In modern conditions, the search for effective ways to implement the continuity of various levels and stages of national education, as well as the creation of optimal models of programs focused on the formation of students' civic identity, the experience of the pre-revolutionary school for the development of national education becomes relevant. One of the bright pages of Russian vocational education is the opening in 1912 in St. Petersburg of the School of Folk Art, whose activities were based on the Orthodox faith, traditional culture and folk art. This article is devoted to the consideration of the features of the creation and functioning of the national School of Folk Art as a unique educational institution. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the curriculum and pre-revolutionary educational activities of the School. The article is based on the materials of the Niva magazine for 1914 and special literature on the research topic. The methodological basis of the research is the theoretical analysis of the main provisions of sources and literature, as well as the systematization of the facts studied. The paper reveals such features of the activity of the School of Folk Art as the training of masters - future instructors in various areas of artisanal artistic activity, in the training of which copying of the best museum samples was used, work on creating their own museum fund, referral to practice in Russian historical centers of artistic excellence, where the pupils not only studied, but also demonstrated the skills acquired at school.
