The article presents the results of a study of the problem of the gap between the changes taking place in the economy, social sphere, political guidelines, culture, on the one hand, and the content of the education system, on the other. The observed changes actualize the need to transform education in order to fully respond to the challenges of the environment surrounding education. One of the important tasks is to create an environment for the formation of a person who is capable and motivated to innovate and create creative activities, for which project activities are optimally suited. As a result, it is necessary to develop a new approach to the organization of project activities, involving the use of modern and most effective methodologies and practices of project management, creative and problem-analytical activities. The purpose of the presented work is to substantiate a new model for building project activities, called the norm and setting boundaries, rules and technologies based on certain values, principles, technologies and methods of project activities in schools. Methods of achieving the purpose were factor analysis to assess the impact of changes in the environment on education, case studies to assess problem areas and positive developments in the organization of project activities of schoolchildren. A case study was conducted in 33 educational institutions in Russia and abroad. An additional method was the analysis of scientific literature and professional standards for project management in order to identify and generalize in the form of an author’s model common and proven results of methodological and methodological developments on the organization of project and innovation activities. The analysis of environmental factors (economy, social sphere, politics, culture) and their impact on the education system is carried out. It is concluded that education should take on the following functions: formation of thinking, self-determination, selforganization, reflection as technologies that allow a person to build their own trajectory of development and turn information into knowledge. While preserving the functions of translation and reproduction of cultural, social and professional norms, education becomes a centering activity that provides the possibility of human existence in any other spheres of activity in the modern world. To perform these functions, a model of the norm of project activity of schoolchildren is proposed, which is built on certain values and principles developed by the authors, and includes three stages of performing project activity of a student (conception, implementation or management of implementation, understanding of the work done). The proposed model of the project activity norm meets the requirements of changes in the environment of education. It assumes a radically different approach in comparison with the existing practices of organizing project activities, which corresponds to the principles and methods of project activities generally accepted in project management, but at the same time corresponds to the new goals and objectives of the education system in the conditions of its transformation.
