Secondary vocational school of the Kazan Educational District in the process of modernization of Russian education in the late 19th – early 20th centuries

The paper presents the main results of the author’s research in the field of the history of the formation and development of the Russian pre-revolutionary secondary vocational school. The research was carried out on the materials of educational institutions of the Kazan Educational District. The historical reconstruction is carried out in the context of the specifics of modernization and the educational revolution that took place in the country. The basic method was a generalized historical and genetic description of the results of the author’s research, and the source was the totality of these studies. The role of secondary vocational schools in the educational system of the Kazan Educational District greatly increased at the turn of the 19–20 centuries. The secondary vocational school became a part of the educational revolution taking place in the Russian Empire, acted as a bearer of traditions and a conductor of innovations, a channel and an active participant in modernization changes. The development of secondary vocational education clearly reflected the modernization processes taking place in the country. The author reconstructs a picture of the initial stage in the history of secondary vocational education; reveals the attitudes and practices of state and public, private and state interaction in education; reveals social characteristics of students and teachers; restores the process of expanding the number and range of social agents of educational institutions; reveals the main directions of secondary vocational schools. Despite the serious problems caused by attempts to implement its development on a traditional basis, the vocational school, largely due to the partnership of the state and society, made a significant contribution to the education of qualified personnel for the economy of the region. The results of the study are to increase scientific knowledge about the development of education in late Imperial Russia. The research materials can be used for the subsequent scientific study of the problem, as well as in the theory and practice of secondary vocational education at the present stage.