Vocational education of workers in pre-crisis Russia (a case of the Ural federal district)

The study discusses vocational education of workers in a severe period of 1991-2008 characterized by events comparable to revolution and simultaneous liberal reforms which have changed the political institutions and destroyed the Soviet-style ownership. When the companies were privatized, vocational schools were deprived of the basic support and had to rely on former equipment and infrastructure focusing on less expensive field training. In the context of employment crisis, young people were involved in training. Because of the decline in respect for labor occupations, vocational schools could not compete with universities; some of them were transformed into secondary vocational educational institutions for a fee. The causes of the crisis in vocational education of working class included the lack of financial support for vocational education system along with the ineffective relationships in this field, the outdated functioning mechanisms, forms and methods of the system as a whole. The research notes the promising trends in reforming and restructuring the system of vocational schools that should focus on professional training and develop the workers’ need for the lifelong learning.