“The useful class of civil servants”: the history of Russian teachership formation (based on the materials of Russian north)

The history of Russian schools cannot be imagined without considering the position of teaching staff as an integral element of the school system. Based on the materials of sources reflecting the regional projection of the educational reforms of Alexander I and Nicholas I as a long-term course, the paper examines the key condition for their effectiveness - the quality of teacher training. On the basis of legislative and working documents, the legal, educational, and social status of provincial teachers in the 1800s-1840s are traced, as well as their marital status and financial situation. The authors analyze the public reputation of teachers, specific features of their everyday life, and social mobility of this socio-professional group, as well as the social origins of teachers’ professional ethics that were forming at that time. The observations are based on the funds of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment, the Office of the Trustee of the capital’s Educational District, Saint Petersburg University, and Saint Petersburg Pedagogical Institute, as well as the little-studied funds of three provincial school directorates - Olonets, Arkhangelsk, and Vologda ones. The regional materials are used to trace the results of the school reforms of the first third of the XIX century, the most important of which was the formation of a system of schools and professional teachers staff working in provincial and county towns. Their large numbers, similar origin and career paths, awareness of corporate unity, as well as the preservation and maintenance of ties with Saint Petersburg indicate the important role of Saint Petersburg University and Saint Petersburg Pedagogical Institute in the enlightenment of the regions, which they performed both as administrative centers and indirectly - through their graduates as agents of influence. In the early 1850s, the number of professional teachers in the three provinces under consideration exceeded 300 people (excluding primary school teachers), which is comparable to the available data for other educational districts. This local community is representative for understanding the peculiarities of the legal and social status of provincial teachers in pre-reform Russia. At the time, the changes of the school management system, the personnel policy, and teachers’ working conditions within the framework of the allRussian model of education and social construction were orchestrated “from above”, therefore, the conclusions drawn from the regional materials provide the overall understanding of the stages and social results of the modernization project implemented by the authorities.