Fundamentals of Education in Knowledge Society: Theoretical Forecast

This paper studies the problem of theoretical ontological foundations of education from the standpoint of research education development. The task is definition and validation of a future education model that will make research education a subject of socio-economic modernization of the society. In this respect, the question is raised of an actual belonging of the modern research education, which has a distinctive scientistic character. The purpose of the study – definition the fundamental characteristics of education in the knowledge society – is elaborated on the following key questions: (1) What is the characteristic of fundamental grounds of research education in the knowledge society? (2) What is the conceptual effect of the research education sector on education as such in the knowledge society? The theoretical forecast of the fundamental grounds of education in the knowledge society is the result of methodological synthesis of three lines of the research the author has been engaging in for the last ten years: ontology of education, knowledge society, and research education. As its experimental basis, the theoretical development uses practical activities in the Russian "Step into the Future" program. The key role of research education in the knowledge society is shown and its socio-economic advancement at different levels of education is studied. Fundamental grounds for research education are identified as follows: attitude to the truth, scientific-type research behavior, cognition methods intrinsic to science, early involvement in research activities, scientific and educational continuity between school and university, institutional and cognitive diversity. The impact of the research education sector leads to formation of a sectored structure both in higher and secondary education, which is described by a paradigm-differentiated education model.