Pedagogy Olympiads for Schoolchildren: Necessity or Utopia?

Abstract

The All-Russian Olympiad of Schoolchildren in 24 subjects is the core of the Olympiad movement, while through the history of this phenomenon there is a constant expansion of the competition program in connection with socio-cultural changes in society. However, the growing public interest creates the problem of a shortage of teaching staff who can adequately and expediently prepare for Olympiad practices. The wide involvement of graduates of intellectual competitions in pedagogical activity determines the purpose of our research – to reveal the importance of conducting pedagogical Olympiads for schoolchildren. The study analyzes the possibility of expanding the number of subjects of the All-Russian Olympiad of schoolchildren through the inclusion in the program of intellectual competitions of creative contests in pedagogical sciences. Among the identified reasons to expand the list of the All-Russian Olympiad of schoolchildren are raising the prestige of the teaching profession, knowledge of the methodology and didactics of the participants of the Olympiad, their willingness to engage in pedagogical activity, as well as hidden professional development of active school teachers who prepare students for the Olympiads. Theoretical significance is reflected in the enrichment of pedagogical knowledge about the Olympiad movement and ways to unlock its potential, at the practical level, the results of the study can be used both to launch new Olympiads in pedagogy at the university level and to expand the list of subjects of the All-Russian Olympiad of schoolchildren.