The NAASh building

Nizhegorodskaya Avtorskaya Akademicheskaya Shkola (NAASh) — Nizhny Novgorod secondary school No. 186, an experimental site of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, a Lyceum. Located on [Genkina] Street

Nature of the Phenomenon

Since 1995, NAASh has been implementing a system of original ideas developed by Universum (Philosophy Club), as set out in the school's doctrine. The school's development strategy is determined by the Author's Academic Council, consisting of 11 members, including 5 doctors of science and 2 candidates of science; the chairperson is A. M. Pishchik, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.

In the course of the faculty's search, the principal mission of NAASh took shape: to enable graduates to make a conscious professional choice, pursue further education independently, and remain competitive in contemporary society. This mission is reflected in NAASh's Three Key Ideas — Specialized Tracks, Career Guidance, and Social Integration — on which the school's activities are based, as enshrined in the NAASh Memorandum adopted on May 17, 2004.

The entire complex of ideas is aimed at creating a pedagogical environment in which every student can realize their abilities and creative potential and find their unique purpose in life. This is NAASh's strategic ideal.

The school's authorship is shaped through social partnership among all participants in the educational process (students, parents, and teachers) in dialogue with the bearers of fundamental culture (academicism).

History

The school was built in 1995 with the support of Governor Sklyarov Ivan Petrovich. During construction, modifications were made to the standard building design to create a distinctive architectural style: rounded arches, perimeter corridors, and other innovative solutions.

The school conducts experimental research into practical ways of resolving the tension between the regulatory requirements imposed by the state and the faculty's goal of helping students work through personal self-identification in accordance with their needs and abilities.


In 1996 and 1997, the school served as a regional experimental site for the development of a new model of an educational institution — the "Author's School."

  • Since 1996 the school has held the status of "Innovative School" within the Association of Innovative Schools and Centers of Russia (in 1996 the school won the all-Russian competition "Author's School Eureka-96" in that category).
  • In 2002 the school was designated a federal experimental site (FES) for the implementation of the project "A Model of Career-Oriented Specialized Space for the Upper School" (Order of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation No. 691, dated March 4, 2002).
  • Since 2004 the school, as a FES, has been implementing the project "A Model of Career-Oriented Specialized Space for the School."
  • Since 2003 the school has annually confirmed its FES status under the priority direction "Author's Experimental Schools."
  • Since 2006 the school has been a regional experimental site (NIRO order "On Organizing the Work of Experimental Sites in Educational Institutions of the Nizhny Novgorod Region," dated October 5, 2006, No. 62) in the following areas:

— "Modern Educational Technologies and Their Role in Teaching Social Studies Disciplines"; — "Developing Key Competencies in Students through Project-Based Activities within the Economic Pre-Specialized and Specialized Space of the School's Business Center"; — "Adapting the teaching and learning packages Excellent, Friends in Touch, Opportunities Russian Edition, Spotlight 2/5, and The World of English, published by Longman, Express Publishing, and Prosveshcheniye, to the conditions of instruction in Russian general-education schools."

  • Since 2006 the school has been a municipal experimental site in the area of "The School's Career-Oriented Pre-Specialized Space as a Condition for Developing Students' Readiness to Make a Conscious Choice of Future Educational Track and Profession during Adolescence" (Order of the Department of Education and Social and Legal Protection of Children of the Administration of the City of Nizhny Novgorod "On Experimental Work," dated October 9, 2006, No. 1309).
  • Since 1995, the school's activities have been covered in 25 scholarly articles and more than 50 newspaper publications in the national press (primarily in the newspaper Pervoye Sentyabrya) and local media.

NAASh serves as a venue for city-wide, regional, and international conferences, symposia, and seminars on innovative pedagogy, human studies, and cultural studies.

Achievements

  • In 1997 the school became a prize-winner (3rd place) in the First All-Russian Competition "Beautiful School."
  • The school won the Russian competition "Author's School — Eureka 2006" and was awarded the diploma "Author's School — 2006."
  • Since 1995 the school has been a collective member of the All-Russian Academy of Human Studies (Nizhny Novgorod).
  • Since 1997, the school has been a member of the UNESCO Associated Schools in the Russian Federation.
  • Since 1998, the school has been a collective member of the Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts (Saint Petersburg).
  • In 2008, the school became the winner of the national project "Education" for the third time and received its third million rubles for innovative activities. Teachers Yuferova E.M., Ilchenko S.G., Grebeneva G.I., Domozhirova I.V., Artemyeva T.A., Nikitina S.E., Lomonosova S.E., Gavrikova O.N., and Maslova M.A. received monetary bonuses.

Goals and Objectives of the Institution

The strategic goal of NAASh is to create a pedagogical environment in which every student can realize their abilities, creative potential, and find their own unique purpose in life.

NAASh's goal is to ensure that the school's graduates do not merely acquire specific ready-made knowledge, but receive a fundamental education that enables them to make a conscious professional choice, continue their education independently, and remain competitive in contemporary society.

With this in mind, the school (collectively, with all participants in the educational process) has defined the ultimate educational outcome of its work: a graduate's readiness for successful activity in academic, professional, and social environments. In other words, the school's graduates will be able to make a conscious professional choice, successfully continue their education, and become competitive in contemporary society. NAASh's goal is reflected in three key ideas of the school (subject specialization, career guidance, and social engagement), approved by the General School Assembly on May 17, 2004, and enshrined in the NAASh Memorandum. In light of these ideas, the graduate's certificate is a document attesting to a young person's readiness for life in society, which is reflected in its official name: the "Certificate of Maturity."

The three key value orientations of NAASh's ideas define the meaning of the school's career-oriented subject-specialization space (CSSS).

Subject Specialization

NAASh's goal is to create pedagogical conditions in which every student can receive a modern, fundamental education that not only enables them to find a particular area of academic focus, but also develops the ability to learn independently and, when necessary, to retrain.

Subject-specialized education entails: - updating the content of academic activities (structuring the content of subjects on the basis of project-based methodologies; in-depth study of individual subjects; prioritizing the mastery of computer literacy and English (the language of international communication) as essential tools for acquiring modern scientific and cultural knowledge); - the use of modern pedagogical technologies, including the organization of project-based and research activities for students; - expanding students' freedom of choice within the academic environment.

When transitioning to the senior (subject-specialized) level of the school, each student, together with teachers and parents, builds their own individual educational pathway. The student's task is to make a responsible choice in accordance with their inclinations and abilities. The parents' task is to support their children's individual educational pathways. The teachers' task is to create conditions for students to acquire in-depth theoretical and applied knowledge in their chosen area of specialization, oriented toward successful examination performance and subsequent mastery of the intended profession.

Career Guidance

NAASh's goal is to help every student choose a future profession in accordance with their inclinations and abilities.


The career-guidance space for grades 8–9 (aimed at developing students' motivation toward professional self-determination), the specialized space for grades 10–11 (providing support for that self-determination), and the school's educational centers (modeling students' work in their future profession) are all conditions that help graduates make an informed choice about their future professional activity.

The qualitative difference between career-guidance work in the 21st century and the analogous process in the 20th century is connected to changes in the significance placed on the individual. If the 20th century was dominated by adapting the individual to mass (standardized) workplaces, the task now is to create a workplace for a unique individual. "The spirituality of organizations and workplaces" — this is what this movement in career guidance is called in contemporary management. The priority is no longer earning a livelihood but finding one's unique purpose in life in general, and in one's professional sphere in particular. The task of NAASh is to help its students find their direction in future professional activity, proceeding from an understanding of each person's social uniqueness. Not to seek one's place among standardized workplaces, but to create one's own unique workplace — this is the motto of the new career guidance.

Sociality

The task of NAASh is to create a pedagogical environment that cultivates in students personally and socially significant qualities (competencies) that will help graduates become competitive in contemporary society.

The set of these qualities is determined by the decision of all participants in the educational process. Tolerance, communicability, readiness for constructive dialogue, the ability to work in a team, and creativity — as well as initiative, understood as command of the algorithms of project-based activity — are the competencies that help every student and graduate actively engage in the life of contemporary society.

NAASh's project-based and research activity is directed toward developing these competencies in students. The fully formed set of competencies in graduates is regarded as the educational outcome of the school's work.

In the new century, the relationship "person to person" is coming to the fore in importance across all spheres of activity. The relationship "person to technology," which dominated in the previous century, is weakening its position. This is connected above all with the fact that the bulk of workplaces are shifting from the industrial sector to the service sector. This reflects the essence of our transition from an industrial to a post-industrial civilization. The technocratic approach to education is being supplanted by a human-centered approach. Communicability and readiness for teamwork are infusing new meaning into human relationships across all spheres of human activity. Readiness for dialogue is formed on the basis of tolerance toward differing points of view. Conciliar decision-making is built on an understanding of the value of the principle of complementarity among different perspectives on important events. All socially significant qualities (competencies) are interconnected into a single system and must be developed in combination.

Educational Status of the School

Education license: А013403, registration No. 237, dated 25.12.2002.

State accreditation certificate: АА084988, registration No. 3085, dated 20.02.2006.

The school operates on a single-shift basis; 720 students study in 31 classes. The ratio of students in the primary, middle, and upper levels is 40:40:20%, respectively. The school employs 73 teachers, of whom 38 (53%) hold the highest qualification category, 22 (30%) hold the first category, 5 (7%) hold the second category, 7 have been awarded the badges "Excellence in Public Education" and "Honorary Worker of General Education of the Russian Federation," and 1 holds the honorary title of Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation. The average age of the school's teachers is 40 years.

In 2003, at the festival-conference "Author's School 'Eureka — 2003'" in Moscow, the school was awarded the diploma "Quality Mark of Education" for many years of success in educational activity and the high-quality preparation of graduates. In December 2004 and November 2005, at similar forums, NAASh was awarded the titles "School of the Year — 2004" and "School of the Year — 2005" and received diplomas for outstanding achievements in the teaching and educational process. In 2006, the school became the winner of a competition among general-education institutions implementing innovative educational programs and received a presidential grant of 1 million rubles. The school also became the winner of the Russian competition "Author's School — 'Eureka'" 2006 and was presented with the diploma "Quality Mark of Education — 2006."


The results of the school's educational activities over the past five years show that the number of graduates admitted to universities on state-funded places has grown each year. In 2006, of the 98% who entered universities, 70% secured state-funded places. The majority of the school's graduates were enrolled in prestigious departments of Nizhny Novgorod universities: Nizhny Novgorod State University (27%), Nizhny Novgorod University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (18%), and Nizhny Novgorod Technical University (16%). Of those admitted to universities, 98% chose specializations matching the aptitudes and abilities identified through the school's vocational guidance and profiling program. This is a very important indicator of the school's work, since an incorrect choice of profession leads to problems for both the individual and society (choosing a future profession according to one's inclinations and abilities is an imperative of survival).

On average, 17% of graduates finish school with gold or silver medals. The average grade-point score on graduates' certificates is 4.4.

In addition to the primary education certificate, approximately 50% of graduates receive Certificates of Creative Achievement.

The school's ethos, shaped over eleven years of operation, forms the moral character of its students. A composite portrait of the school's graduates emerges from pedagogical observations, from parents' assessments of graduates' qualities, and from expert evaluations during final examinations: "The school's graduates are distinguished by self-respect and confidence in their own abilities; an active approach to life; purposefulness and persistence in pursuing their goals; a love of freedom and free thinking; independent judgment and social mobility; the presence of a personal viewpoint on current events and the absence of any fear of expressing it; intellectual curiosity and creative activity; the ability to find information when needed; public speaking skills and an absence of fear before the adult world; a legal awareness and professional orientation; goodwill and openness in communication; and a spirit of mutual assistance and support."

Legal Status and Registration Details

Municipal Educational Institution — Secondary School No. 186 "Author's Academic School" Municipal Educational Institution — Secondary School No. 186 "Author's Academic School"

Russian Federation, 603024, Nizhny Novgorod, 84 Genkina Street. Tel: (8312) 18-49-85, fax: (8312) 78-52-15. Russia, 603024, Nizhniy Novgorod, 84, Genkina Street. Telephone: (8312) 18-49-85, fax: (8312) 78-52-15. E-mail: s186@kis.ru, http://naash.nnov.ru TIN 5262043508/526201001, Account No. 40603810103400141332 at the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Vozrozhdeniye Bank (OJSC), correspondent account 30101810900000000703 at the Sormovo RCC of Nizhny Novgorod, BIC 042227703

Internal Regulatory and Legal Framework

I. School Charter

II. Agreement on Relations between the Educational Institution and the Founder

III. Local regulations supplementary to the School Charter:

a) concerning the overall activities of the school

б) on matters of school management structure

c) on matters relating to the school's workforce activities

See also

Official website of NAASh

Universum (Philosophy Club)