Thoughts on objectives and outcomes

Abstract

Oleg Lebedev, Ped.D., Associate Member of the Russian Academy of Science, Professor at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: o_lebed@mail.ru
Address: Bld. 2, 82 Vernadskogo Ave., Moscow, 119571, Russian Federation.

Relationship between objectives and outcomes in education is discussed from the perspective and in the context of the author’s almost 60 years of experience. General objectives of school education are represented as a three-level system: a) develop the ability to choose a lifestyle that is consistent with modern changes in the society; b) provide experience in solving cognitive, communicative, and other student-related problems independently; c) teach activities that can be applied at school and beyond.

Commissioning of social services to the educational system is often misinterpreted. Today, commissioning of social services to schools reflects the demands of the rapidly changing society and suggests that school graduates should learn a new behavior enabling them to make decisions in situations of uncertainty. Nowadays, there is a huge gap between the need to provide conformance of school education objectives to the contract and the ongoing conservative focus on developing deep, comprehensive, and lasting knowledge. Meanwhile, developing deep, comprehensive, and lasting knowledge is not the central objective of school education. Instead, subject programs in school should be regarded as a set of opportunities that students can apply to their own comfortable extent, depending on their needs and cognitive abilities. In addition, the basic elements of the class-and-lesson system of education should be modernized.

The author sees the purpose of school education today in educating intelligent people who are able to make important choices in all aspects of life.