In 1982 he graduated from the Murmansk Arctic State University, in 1990 he completed his postgraduate studies at the Moscow Pedagogical State University, and in 1998 he completed his doctoral studies at Oulun yliopisto (Oulu, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Finland).

In 1991, he defended his PhD dissertation on "Psychological analysis of the conditions for the formation of the foundations of ecological consciousness (based on an experimental curriculum on the basics of ecology for 6-year-olds)", as well as his doctoral dissertation on "Vygotsky before Vygotsky: the path to a cultural and historical theory of human consciousness (1917-1927)".

Since 1991, he has been Head of the Department of Developmental Psychology at the Murmansk Institute for Advanced Training of Educators.

Since 1995, he has been an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Psychology of Murmansk State Pedagogical University.

In 1995, he founded and headed Russia's first Department of Management Psychology at the Faculty of Management, Economics, and Law at Murmansk State Technical University.

Since 1997, he has been a visiting research fellow at the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu (Finland).

From 2002 to 2006, he served as Scientific Director, Russian Culture and Languages International Master School, Kajaani Department of Teacher Training (Finland).

From 2006 to 2012, he was a research fellow at the Kajaani University Consortium, Lonnrot Institute (Finland).

From 2007 to 2012, he was a leading research fellow at the Centre for Developmental Learning and Teaching, Kajaani Unit, University of Oulu (Finland).

Since 2007, he has been an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Oulu (Finland).

Since 2008, he has been a Professor in the Faculty of Psychology at the International Slavic Institute (Moscow).

Since 2009, he has been a visiting Professor in the Faculty of Educational Psychology at the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education.

Since 2012, he has taught at Monash University (Australia).