The purpose of the article is to examine from a methodological perspective the content of the concept of "pedagogical reality", which designates the subject area of pedagogy in its past, present and future dimensions, that is, throughout the history of human society. In the space of pedagogical reality, many different modern pedagogues construct the history of the pedagogical past in different ways, as well as form the image of the pedagogical future in different ways. The past pedagogical reality, explicitly or implicitly, lives in the modern pedagogical reality, influences the pedagogical events and processes of today. This determines the relevance of cognition of the developing pedagogical reality, the historical and pedagogical process in which the past appears in unity with the present. The task of recreating the past is relevant by its very nature, since without knowledge and understanding of the past, it is impossible to involve it in the process of cognition of the present. At the same time, both generalizing, theoretical schemes and models of the development of the historical and pedagogical process, presented, for example, in models of its civilizational interpretations, as well as the results of studying specific, particular, empirical material, turn out to be relevant. In the first quarter of the 21st century the existing pedagogical reality in Russia is naturally being updated in the new conditions. All this creates a new demand for the image of the pedagogical past, which continues to be reviewed again. The theoretical and methodological issuesraised in the article should be discussed not only at scientific conferences and forums, but also in the process of training future specialists in universities of various profiles. Such a statement of the issue is of particular importance in the context of the new situation of our country's development, determining its role and place in the modern world order, when Russia is rightfully proclaimed a country fnd a civilization. The modern era has actualized the desire to clarify not only methodological, but also value-based, moral approaches to the construction of modern pedagogy to reveal the fundamental foundations, mechanisms and details of the study of the pedagogical past. Examples of the use of the creative heritage of the great scientists K. E. Tsiolkovsky and I. P. Pavlov associated with Ryazan in the work of educational organizations are given.