The paper examines two main political eras of Russian policy in the sphere of education starting with post World War II: the Soviet and the post-Soviet periods. These eras developed in absolutely different political, economic, social and international contexts. The Soviet education was controlled and maintained by the state and Communist party leadership, it developed within a centralised planned economy and served the political needs of the state, without taking into account learners’ needs and desires. The post-Soviet Russian system of education is developing in a globalised world, within a market economy, it is based on absolutely different values, those of democracy and learners’ freedom; it is implemented in new discursive contexts: while the authoritarian resolutions of the Soviet educational policy had to follow suit, without any critique, or disagreement, the contemporary policy documents are open for public discussion and feedback. The paper analyses why the policy agenda of the new era has recurrent themes (accessibility and quality of education, social partnership, the status of the teacher, preserving children’s health), and why the rate of implementation of the reforms is slow.