This article studies the inspection supervision implemented in parochial schools (established during Alexander III’s reign on the basis of the “Rules” of 1884) in the Tobolsk District. This study relies on the normative base of such primary schools and the previously unpublished sources from the archives of Kurgan and Tobolsk. Due to the constant increase in interest in the history of regional education, and with the search for successful historical experience in the field of effective control over the educational sphere, this topic seems relevant. Being interdisciplinary, it attracts the attention of both the history of Russia and the history of pedagogy. This problem was rarely studied separately as an independent topic of study. In academic discourse, it was analyzed only as one of the components of the educational process or as part of the general history of the church school. This article aims to fill in this lacuna.
The author describes the stages in the development of supervisory institutions, from deans to observers. He also explains the reasons for refusing the services of the deans and introducing the Institute of observers, describes the typology of the Institute of Inspectorate (Imperial, diocesan, and county), their status and pay, Imperial and diocesan legal foundation. Special attention is paid to the specifics of the observers’ performance of their functional duties, which included audit trips to schools.
The inspection trips resulted in reports containing comments and recommendations for further improvement of the educational process in church schools.