Transformation of the system of bilingual education in the Republic of Tatarstan: Crossover ethnolinguistic controversies

Abstract

© 2017, Association for Social Studies Educa. All rights reserved. The relevance of the problem range addressed in the study is conditioned by the system of education functioning under multiculturalism in modern polyethnic societies and their social stability much depending on the balanced use of languages of ethnoses that reside in the region as well as on the respectful attitude to their representatives in daily life. Thus, the system of education has to take into account the ethnic and religious, political, social and cultural requirements of the society offering high-quality education to the consumers according to their expectations. The objective of the paper consists in revealing the topical problems of regional educational reforms aimed at implementing the principle of bilingualism in polyethnic and polyreligious region of Russia – the Republic of Tatarstan. The representative mass survey of population of the Republic of Tatarstan and a series of in-depth narrative interviews with representatives of various generations of Tatarstan citizens as the main methods used in the research. Based on the sociological survey conducted within the research project “Dynamics of real and conventional generations in information polyethnic and polyreligious society (a case study of the Republic of Tatarstan)”, the following findings have been made. Scientific justification of the language policy being implemented in the republic and of the methodological support of bilingual educational programs are of poor level. A higher education system segregated according to the information carrier language prevails. There also remains a crossover controversy expressed in discontent in both Russian-speaking and to a significant extent Tatar-speaking urban population with the school educational policy of bilingualism. Results of the research cited in the paper can be used by the state authorities of the republic for elaborating the optimum bilingual language policy as well as in the practice of educational institutions implementing the bilingual education.