Education under Brezhnev

Question 1

What was Brezhnev’s top educational priority and why?

Answer 1

Khrushchev’s reforms were extremely unpopular with members of the Communist Party. Other leading Communists branded them “crackpot” educational schemes. Therefore Brezhnev’s top educational priority was to reverse Khrushchev’s educational reforms

Question 2

The educational priority of the post-Khrushchev leadership was to repeal Khrushchev’s reforms. Between 1964 and 1966 the Council of Ministers:

Answer 2

• Drew up a temporary curriculum to restore the focus on academic education
• Ended vocational training for students aged 16 to 19 in factories and on farms
• Abandoned compulsory secondary education, replacing it with a target that 100 per cent of children would complete secondary education by 1970

Question 3

Expansion of secondary schooling slowed from ___. By 1976 only ___ per cent of students finished secondary education, far short of the 1970 target

Answer 3

1966
60

Question 4

The number of teachers remained roughly stable, but there was a continual increase in their level of qualifications - provide evidence for this claim

Answer 4

By 1978 almost 70 per cent of teachers had a university education

Question 5

Brezhnev introduced some small-scale reforms in the 1970s - what were these?

Answer 5

• During the 1970s attempts were made to increase peasant participation in schooling by requiring all schools to provide hot school meals
• Free meals were available to poor students
• In the late 1970s textbooks were made available to students free of charge

Question 6

The curriculum remained largely _____ under Brezhnev

Answer 6

unchanged

Question 7

Provide evidence for the claim that the curriculum remained largely unchanged under Brezhnev

Answer 7

By 1985 students were still required to study the same mix of subjects as those established in 1947