On April 13-14, Balashov Institute, SSU, held the All-Russian research-to-practice conference entitled Higher Pedagogical Education in the Province: Traditions and Innovations. It was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Balashov Institute (branch), SSU, and the Year of Teachers and Mentors in the Russian Federation.

Opening the plenary session, Director of the institute Alla Shatilova noted. ‘The year of the teacher and mentor is dedicated to everyone who teaches and educates. This year is a special anniversary for the Balashov Institute. Over 90 years of work, the university has given a start to the life of thousands of specialists who have shown themselves worthily in the teaching profession, have been awarded state and industry awards. The Institute has actually become a “family” university for many pedagogical dynasties of the region.’

Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Saratov State University Igor Malinskii addressed the participants of the conference online. They were greeted by Deputy Mayor of Balashovskii Municipal District for Social Affairs Vera Shatkovskaya, and Acting Chair of the Education Committee Sergei Izgorev.

The main purpose of the conference was to discuss current problems of higher education in small towns, exchange experience in solving them.

At the plenary session, the reports were made by Chair of the Department of Philological Disciplines, Balashov Institute, Marina Shumarina, Professor of the Department of General and Applied Psychology, St. Petersburg Military Institute of the National Guard, Anatolii Turchin, Professor of the Department of Theory and Practice of Translation, the Institute of Social Sciences and International Relations, Sevastopol State University, Lyudmila Komuzzi, Chair of the Department of Mathematics and its Teaching Methods, Saratov State University, Inessa Kondaurova, and others.

The participants of the meeting talked about the didactic potential of local history material and the phenomena of regional culture, about the change in the mentality of teachers and students of a provincial university in the last quarter of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The participants remembered the professors teachers and humanities scholars who worked at Balashov Institute in the 1960s and the 1970s – G. Edelstein, G. Pestnikov, Y. Orlov, and A. Zhuravlev. Their personal and professional qualities, traditions and impeccable reputation are the qualities that Balashov teachers of different generations have to a greater or lesser extent. In sum, they make up a common property of collective identity, which can be called the modest charm of people who have devoted themselves to science and education both on a regional and state scale.

Associate Professor of the Department of History, Balashov Institute, SSU, Aleksei Kiselnikov told the audience about the training of teachers at Balashov Institute during the Great Patriotic War.

The second part of the plenary session was opened by Julia Natskevich, Director of the Snale Centre for Additional Education (Omsk). Yulia Alexandrovna shared the experience of the centre in developing tasks for remote contests for children. In addition, the topics of discussion were mentoring students, research activities in the training of future teachers, ways to improve the level of professional readiness of future specialists in the field of physical culture and sports.

The work of the scientific and practical conference on April 14 was continued by ten sections. The participants considered the issues of the development of higher education in regional universities, identified the importance and phenomenon of mentoring in the professional development of a young teacher, touched upon the issues of military-patriotic education of young people, mentoring as a technology of spiritual and moral and civil-patriotic education of students.

The topical issues of the humanities, teaching of the Russian language, literature and foreign languages at school and university were discussed, issues of psychological and pedagogical support and comprehensive assistance to children with developmental disabilities, the formation of a value attitude to a healthy lifestyle of schoolchildren and environmental safety were raised.

Reports were presented on the uniqueness of the historical and cultural development of the country and the region, which allows taking into account its historical, demographic, ethno-cultural and socio-political features. School teachers, teachers and university students at the section discussed the main directions of digital transformation of higher education. Topics related to the theory and methodology of teaching and upbringing of pre-schoolers, continuity in the work of preschool institutions and primary schools have not been ignored.

For the 90th anniversary of the institute, students, professors, and staff of Balashov Institute, SSU, prepared expositions entitled Proud of the Past, We Believe in the Future!, There are Names, and There are Such Dates..., and a photo exhibition – Student. Teacher. Mentor.

More than 300 people from 20 regions of Russia took part in the conference in face-to-face and remote format. Among them are representatives of universities, schools, preschool institutions, organizations of additional education.