The Kolmogorov Reform of Mathematics Education in the USSR

TL;DR

This paper examines the rise and fall of the Kolmogorov-led mathematics education reform in the USSR, highlighting socio-political factors and comparing it to reforms in other countries.

Contribution

It provides a case study of the Soviet reform movement, analyzing its social, political, and educational dynamics and reasons for failure.

Findings

The reform failed mainly due to political reasons.

Socio-economic conditions were ignored in the reform.

Lack of teacher training contributed to the reform's failure.

Abstract

In the Soviet Union a reform movement in mathematics education was triggered by Andrey Kolmogorov in the 1970s, and followed by a counter-reform. This movement was rooted in the very different socioeconomic conditions of that time and place, and followed a strategy with very significant contrasts to similar programs in the USA, England, or France. This provides an interesting case study which may illuminate the way such movements arise and succeed or fail, and, at the social level, certain fundamental commonalities of constraints as well as significant differences according to local conditions. We shall show that the principal reasons of the failure of the Kolmogorov reform were political: (1) The reform ignored the reality of the socio-economic conditions of the country; (2) The human factor was ignored, and very little attention was given to professional development and retraining of, and methodological help to, the whole army of teachers; (3) An attempt to transfer mathematical content and methods from the highly successful advanced extension stream for mathematically strong and highly engaged children to mainstream education was an especially grievous error.