The aim of the article is to define the content of theoretical ideas about education in the knowledge society in terms of the birth of its social reality. It is shown that the genesis of the concept of education in the knowledge society goes back to the period of 1950-1960s and is due to the emergence of new qualities of an industrial worker that the knowledge worker inherits. In 1957 P. Drucker (1957) formulates an idea of advanced training and in 1968 the principle of continuing education to train the knowledge worker. Their relation to the concept of distributed education by P. Drucker is revealed. It is stated that the key institutions of the knowledge society are university and school established on the principles of research training and related scientific and cognitive continuity. The concept of dynamic competence is defined; the relationship of creative learning with the reality of the knowledge society is shown. The analysis of fundamental contradictions of education in the knowledge society is given.

Bell, D. (2008). The Axial Age of Technology Foreword. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture of Social Forecasting. New York: Basic Books, 363 p.

Carr, D. (2003). Making Sense of Education. New York: Routledge Falmer, 294 р.

Cole, J.R. (2010). The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must be Protected. New York: Public Affairs, 616 р.

Deem, R., Hillyard, S. & Reed, M. (2010). Knowledge, Higher Education, and the New Managerialism: The Changing Management of UK Universities. New York: Oxford University Press, 646 p.

Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for Universities: Education, Research and Innovation (2006).  Communication from the Commission to the Counsil and the European Parlament. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, 16 р.

Developing Foresight for the Development of Higher Education/Research Relations in the Perspective of the European Research Area. (2002). Final Report of the Strata-Etan Expert Group. Brussels: European Commission, Directorate-General for Research, 82 р.

Doll, W.E. (1993). A Post-modern Perspective on Curriculum. New York: Teacher College Press, Columbia University, 215 р.

Drucker, P.F. (1969). The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to our Changing Society. London: Heinemann, 369 р.

Drucker, P.F. (1993). Post-Capitalist Society. New York City: Harper Business, 232 p.

Drucker, P.F. (1996). Landmarks of Tomorrow. A Report on the New «Post-Modern» World. New York: Harper, 270 р.

Drucker, P.F. (2010). The New Society. The Anatomy of Industrial Order. New York: Harper, 362 р.

Flechzig, K.G. (1992). Vielfalt und Transversal Vernunft. Prinzipien postmodernen Denkens und die Modernisierungskrise in Bildungssystemen. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik. Weinheim; Basel: Beltz. Beiheft, 360 p.

Godon, R. (2004). Understanding, Personal Identuty and Education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 38, 589-600.

Karpov, A.O. (2010). Knowledge Society: A Weak Link. Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 80, 373-376.

Karpov, A.O. (2015a). Formation of the Modern Concept of Research Education: from New Age to a Knowledge Society. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 214, 439-447.

Karpov, A.O. (2015b). Integrated and network systems of research education in the knowledge society. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6, 529-540.

Karpov, A.O. (2016). Socialization for the Knowledge Society. International Journal of Enviromental and Science Education, 11, 3487-3496.

Machlup, F. (1972). The Production and Distributation of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 416 p.

Porat, M.U. (1978). Global Implications of the Information Society. Journal of Communication, 28, 70–80.

Shernoff,  D.J. (2013). Optimal Learning Environments to Promote Student Engagement. New York: Springer Science Business Media, 380 р.

Stock, A. (2013). Lifelong learning: thirty years of educational change. The Learning Society: Challenges and Trends. New York: Routledge, 314 р.

The Role of the Universities in the Europe of Knowledge (2003). Communication from the Commission. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, 23 р.

Towards Knowledge Societies. UNESCO World Report (2005). Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 226 р.

Winch, C. (2004). Developing Critical Rationality as a Pedagogical Aim. Journal of Philosophy Education, 3, 467-484.

Yazzie-Mintz, E. (2007). Voices of Students on Engagement: A Report on the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement. Bloomington: Center for Evaluation & Education Policy, Indiana University, 12 p.