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On May 19, 2022, on the centenary of the pioneer organization, a bill on the Russian children's and youth movement called the Big Break was introduced into the State Duma. According to the authors, if passed into law, the bill would form the grounds for a unified children and youth education policy, improve the social engagement of young people, build a continuous development path based on the traditional values of the Russian society. Our editors asked experts on how the new movement should be working and what needs to be taken into account to create agents and bearers of positive changes and leadership in the country.

Yuliya Vyatkina

Editor, Positive Changes

Magazine

SCOUTS, PIONEERS AND 20 MILLION CHILDREN

According to expert estimates, about five percent of children are currently involved in the activities of children’s social organizations and movements. It is worth noting that the children’s and youth movement existed before the revolution. The Pioneer Organization was not the first children’s organization to emerge in Russia. The first pathfinder gathering was held in late April 1909 in the Pavlovsk Park near St. Petersburg. It was this event that gave the impetus for the emergence and development of the scout movement in Russia. By the way, there are currently six national scout organizations in the country.

According to Artem Metelev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and chairman of the Council of the Association of Volunteer Centers, one of the bill authors, children’s organizations and projects "cover only a fraction of the 20 million children and adolescents".

"Many are unaware about the opportunities. Different schools have different approaches. Different conditions lead to unfairness. Young people have an intuitive desire to get united. Today’s young people want to take an active part in the public life of the country, a desire to become better, to develop. And we have to offer this opportunity. Offer it to everyone, whether the child lives in a big city or a village, goes to a rich school or a rural one, whether he or she is a leader or just trying to find himself or herself," Artem Metelev writes in his Telegram channel.

To accommodate the diversity of approaches and interests, the Big Break bill will be subject to widespread public debate. The children will always have the final say on the key issues.

The Big Break All-Russian Children’s and Youth Movement is planned to be established by the largest children’s organizations on an equal footing. Any organization can join the movement, and even adults can join as mentors. In addition, according to the initiative, President Putin will be invited to head the supervisory board.

TWO APPROACHES

In what format could the new children’s and youth movement be demanded and implemented in the best possible way? Experts say that there are two different approaches to working with children’s public organizations. The first (educational) approach involves pattern-based learning and a linear scheme: there is some knowledge, it must be learned and then checked how well it was learned. The second (youth) approach does not involve correct answers. Children can make mistakes, gain experience, analyze, see possibilities, find their own solutions.

"Next time, when a new opportunity comes along, they are already moving on to the next level of management because they have experience of previous mistakes. And this should be cycled. There is no cycle in education, the methodology is linear there. In youth work, there must be a process based on reflective thinking," says Dmitry Sergeyev, social technologist, educator, founder of 18 children’s organizations.

He believes the educational approach does not focus enough on reflection and the possibility of making mistakes. Therefore, there is a risk that each class will become a pioneer squad and there will be a single work plan for all. In addition, a special role in the children’s movement is given to the educator, but the problem is that no one trains them. An educator who works with children must know the history of the children’s movement, understand what project management is, how the public opinion is formed, and be able to work with parents.

"There’s going to be an event plan, and every event will be completed "without a hitch". This is what ruined both the Pioneer Organization and Komsomol in their time, because formally everything was great, but no one paid attention to any shortcomings or problems, and this is the road to nowhere," Dmitry Sergeyev says.

Boris Podolny, deputy head of the executive committee for regional work of the All-Russia People’s Front, notes that schools are increasingly losing their educational function for a variety of reasons. At the same time, it is the school that must ensure the harmonious development of the individual (as a person and as a member of society), if any youth movement is established by the state. For the new movement to take off, three conditions must be met: the will to finance, a clear academic framework (methodological and pedagogical), and the absence of coercion. In addition, it is worth considering the regional specifics.

"We have a very big country, and it’s very diverse. We often forget that. The logic of managing large systems suggests taking one model and applying it to the entire country. In reality, this doesn’t really work very well. The regions are too different, both in terms of living conditions and in terms of geography and scale. In my opinion, the «one-size-fit-all» practice would not work for the whole country, instead there should be a practice tied to different region types," Boris Podolny says.

Olga Zubkova, President of the Friendship Notebook National Association for the Development of Education and author of her own project, the LAMPA International Film Festival of Socially Oriented Short Films, believes that the new movement must take into account the needs of children, so that every child and teenager could find something to their liking.

"There should definitely be counter-vectors. We need to understand what we, the adults – professionals, family, school – can give children in terms of moral education, relevant experience, knowledge and skills. What can we give from what is in demand, taking into account different ages and different needs? We need to understand what children, teenagers, and young people care about in order to find the common ground that would become a starting point or form the conditions for viable technologies," she says.

Boris Podolny adds that in addition to considering the children’s opinions, the views of teachers, psychologists, people with great professional competence and experience are equally important.

"Absolutely, there should be a broad enough discussion not only at the level of collecting feedback from schoolchildren. We now have a tendency of chasing the consumer feedback. A schoolchild is also a consumer in a sense. However, if we endlessly shift responsibility to consumers who have no special competences, we risk getting our results wrong," says Boris Podolny.

THE PAST, THE FUTURE, AND THE FAMILY

What can you take from the past, and what can you positively take from the future? Before answering this question, experts suggest looking at the role of the customer. It is the customer, represented by the state, who must define the parameters of what the output should be.

"Today’s senior school students will be the main productive force of the country 10 years from now. The strategy and ideology of the movement related to the education of the individual and a member of society should be based exactly on the image of the future which the state sees for itself. We need to start with a discussion of what we want our country to be in 20 years, and define the goals we will set for the movement based on that vision," says Boris Podolny.

Also, according to the expert, it is not quite right to rely on models that demonstrated their success in the last century. These models will not necessarily be successful today, because the society is changing too much and too quickly.