Introduction. The article features the results of a sociological study conducted under the author’s guidance, by the sociologists of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Republic of Bashkortostan, in 2022 in the regional schools in preparation of the Parliamentary hearings in the State Assembly - Kurultai of the Republic of Bashkortostan, on improving the regulatory and legal support of professional activities in the republican education system. The purpose of the research was to identify and analyze the social problems faced today by the general education school and the main subjects interacting in it - students and teachers, as well as to determine the effectiveness of the socio-legal mechanisms used by education authorities to minimize and resolve these problems. The study showed that one of the main such problems is the bureaucratization of school management, which determines the manifestation and severity of many other problems, which naturally affects the decline in the quality of the educational process.

Materials and methods. Methodologically, in the course of the study, approaches were used that have developed in such modern branches of sociological knowledge as the sociology of management and the sociology of education. The information base of the article was made up of official statistics and the results of a sociological survey conducted through the method of online questioning among 4529 teachers, which accounted for 14% of their total number in the region. The respondents represented 4 groups of schools depending on their location (the city of Ufa, other republican cities, centers, municipalities and rural schools).

Results. An analysis of literature and the results of a sociological study conducted under the author’s guidance, led to the conclusion that the manifestations of bureaucratization, expressed in an excessive strengthening of administrative control over school life, in an increase in the volume and number of reporting forms, in frequent distractions of teachers from performing the direct functions of teaching and upbringing, are noticeably reflected in the decline in the quality of the educational process, substitute its creative potential for administration, and ultimately limit the role of school in socializing younger generation. School management practices used today do not contribute to solving this topical problem.

Discussion. The conservative nature of the education system itself and, above all, its school subsystem contributes to the preservation of this situation. Due to quite a number of outdated traditions and stereotypes, any changes that reflect urgent social needs and civilizational trends can only be felt in the long term. In addition, there is no permanent feedback mechanism between the school and education authorities, the basis of which is sociological monitoring of the causes of the emergence, the dynamics of the manifestation of social problems and the effectiveness of measures to influence them.

Keywords: sociology of education, Russian comprehensive school, Republic of Bashkortostan, teachers, students, professional activity issues, bureaucratization, sociological research

The article was prepared as part of the state task of the ISS SBSI AS RB.