Cluster approach to teacher education in Russia and the Republic of Belarus: Similarities and differences

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of sustainability and efficiency of educational regional clusters in the process of development of educational systems in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The purpose of the article is to identify trends in the development of the cluster approach to teacher education in Russia and Belarus, as well as to determine the evaluative attitude of the heads of educational settings to the structure and content of the activities of clusters. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the system, cluster and resource-targeted approaches. The system approach considers the cluster as an open educational system that has a synergistic feature that encourages self-development and self-organization of all stakeholders within the regional educational cluster. The cluster approach defines the principles of interaction of cluster participants in order to improve the quality of teacher education. The resource-targeted approach involves integration and optimization of the resources of partner institutions when combining their potentials. In order to achieve the goal of the study, the following methods were used: theoretical (analysis of scholarly literature, comparison, generalization, analysis of websites of education authorities of the Russian regions) and empirical (interviewing, focus group method, and systematization). Results. Based on a comparative analysis of clustering of teacher education systems in Russia and the Republic of Belarus, common and distinctive trends in the development of regional educational clusters were identified. The authors found that at present in Russia educational clusters are formed mainly in the system of vocational education within the framework of the ‘Professionalism’ program and by creating interregional educational districts. At the same time, in the Republic of Belarus, educational, scientific and innovative clusters of continuous teacher education are consistently functioning and developing, the activities of which are positively evaluated by representatives of educational settings in the regions. Conclusions. Based on the results of the study, the authors concluded that in the regions of Russia there remains a need for educational clusters, the core of those are universities. However, recently, educational clusters in the vocational education system, the center of which are colleges, as well as educational districts based on leading pedagogical universities, have become widespread. In the regions of the Republic of Belarus, poly-subject pedagogical clusters are consistently functioning and developing, ensuring close interaction of their stakeholders. Common features of the cluster approach in the two countries are the focus on improving the quality of teacher education and the reproduction of teaching staff, the integration of resources of various cluster entities to achieve a synergistic effect. Distinctive characteristics of the educational systems of the two countries are the presence of stable, consistently functioning, effective educational clusters; the activities of those have received a positive assessment from the heads of educational institutions in the Republic of Belarus and the diversity of forms and models of pedagogical clusters in Russia.