Pre-revolutionary kindergartens and nurseries: from the history of the formation of preschool educational institutions in the Tambov region

In the context of reforming the domestic education system, including preschool, as its first stage, the problem of the formation and development of preschool educational institutions is becoming urgent again. The domestic historical and pedagogical experience of the functioning of pre-revolutionary children’s institutions can become an important reference point in the modernization of the system of preschool educational organizations at the present stage. The process of formation of preschool educational institutions in the Tambov region is considered; Main types of pre-revolutionary preschool institutions that have become widespread in the Tambov region are identified: nurseries-orphanages for peasant children, city nurseries and orphanages, private kindergartens and playgrounds. The emphasis is placed on the cultural and educational significance of the activities of children’s institutions of the public charity system, which made it possible to consider them as a prototype of public kindergartens. The reasons for the slow development of the network of preschool institutions in Russia and in the Tambov governorate in particular are revealed. The role and degree of participation in the organization of preschool educational institutions of state, as well as private and public initiatives are clarified. Mainly published and archival sources have been analyzed, which allowed us to identify the regional features of the formation of preschool educational institutions in the Tambov region at the governorate and county levels in the specified chronological period through the prism of the demand for estate-social, professional and ethno-confessional groups of the population and conclude that the formation of preschool educational institutions in the Tambov region began at the end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century.