Taming the Time Zone - National Large-Scale Assessments as Instruments of Time in the Russian Federation

Oct 15, 2026

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Nationwide large-scale assessments (NLSA) function as a cross-border policy mobility tool for governing formal schooling. In the Russian Federation, NLSA appears through the compulsory graduation Unified State Examinations (USE). The study analyzes how this mobile instrument shapes time-and-space-making within Russia’s federated setting and is intertwined with multiple time zones. It argues that NLSA works as an instrument of time seeking centralization, while requiring the “taming” of time zones through discursive, bureaucratic, and technological mechanisms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

NLSA, time-and-space-making, and Russian federated governance

Centralization, multiple time zones, and “taming” mechanisms

SPECIAL ISSUE Global Policy Mobilities in Federal Education Systems education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 31 Number 69 | June 13 , 2023 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Taming the Time Zone: National Large-Scale Assessmentsas Instruments of Time in the Russian Federation Nelli Piattoeva & Nadezhda Vasileva Tampere University Finland Citation: Piattoeva, N., & Vasileva, N. (2023). Taming the time zone: National large-scale assessments as instruments of time in the Russian Federation. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31(69). [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7323](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7323 This)[ This](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7323 This) article is part of the special issue, Global Policy Mobilities in Federal Education Systems, guest edited by Jason Beech, Laura Engel, Glenn C. Savage, and Bob Lingard. Abstract: Nationwide large-scale assessments (NLSA)—an example of cross-border policy mobility—manifest a proliferating means of governing formal schooling. In the Russian context, NLSA takes the form of a compulsory graduation examination called the Unified State Examinations (USE) . In this article, we explore how a mobile policy instrument of the NLSA participates in the relational processes of time-and space-making in a particular federated context of Russia, and how this process intertwines with and is shaped by the presence of multiple time zones. We argue that NLSA is an instrument of time that attempts to achieve centralization of the complex federated structure of the Russian Federation. Yet, the work of the NLSA is not a smooth process ina country characterized by territorial vastness, a complex federated structure, and the existence of multiple time zones. Guided by the theory of logistical power and sociological perspectives on time, as well as empirical insights, we show how the time zones need to be tamed in order for the NLSA to exercise its centralizing role. Discursively, the time zone is introduced and publicly discussed to symbolically characterize Russia and justify political actions or their outcomes. Bureaucratically, the desire for simultaneity and synchronicity takes the form of a meticulous ordering of a sequence of actions through prescriptive documentation that regulates the NLSA. Technologically, synchronicity, simultaneity, and instantaneousness rely on and engender an expanding national infrastructure that mediates social relations and the processes of conducting the NLSA, cutting across the time zonesand federal units. Based on this analysis, we propose that scholarship on policy mobility and education policy sociology at large could benefit from examining the relationship between time and education policy and governance in four intertwined ways: the time of policy, context as time, policy instruments as instruments of time, and time in policy instruments. Keywords: Russian Federation; governance; time; space; national large-scale assessments; performance technology Domando la zona horaria: Evaluaciones nacionales a gran escala como instrumentos de tiempo en la Federación Rusa Resumen: Las evaluaciones a gran escala a nivel nacional (NLSA, por sus siglas en inglés), unejemplo de movilidad política transfronteriza, manifiestan un medio proliferante de gobernar laeducación formal. En el contexto ruso, NLSA toma la forma de un examen de graduaciónobligatorio llamado Exámenes Estatales Unificados (USE) . En este artículo, exploramos cómo un instrumento de política móvil de la NLSA participa en los procesos relacionales de creaciónde tiempo y espacio en un contexto federado particular de Rusia, y cómo este proceso seentrelaza y está conformado por la presencia de múltiples zonas horarias. Argumentamos que NLSA es un instrumento del tiempo que intenta lograr la centralización de la complejaestructura federada de la Federación Rusa. Sin embargo, el tr

FAQs

What are the Unified State Examinations (USE) in the Russian context?

They are the compulsory graduation examinations through which national large-scale assessments (NLSA) operate in Russia.

How does the article explain NLSA as an instrument of time?

It argues that NLSA uses time-related mechanisms to attempt centralization across Russia’s complex federated structure.

Why must time zones be “tamed” for NLSA to work centrally?

The analysis shows that NLSA’s centralizing role depends on managing discursive, bureaucratic, and technological processes that rely on simultaneity, synchronicity, and infrastructure spanning time zones.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca