original people are important to us, but the most important thing is that they are professionals. An essential factor is the value system: a person should care, because working at school is, of course, a matter of life. It is important to be able to negotiate and check expectations with colleagues and fellow students. We have an emphasis on the tradition of strong schools, but at the same time we expect flexibility from teachers, the ability to understand the world and respond adequately to it.

Veshnikova: Teamwork is expected at school, but the team consists of teaching stars. People must be able to listen to each other and - despite the fact that they are masters of their craft - change their minds if someone's arguments convince them. But this should not be confused with betrayal of principles. Rather, it is about the willingness to reconsider professional approaches. Unfortunately, star teachers are characterized by some inertia, but we tried to gather those who give themselves the trouble to think and try something new. And our director gives us the opportunity to work in a team without an authoritarian regime. In my opinion, this sets us apart from the majority very much. good schools, in which a vertical power structure is built and all decisions depend on one person. And if this person - the star - leaves the project, then after a couple of years the school is closed. It was important for us to build a systemic thing that will live for centuries, like Cambridge: what is important there is not the name of the director, but a set of principles that work for the overall brand. I hope that Kirill Vladimirovich will have the courage to deal with this, because everyone has the temptation to take everything into their own hands.

Medvedev: I have been in the school and university environment for a long time and I know how difficult it is to build a horizontal structure when teachers or department heads get together and really decide something. But at the same time, incorporating horizontal elements has a big payoff for everyone. Therefore, we try to stick to this regime as long as possible. Of course, there are times when the situation does not work out general decision, and here you have to turn on the classic vertical mechanisms.

Veshnikova: Yes, of course, in the process of daily (but I won’t say routine!) work of the “New School”, the administration, teachers, children will search for, develop, intelligently borrow and implement a variety of pedagogical and organizational approaches and solutions. But the main principles on which the New School is based will be preserved precisely as a system of values, as a base, as a foundation. Therefore, the fund, having prepared, organized, fully financed and launched our project, will not abandon it after the start school year. And we are not only talking about material support, about funding that the school will require for a long time - we are creating a board of trustees and supervisory boards of the “New School”, which, without interfering on a daily basis with the work of the “New School”, educational institution, will closely observe life and trends and protect the very values ​​​​that I spoke about above.

Kitchen laboratory

© New school

Aren't you afraid that, after graduating from the New School, a person will get lost in a world of low educational requirements?

Veshnikova: Not at all. If a person has collected a certain number of necessary cognitive tools, he will find a resource for himself. He will be able to understand whether he is there and whether he has enough opportunities - and if not, then how they can be obtained. We want to create an atmosphere of good restlessness at school, so that a person does not stop, but has the habit of constant self-development.

Medvedev: This makes it easier to prepare for uncertainty. After all, no one really understands what to expect, what will happen in our lives in five years, and how to move towards it. Everyone understands that changes are happening, and it is important to learn how to somehow cope with this - both as a child and as an adult. And not in ten years, but right now. This is a story about choice, and at school we will strive to develop and train the ability to choose. It is very difficult for adults to provide a child with a lot of choice, but we still think it is important to update this topic.

© New school

Today, in addition to specialized humanitarian (and not necessarily humanities) education in schools, there are many open lectures and seminars, many of which have been successfully institutionalized. Does the New School approach differ from the usual formats, in which the figures of the bearer of knowledge are still given priority over those for whom this knowledge is intended?

Medvedev: Good question. Our original goal was not to be different. We didn’t think about the question “What would you like to give up in a public school?” Rather, it is important for us to take something from there. But at the same time, we made a choice in favor of individual learning trajectories, which imply different opportunities for the child to manage his time. In high schools, which we have not yet launched, even individual schedules and individual educational plans. In general, this is a vector where you can move and build your program in relation to it. This is not a humanitarian or mathematical profile - it is a personal profile of the student, which implies personal interests, capabilities and aspirations.
Well, the position of the “talking head” should a priori be lowered. " talking head» implies simple transfer of knowledge. It seems to us that this should not be the case - even in cases where expert opinion is extremely important. There is the experience of colleagues from Yerevan, where no more than 15 minutes per lesson are allocated for teacher speech. We did not introduce such special rules, but we still sought to use the subject-subject form of interaction. This is, of course, difficult, but we are planning a route in this direction. Here important role plays and additional education, where completely different people come, unfamiliar to children, with whom they need to somehow interact. This is a story about emotional intellect, which is often talked about now.

Volkov: Will there be elements of lectures in our lessons? Yes, they will. Does this mean that we have usurped the right to knowledge and are broadcasting from above? Not at all. The lecture can and should take place in a constant dialogue. In a normal lesson there is always a lot of talking, arguing, and discussion. We don’t have a situation where I know the truth and lead the children to it: we all don’t know and are looking for the truth. I’m just a little more mature and have trained more in this matter, that’s all my difference. And so we walk together - and each in our own direction. The beauty of literature is that each person can give his own answer to the same question. If in math problem the answer in the class must coincide (which does not negate the different solutions), then the coincidence of answers is more likely a minus than a plus.

Dining room

© New school

- Will communication with senior officials be established? educational institutions(inviting teachers, courses, using methods) and if so, with which ones?

Medvedev: Interaction should be born naturally, and this is usually the way from below. We first establish communication and then institutionalize it. The only question is specific tasks. Of course, we are located next door to Moscow State University and we have many contacts at the teaching level: for example, our head of the biological and chemical department closely interacts with the Faculty of Biology and the Botanical Garden. In the mathematical direction there is also a connection with the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. At the same Moscow State University there are laboratories for which it may be important to reach out to specific children and offer them something.

Volkov: I myself also work at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and the Moscow Art Theater School, so there are already two universities. But seriously, we are building an open education that will be connected by many threads with the world in general and with higher education in particular. Well, it’s worth saying that the founder, and his director, and the director of the school, and, for example, I are graduates of Moscow State University: some of us studied together, walked on the same floors, absorbed the same university air. The school itself partly grew out of it.

- What is the profile of a student entering the “New School”? What are the expectations for them?

Medvedev: In short, it was important for us that the children already had some kind of subject-cultural base. When a child enters grades 5–8, he already has a certain level. Our task is to determine this level and attitude to learning, so we had subject entrance tests(Russian language, mathematics, elements in English). And then it depends on age: in primary schoolchildren we looked for curiosity and interest in learning. At the final stage, an interview took place with the child and parents: we wanted to find out whether we and the parents were close in our expectations and to what extent these expectations included the position of the child himself.

Medvedev: We don’t want to take a model where along with the mark comes an emotional assessment and, as often happens, an element of psychological pressure. In the assessment system, we strive to shift the emphasis from assigning points to issuing feedback, which a child, a parent, or a teacher must learn to work with. We can say that this is a super task for us.