Stanislav Teofilovich Shatsky was born in 1878 in the village of Voronino, Smolensk region, into a noble family. He studied at the 6th Moscow Gymnasium, and then in 1893 he entered Moscow University, where he initially studied at the mechanics and mathematics faculty, and later at the medical faculty.

Not completing his studies at the university, Shatsky transferred to the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy (Timiryazev Academy) to study agronomy and engage in pedagogy in the spirit of labor education for children, as proposed by L.N. Tolstoy. In 1905, he left the academy without finishing it.

From 1899 to 1901, Shatsky studied vocal at the Moscow Conservatory, but not completing it, he switched to pedagogical activities.

Shatsky began his teaching career with an attempt to open a private school, but was denied. In 1905, together with architect A.U. Zelenko and other educators, he created the first children's clubs in Russia for the children of workers from the outskirts of Moscow.

In 1906, Shatsky founded the "Settlement" society, which was closed by the police in 1908 for socialist propaganda among children, and he was arrested. From 1910, he headed the "Child Labor and Recreation" society, and in 1911 organized the summer children's colony "Cheerful Life."

In 1917, Shatsky became a member of the Moscow City Administration, without being a deputy of the city duma. From 1919 to 1932, at the suggestion of A.V. Lunacharsky, he led the first experimental station for public education. In 1932 and 1934, he headed the Central Experimental Laboratory of the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR, and from February 13, 1932, until his untimely death, he was the director of the Moscow Conservatory.

Stanislav Teofilovich Shatsky passed away in Moscow on November 30, 1934, and was buried at the new Don Cemetery.