The traditional olympiad in pedagogy, School Forever, was held at SSU at the 11th Week of Pedagogical Training. On March 27, teams of undergraduates and graduates who were competing in the individual championship demonstrated their knowledge in pedagogy in Bldg. 12.

The olympiad began in in front of the Assembly Hall where the jury evaluated the homework assignment, The Tales of the New Century. The teams were asked to come up with a fairy tale about the school and present it as a comic book drawn on a sheet of paper. The students reflected the peculiarities of their faculties and institutes in their creative works. For example, the Faculty of Biology prepared the work Alone in the Hive – a comic book about a bee who overslept her studies and because of this could not do simple task.

In the Assembly Hall, the participants and the guests were greeted by Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy Natalia Kurchatova and Chair of the Student Council of the Faculty of Psychology Maria Solonina. Chair of the Department of Pedagogy Ekaterina Balakireva made a welcoming speech to the participants. ‘Today, you are going to complete the tasks for which you have been preparing for so long. The most important criterion for success is well-coordinated teamwork, which we expect from you. Let both undergraduates and master’s degree students have a feeling of happiness today. May the olympiad be a joyful event full of creative discoveries for each of you.’

The hosts announced an open creative competition and presented the jury under the leadership of Chair of the Department of Information Systems and Educational Technologies, SSU, Natalia Alexandrova. The olympiad was attended by the teams of undergraduates of nine educational departments of Saratov State University. At first, after one minute, they presented the names and chants of their teams to the audience. For example, the Mentors of Balashov Institute, SSU, presented the credo Making the Tomorrow Leaders Today.

Another homework assignment was the presentation of the teams on the topic The Teachers’ Image Means A Lot!. It was necessary to talk about how they saw the teachers and their image today and explained the choice of features of modern teachers, and for this, the participants had to show that famous teachers have the same features. The statements of Socrates, Maria Montessori, Stanislav Shatsky, John Amos Comenius, Vasilii Sukhomlinskii, Leo Vygotsky, and many others were heard in the Assembly Hall in Bldg. 12.

At the third stage of the olympiad, the teams were offered to take a blitz survey We Are Not Afraid of Tests. The participants were given task sheets with questions about the basics of pedagogy, theory of education, and upbringing. The maximum score in this competition was given to the teams of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education, the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Language Teaching Methods, and the Institute of Philology and Journalism.

Then, in 10 minutes, the teams had to prepare a speech about one of the recognised schools in history and modern times. So, the students of the Institute of Chemistry acted a scene about Anton Makarenko commune, and the team of the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education presented the principle of self-government in the work of Janusz Korczak.

The final test for the undergraduates was to prepare the performance Self-Directed. The teams chose songs about the school and in 20 minutes thought over the performance. The students of the Institute of History and International Relations delighted the audience with a friendly dance to the song It's Fun to Study, and the song Natasha is a First-Grader was chosen by the team of the Institute of Physics for their performance on stage.

At the olympiad, the master’s degree students were from the Institute of Philology and Journalism (Margarita Arkhipova and Sofia Bulygina) and the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education (Sofia Romanova). The competition was organised in individual and group tracks. First, a warm-up session took place – the students were invited to comment on alternative statements of scholars about pedagogy in a short speech. Sofya Romanova, in order to argue the quote about humanism, told a story about lateness. She proved that it was important not to scold children, but to love them and make them want to come on time. Margarita Arkhipova was interested in the statement about the terrible power of pedagogy. The participant gave an example from fiction – the principles of pressure from the school principal are well demonstrated in the work of Valentin Rasputin French Lessons.

At the next stage, the undergraduates had to answer a question about ways to motivate students at different stages of training. The participants relied on scientific ideas, theories and concepts of domestic and foreign pedagogy, as well as on their own life experience.

The final task was to prepare a group track. The undergraduates made a general presentation, which reflected the main ideas of individual performances. Their mentor, Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy Elena Yevdokimova, appreciated the work of the participants. ‘Look at how resilient these girls are! They were able to unite into a single team in a short time. I hope this will help them in their professional life.’

During a short break, the activists of the Faculty of Psychology performed poetry and prose and danced. After the final meeting, the jury members took the stage. The floor was given to Natalia Alexandrova. ‘The olympiad as part of the Week of Pedagogical Training has been held for the eleventh time. You are so talented, creative, and imaginative that it was difficult for us to make the decision. Everyone has won today – everyone has gained experience and has been inspired!’

Chair of the Department of Pedagogy Ekaterina Balakireva thanked the jury members for the expertise of the competition and presented the letters of appreciation from SSU Rector Alexei Chumachenko to all the members of the commission.

The leaders among the undergraduate teams were:

1st place – the Institute of Chemistry;

2nd place – the Faculty of Biology;

3rd place – the Institute of Philology and Journalism.

The jury members thanked the heads of the participating teams of the olympiad, as well as everyone who had helped with the event. The organiser of the School Forever competition was traditionally the Department of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Psychology.

The Week of Pedagogical Training festival was organised with the support of the SSU strategic project entitled Teachers in the Educational Paradigm of the Priority 2030 programme.

For the record:

The contest was assessed by the experienced teaching staff. The jury consisted of Deputy Director for ICT of Boarding Lyceum 64 Dmitrii Deryugin; a methodology specialist of the Office for Support for Managerial Personnel, Project, and Innovation Activities of the Centre for Educational Development Maria Khramova; Director of the O.P. Tabakov Palace of Children and Youth Creativity Nikita Mukovozov; Honoured Teacher of the Russian Federation, a teacher of the Russian language and literature of PhTL No. 1 Elena Zlatogorskaya; a geography teacher of the Yu. A. Gagarin Secondary School Sergei Karasyov. The jury was headed by Chair of the Department of Information Systems and Educational Technologies in Education, SSU, Natalia Alexandrova.