Intellectual competitions for schoolchildren: Main tasks and social significance

Every historical period forms a special generation with its own values and norms. Children and youth become the main driving force in the development of the higher education, but this system in Russia is going through a difficult period due to the problems unresolved after the 1990s: the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of the higher education, inequalities in the access to education, etc. Therefore, intellectual competitions can be considered not only a positive manifestation of the social activity of schoolchildren, but also a means to support talented youth and ensure the interconnection of secondary and higher education systems. The article considers social aspects of the intellectual competitions for schoolchildren which aim at the development of social practices related to research activities and teaching at school. The authors focus on the research and practice-oriented interests of schoolchildren within the intellectual competitions in social studies: priorities, values and life strategies of schoolchildren when choosing the sphere of their interests. The authors analyzed the written projects of schoolchildren, presentations of these projects, responses to experts’ questions, reactions to questions not directly related to the topic of the presented project, further participation in the section, and some additional information. As a result, the authors made conclusions not only about the content of the priorities, values and life strategies of schoolchildren, but also about the procedure and conditions necessary for assessing the quality of work and the creative potential of participants of intellectual competitions.