Central Public Schools

primary schools (of the higher type) in prerevolutionary Russia. The first central public school was opened in St. Petersburg in 1782. Its director was the pedagogue F. I. Iankovich de Mirievo, one of the authors of the plan for the system of public schools.

By the Statutes for Public Schools in the Russian Empire, published in 1786, central public schools were organized in the main towns of 25 provinces. With the exception of serf children, children from all estates were accepted by the schools. They had a five-year course of study and four classes (the fourth class was of two years’ duration). The first two classes corresponded to the course of study of the minor public school. Geometry, physics and mechanics, natural history, history, architecture (including draftsmanship), the second part of arithmetic, and, for those so desiring, Latin and modern languages were taught in the third and fourth classes. According to the statutes, those who so desired could train to become teachers for the minor public schools. For this purpose a course in teaching methodology was introduced (“the method of teaching”).

After the educational reform of 1804 the central public schools were transformed into Gymnasiums.

In the central public schools, particularly those of St. Petersburg and Moscow, which were under the influence of progressive scholars from the Academy of Sciences and Moscow University, progressive methods of instruction and of evaluating the pupils’ accomplishments were employed. The system of teaching by grades and lessons was also introduced in these schools.