State Policy in the Field of Education: Legal Origins and Development

The abstract presents the results of a historical-legal analysis of state policy in the field of education in the Russian state from the 10th to the 18th centuries. It demonstrates that, at early stages, educational practices developed primarily within ecclesiastical institutions and local forms of instruction in the absence of a distinct body of educational legislation. The study shows that the normative institutionalization of certain educational elements became visible in the sixteenth century and reflected a predominantly church-oriented model of educational governance. It further establishes that the late seventeenth and the first quarter of the eighteenth centuries marked an institutional shift characterized by the expansion of specialized schools and the strengthening of the state’s role in organizing education, including elements of compulsory attendance and secularization. The analysis also identifies that, in the second half of the eighteenth century, prerequisites for the systematization of the school network and for socially oriented measures emerged, indicating the consolidation of education as a sphere of public policy. The article concludes that the sustainability of educational transformations depended on the coherence of regulatory sources, the clarity of the allocation of competences, and the predictability of law enforcement.