Pedagogical Classes

supplementary, eighth, grades established at women’s secondary educational institutions in prerevolutionary Russia in accordance with the 1870 Statute on Women’s Gymnasiums.

Beginning in 1892, pedagogical classes at some Gymnasiums were converted to two-year courses, and in 1900 pedagogical classes were also established at eparchial schools. The curriculum included a course in pedagogy with a special section on didactics, a course in primary-school teaching methods, and practice teaching in the preparatory and first three grades of Gymnasiums. Graduates received the title of domestic teachers or domestic tutors, with the right to teach in primary schools and in the junior grades of women’s Gymnasiums.

In 1915 pedagogical classes had an enrollment of more than 20,000. During the 1940’s and 1950’s in the USSR, pedagogical classes at the 1 lth-grade level at some secondary schools trained primary-school teachers; graduates of these classes were considered to be at the same level as graduates of pedagogical schools.