unified labour schools

• The Soviet Government issued a decree with reforms

  October 1918
• Reforms in the decree

  1. Established unified labour schools to provide free polytechnic education to all children aged 8-17

  2. Banned religious instruction in schools

  3. Introduced co-educational schools, ending gender segregation of schooling

  4. Abolished corporal punishment, homework and exams

  5. "Promised" free breakfast for schoolchildren and free medical exams

  6. Education became compulsory

  7. Secondary schooling designed to be vocational
• Factory schools or professional schools


  Where people learnt about skills required to work in factories
• Lunacharsky's progressive teaching methods

  • Based on the theories of John Dewey
  • Learning through play rather than textbooks
• In reality, schooling fell short of Lunacharsky's vision in the early years of the revolution
• Under the conditions of the Civil War, there was insufficient resources to invest into the education system
• Free compulsory education not actually achieved
• Schools did not have resources to provide free meals or medical check-ups