Polysubjective Interaction Between Church and Secular Institutions in the Development of a Regional System of Theological Education

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines multi-subject interaction between ecclesiastical and secular institutions in the development of a regional system of theological education. The study aims to design and substantiate a model that coordinates confessional specificity, academic legitimacy, pedagogical effectiveness, and digital transparency in theological training.

Materials and Methods. The empirical base comprised materials from theology programmes in three educational organisations of Sverdlovsk Oblast: Ural State Mining University, Ekaterinburg Theological Seminary, and the Missionary Institute. The sample included 355 participants: 236 students, 24 teachers, 84 participants in non-formal and informal education, and 11 mentor experts. The methods included document content analysis, terminological modelling, structural-functional analysis of actors, comparison of ecclesiastical and secular quality-assessment contours, diagnostics of theological-analytical and practical-communicative readiness, analysis of digital engagement, expert assessment, and calculation of integral indicators.

Results. The study identified the levels and areas of responsibility of the system participants and four coordination mechanisms: dual-contour quality assessment, a register of educational opportunities, intersegmental routing, and network monitoring. The model comprises subject, value-normative, routing-content, digital, and assessment-correction blocks. Approbation showed an increase in the systemic coherence index from 3.9 to 7.2 points, in the cognitive-content component from 15.9 to 21.2 points, and in the practical-communicative component from 11.8 to 16.0 points; the share of students at a low level decreased from 43.7% to 16.1%. Regular use of the distance learning environment rose from 50.4% to 82.6%, completed electronic portfolios from 19.9% to 71.6%, and digital content evaluation skills from 15.0% to 58.3%. The integral effectiveness coefficient was 0.73.

Conclusion. Multi-subject governance is presented as a pedagogical mechanism for developing a regional system of theological education based on distributed responsibility, dual-contour quality assessment, continuity between formal, non-formal, and informal education, and mentor-based verification of results.