Pedagogical Schools in the USSR

secondary specialized educational institutions that train teachers for the first three grades of general-education schools, preschool teachers, and teachers of physical education, music, fine arts, and drawing. Pedagogical schools also prepare vocational training teachers for the fourth through eighth grades, preschool music teachers, and Pioneer leaders.

The first pedagogical schools at the secondary level (pedagogical technicums) were established in the USSR in the 1920’s; beginning in 1937 they were called pedagogical schools. Classes at these schools are generally held during the day, but preschool teachers may also study in correspondence and evening divisions. The course of instruction for students who have completed the eighth grade is three or four years, depending on the field of specialization; for secondary-school graduates it is two or three years. In 1973 there were 405 pedagogical schools in the USSR, with a total of 290,500 students. The entering class numbered 90,100, and 80,200 students were graduated. Teachers with a secondary education in pedagogy are also graduated from music schools, physical-culture technicums, and vocational-training teachers technicums.

In prerevolutionary Russia, teachers’ seminaries were the chief type of pedagogical schools at the secondary level.