Validation of Non-Formal Learning in Russia: New Challenges

This paper is intended to cover some major issues in the sphere of non-formal education in Russia and its validation. The ratio of "formal" and "non-formal learning" is the main aspect of solving the problems of the advanced development of public education systems. It is illuminated that the official education systems are slowly adjusting to socio-economic development, their own conservatism as well as the inertia of societies contributes to this fact. Modern society has already had the opportunity to make sure that non-formal education is stronger, as the formal education system is not able to reverse the result of non-formal human socialization. The aim of this paper is to present the relevance of this topic for Russia, as the creation of efficient model of non-formal validation will meet the needs of people of different ages, especially adults, to implement the so-called lifelong learning in life. The paper reviews international leading literature in this subject focusing on its practical application and including the results of Russian participation in international VALERU project.