The authors begin by explaining that in the mid-1990s dramatic changes took place in the system and structure of education in Russia. In history education this meant reducing the years of a chronological study of history to include in the student’s final two years of school a concentric study of history. In addition, the aims of history education shifted from Marxist methodology to the promotion of democratic values. In an attempt to humanize history, the focus shifted from political history to social history. Academics rewrote textbooks, but beliefs about the study of history were slow to change, with notions of correct interpretations and a universal history underlying the text.

History education in Russia relies on textbooks, which are seen as sources of factual and conceptual knowledge. In the concentric study of history the emphasis on factual knowledge is extreme. The authors suggest that this reflects a belief in the power of factual knowledge. It is also understood as a response to highly competitive university entrance examinations. Increasingly publishers are providing textbooks with accompanying teacher guides, tests, collections of sources, and workbooks. In some cases comprehensive workbooks are presented as alternatives to textbooks. The authors express concern, however, over the advanced level of academic writing in textbooks, and lack of visually appealing images and diagrams. Recent textbooks have replaced chapter quizzes with opportunities for students to analyse and discuss, but this is not yet widespread.

According to Erokhina and Shevyrev, Russian school history education is caught in the tension between Russia’s ideological crisis as a nation and the crisis of academics in modern Russian historiography with regard to interpreting the twentieth century. Objectives for history textbooks set in 2002 included a variety of elements, including tolerance (with emphasis on the fact that Russia is a multicultural society) and other democratic social skills, patriotism, and the ability to contribute to the development of Russian society. If the Federal Experts Council for History recommends textbooks, they have the ability to be purchased through a government-funded program. This funding is limited, however, so often textbooks are purchased through regional budgets, or they are selected by individual schools and paid for by the students’ parents.