There is one thing which units all of the humanistic thinkers all the time - the value attitude towards the child and his or her nature. Taking into account the many sided of the human nature all of them gave their preference to its different aspects: activity, sociality, cultural basis and ability to be changed in time. The European humanistic pedagogy tried to find instrumentals, which could help the child to become a member of society (a citizen) preserving his or her individuality.
The positive experience of European humanistic pedagogy was grasped, interpreted and enriched be Russian thinkers due to Russian culture and history. During the Middle Ages the pedagogy was interpreted into the human being vital practice and didn´t possess the independence. Its type was determined by tendency of society development. Historian-cultured constants (statehood - orthodoxy) have advanced the educational practice of three types: family and domestic education, literary education and sacral education. Personality growth took place in the framework of high range values: Fatherland, faith, love, charity - in the way of obedience to secular and religious authority. Thus the tenor of man´s life and habits, leading to God, emotional perfection and moral purity has been produced. The direct influence on the pupil was the mechanism of the upbringing, and the teaching, the word , the address to the heart, personal example, the engendering influence of Tutor´s personality were the instrument of it.
The pedagogical contents of social conception of XVIII century, men´s´ mentality culture of that period of time have been enriched by teachings of I.Betskoy, E.Dashkova, N.Novikov, A.Radishchev, G.Teplov and others. Working out the pedagogical opinions of their own the Enlightenment epoch thinkers "pushed off " from the ideas about the person in his or her ontological and social essence and changed their mind about the ways of personality growth. The acknowledgement of the virtues to be a person´s criterion has become a starting point for clarifying his or her social and civil essence. To the XVIII-th century philosophers opinion the human being can get his or her own way in the people society only, what is defined with his or her human nature: he or she being born helpless is not able to survive without guardianship and " to get profits" till others teach him or her. Brightly expressed anthropocentrism is also typical for abovementioned period of time: conviction that a human being with his or her requirements, interest and purposes is that what determines the development both of human society and to a considerable extent of nature. The human being theme sounds more and stronger in works of I.Betskoy, N.Novikov, and A.Radishchev. Each of them interprets the sense and the purpose of human existence, the instruments for person upbringing of their own. N.Novikov the author of the term "pedagogue", who has written the pedagogical treatise "about child´s upbringing and admonishment", in his reflections about upbringing formulates the fundamental purpose of upbringing like this: "The primary subject of upbringing is to educate children making tem happy and useful citizens". A person had to be well developed, intelligent and moral to become happy. Moreover N.Novikov binds man´s morality and his or her intellectuality with the heart upbringing and mind education.
One of the peculiarities of Russian Enlightenment of the latest part of XVIII - early part of XIX century is the idea that the man is the reasonable being, the feeling being whose purpose of living is to achieve his or her fortune and to do good to the society.
The middle of XX century is the period of democratic ideal penetration into the native pedagogical thought. Thus, the main thesis W.Belinskiy put forward was: the upbringing is the condition of perfection achieved by man. Good upbringing can help the person to have perfection attained. It is determined by fatherland culture and by "private" conditions of the society. Love has to be an instrument and an intermediary of upbringing and "the humaneness" has to be a purpose. Some publicists (W.Belinskiy, A. Gertsen, N. Dobroliubov, and N. Tchernyshevskiy) attempted to try on social and personal meaningful purposes, considered the necessity of child´s inborn forces development, what would be a foundation and condition of his or her socialization. Properly pedagogical part of upbringing was considered in that the adult has to help the child to form his or her "ego" (N.Pirogov, N.Dobroliubov). K. Ushinskiy possessing great pedagogical experience and vast knowledge in the sphere of contemporary philosophy, psychology and physiology came to the idea of necessity to join the comprehensive scientific knowledge about the child. This idea was realized successfully in the work "The man as subject of upbringing. The experience of pedagogical anthropology." unprecedented by volume and depth. The title of the work itself undicates the influence of Pirogov´s ideas, who has directly named the man the subject and purpose of upbringing.
At the beginning of XX-th century the pedagogical values of humanistic tradition have gained the democratic phonation. The dominant replacement took place in ethic-pedagogical values: the unity "man and his/her life" was forced out by diad "man-society". The human being of the century boundary grasped himself both as the end and as the beginning: as the unity of physical reality, of spiritual experience and of intuitive faith. The best representatives of Russian culture of abovementioned period paid their attention to child´s upbringing. Thus L.Tolstoy for example has wrote about what is really needed the child´s upbringing. First and foremost this is the change of adults´ way of living, whose actions, attitudes towards other people and convictions influence the child´s behaviour right or wrong. The child assimilates instinctively and most hard the way of living of his or her parents, their attitude towards other people and life. Sermons and reprimands are not valid in upbringing in case their contents dissent from tutors actions. "In case you understand that there is only possible to bring up others through oneself, you do away with the question how you have to live. This idea of L.Tolstoy didn´t lose its practical meaning till now. The modern psychology and pedagogy acknowledge that the child is more influenced by his or her family way of living and tutor´s behaviour than by verbal instructions and orders: adult´s action does bring up and not his or her word, though the last acts too. In this connection you have to remember: upbringing others you bring up yourself.
In the second part of XIX - early part of XX century the peculiar "pedagogical boom" had arisen in Russia: the society has realized the social meaningfulness of pedagogical activity, political transformations, acceleration of social and economic development have led to some reforms in the theory and in the practice of child´s upbringing and education. The idea of necessity of comprehensive studying of the child and of his or her vital functions, of the researching of his or her physical, mental and moral development as of the base of pedagogical activity becomes dominant. W.Vahterev- the teacher - has affirmed that tutors are capable to build their activity only leaning against the knowledge of child´s development regularity, forming by the number of natural sciences and scholarships. "The teacher´s aim will be not to transform the child into the adult according to beforehand given norms, but to teach the child, to define his or her development tendency direction, to recognize his or her hereditary and acquired qualities and strengths, to help to develop them and to create favourable atmosphere for his or her hearty tendencies to become developed".
Russian pre-school pedagogy like to all social conception has constantly been socially oriented. The idea of social activity, of rendering service to progressive ideals of social development is present in labours of all Russian teachers of XIX-XX centuries one way or another. V.Zenkovskiy dedicated his first pedagogical work "Social upbringing, its tasks and ways "(1918) to the problems of social upbringing. Taking into account the axiom that the child´s personality is able to be normally developed only in social conditions, he determines that "the problem of social upbringing consists in social activity development, in development of "the taste" to social activity, in education of solidarity spirit, of talent to get above one´s personal egoistic intentions". The social upbringing in the above sense naturally has to be national, that is has to lean against national traditions, to accustom the man to the historical work of his native land, to develop love to one´s native land, feeling of duty. The common task of social upbringing as of child´s activity development requires use of different instrumentals to be fulfilled. One of the instrumentals is the deliverance and the development of child´s emotional life, resisting to common inertness, indifferentism. The social habits of hostels and contacts are outer discipline. The family, pre-school organization, school and at last out-of-school work with children - are of some more meaning for social upbringing. Each of them in its own way socializes child´s life, educates his or her activity, independence, the feeling of collaboration and solidarity. The growth of spiritual wealth of child´s personality is also essential for his or her social development. It is conditioned by that "the man is never given, is never completed, he or her is always "set", there is always endless perspective of spiritual development in the face of him or her. The child... lives with that what arises from the bottom of his heart, the process of personality rationalization, of conscious work on him-or-herself begins much later, and it changes the man a lot, at any rate it creates a deep turning point in the man´s soul. The philosopher teacher affirmed with all his activity that in the early part of XX century the Russian pedagogy was in need of new approach to the children upbringing when common to all mankind values will be applicable in making choice of pedagogical technologies what we´ll be able to observe in the work of child´s pre-school institutions in subsequent years.
It is to report that in the soviet period of time (the early part of XX century - the eighties of XX century) the development of pre-school education was characterized as the State -Party system and the main task of government was to unite the kindergarten , the family and the atmosphere in solution of social and pedagogical problems.
The variations of pre-school education can be considered as the peculiarity of its third period (since the eighties of the XX-th century till nowadays). The self-determination of pre-school educational institution, well-grounded choice of educational programs and the forming of institution mission became the priority in management. During that time the teachers´ activity in searching for new aims, contents, instrumentals and methods of work, organization forms of child´s living in kindergarten have raised. Since nineties an active experimental work take place in great deal of kindergarten, rapprochement of science with practice is observed, and moreover practice often outstrips the scientific workings out.
We can observe that in the latest part of XX century the country´s vital tenor has changed considerably. The national education has been reformed. The common idea in the development tendencies of all system of national education and pre-school branch is expressed particularly in passage to person competent education. To detach is the document which has determined the quality directions of modern pre-school education - "The conception of pre-school upbringing" (V.Davydov, V.Petrovskiy). According to it there are four main principles, which are fundamental for the expert evaluation of modern pre-school education in Russia: humanisation - the upbringing of humanistic direction of the child under pre-school age personality, of citizenship principles, of diligence, of respect to man´s laws and liberties, of love to his or her family, native land and nature; the developmental type of education - orientation to child´s personality, preservation and strengthening of his or her health, directions of taking possessions of thinking and activity ways, speech development; differentiation and individualization of upbringing and instruction - child´s development in accordance with his or her dispositions, interest, talent and possibilities; deideologisation of pre-school education - priority of common to all mankind values, receding the ideological direction of kindergartens´ educational programme contents. Those principles laid down the educational legislative acts and consequently the normative - instructive and program-methodic documents.
Thus, the key positions of modern pre-school education are:
- The protection of metal and physical health of children under school age, the creation of at most comfort conditions of children sojourn at pre-school institutions and the maintenance of emotional well-being.
- The humanization of ideas and principles of educational activity with children, expressed in principally new approach to organization of educational activity in kindergarten, based on leading activity of children under school age. The emancipation of child´s life circumstances and activity and of tutors´ work, the deideologisation of work´s content with children.
- The alteration of pre-school institutions´ functioning and financing conditions. The inculcation of innovative technologies of children´ teaching and upbringing, the creation of psychological services in the system of public pre-school education, the extension of variety and the improvement of the quality of given educational services.
- The alteration of teaching staff training type for work at different pre-school institutions. The alterations, which take place at the pre-school educational institutions nowadays are due to their variations in a broad sense, trend to satisfaction of different educational requirements of various strata of society, state, to the survival at the competition conditions.
It is to state, that the pre-school education in Russia experiences the intensive reforming and development. At the modern stage of pre-school educational system development the main task of pre-school institutions work is to improve the quality of the educational services and to create the most optimum conditions for each child to be developed, for his or her potential resources to be disclosed, for valuable person basis to be laid down.
The work was submitted to international scientific conference «Present-day problems of science and education», Russia, (Moscow), May 13-15, 2008, came to the editorial office on 26.04.2008.