Non-state Schools for Sustainable Education Development: Family

Choice Motives

Zoya V. Proshkova

and Maria N. Yashina

Sociological Institute of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences,

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Keywords: Sociology of Education, Sociology of Family, Non-State Schools, Private Education, Quality and

Accessibility of Education, Internet Forum, Computer Technologies for Text Analysis.

Abstract: The article presents the results of the analysis of the parents' conversation on the Internet forum, the topic of

which was non-state school education. The sociological project studied the statements of participants in

network communication who sent their children to private lyceums or gymnasiums. Parents' judgments were

processed with the support of domestic specialized computer programs. Seven groups of family motives for

choosing a non-state school for children were identified. It was found that the most important reasons for the

education of children in paid educational institutions are the parents' belief in the high quality of non-state

education, the desire to protect children, and the individualization of the school educational route. Among the

less significant motives there were the family's readiness to invest in children's education, the desire to prepare

11th grade graduates to pass the unified state exam, and the approval of digital teaching methods. The findings

suggest the need to improve the accessibility and quality of Russian school education, support family

participation in the educational process, and take into account the diversity of demands for the school system.

The empirical perspective of the study is an analysis of the choice of private schools at different stages of a

child's education.

1 INTRODUCTION

The need for private school education in Russia.

Experts estimate the request for teaching children

in private schools, gymnasiums and lyceums at 6% of

the total number of schools by 2022 (Dukhanina, et

al., 2019). At the moment, the number of non-state

institutions of secondary education is about 850, that

is, 2% of the total number of schools. The growth of

private education in Russia fell on the 90s, but few

institutions withstood the competition and have

survived to this day. There are schools with a twenty-

year history in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny

Novgorod, Samara and some other big cities. All of

them ask for an entrance fee, as well as tuition fees in

the amount of 20,000 rubles per month.

Russian school education is compulsory;

therefore, state educational institutions dominate in

the children's educational sphere (Konstantinovsky,

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6219-6905

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5561-1157

et al., 2006). Initially, private schools were aimed at

working with students with non-standard needs, that

is, with a niche nature. However, over time, the needs

of parents and students themselves, especially older

schoolchildren, have changed (Rogozina, Shchur,

2014). The quality of education came to the fore, and

the prestige of private schooling increased.

In the presented sociological project, the motives

of parents who made the decision to send their

children to Russian private schools were studied. The

range of research questions included the reasons for

abandoning a state educational institution, assessing

the quality of school education by parents - public and

private, satisfaction with the educational level of

children, developing an educational route for

children, family investments in the education of the

younger generation. Not only the family material

costs, but also the investment of time, own

intellectual efforts in the development of the child

Proshkova, Z. and Yashina, M.

Non-state Schools for Sustainable Education Development: Family Choice Motives.

DOI: 10.5220/0010670700003223

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Sustainable Development of Socio-economic Systems (WFSDS 2021), pages 487-491

ISBN: 978-989-758-597-5

487

were studied. The influence of the educational and

cultural resources of the family on the accumulation

of human capital by children was assessed

(Proshkova, 2020).

Along with the analysis of the listed issues, the

study conceptualized the method of collecting

available information on the network. In 2020, we

managed to conduct several interviews with the

parents of students of non-state schools, but the

information received was not enough for well-

founded conclusions. The interview was interrupted

by the enforced quarantine. We turned to the available

materials on the Internet, in particular, to thematic

family forums. Among them there was a conversation

between parents about paid school education, the

direct experience of Russian families in teaching

children of different ages in non-state schools in

Moscow and St. Petersburg.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Internet forum of parents of private schools students.

The Internet forum refers to the empirical

methods of digital sociology, a recently emerging

dimension of world sociology (Wynn, 2009). The

main merit of the direction is the development of

effective technologies for collecting and analyzing

information. Domestic scientists have mastered a

number of new research methods. Distance

interviewing and online closed-type questionnaires

are especially often used (Zhuravleva,2015). The

detailed methodological substantiation was received

by interviews by e-mail (Doktorov, Khairullina,

2015).

The Internet forum in our interpretation is a group

discussion on the network on a topic set by the

moderator. It is useful for sociology to search and

analyze such conversations in order to study the

opinions of hard-to-reach audiences. In particular,

parents whose children study in non-state schools.

From a methodological point of view, the Internet

forum occupies an intermediate position between the

method of document analysis, observation and focus

group without a leader (Belanovsky, 2001). The

advantage of the empirical approach is the

completeness of the information array, although it is

difficult to pretend to be representativeness of the

sample.

To identify and analyze the motives for choosing

a paid school education, we found on the Internet a

parent forum of the corresponding topic. Not all of the

participants in the conversation were representatives

of the target group, but the majority shared their direct

experience of teaching children in non-state schools

in the two capitals. Researchers looked at published

texts and highlighted arguments in favor of paid

education. For example, here is a father's story from

an Internet forum: “Education has always been valued

in our family, but there were no good schools near our

home, because we live among new buildings. Even

bad schools would have to be driven back and forth

every day. In one of the new houses, private primary

classes were opened with very good teachers, and

they gave them there. Grandparents on both sides chip

in on payment”. In the above passage, one can find

the following motives for choosing non-state

education:

 The high value of education in the family.

 Territorial inaccessibility of schools.

 Desire to provide a child with a quality

education.

 The readiness of the family for material

investment in education.

The content of the Internet forum was analyzed

until the new family reasons for the child's admission

to a private school began to repeat. We call this a

sense of fullness of the collected empirical array. We

studied 611 separate statements, which were able to

classify and find 7 groups of parental motives.

Arguments with a general theme fell into one group.

For example, the class "Quality of education"

includes statements: "There were no good schools

near the house", "There are 15 people in a class in a

paid school, and 36 are in our former one”, "In this

gymnasium they teach excellent English, and from

the third grade another foreign language is added ”,“

I like that different advanced methods are used in the

lessons, including games for primary school

students”, “The school provides excellent preparation

for a foreign university”

The analysis was complicated by the variety of

messages, since the parents of children of younger,

average and senior school ages took part in the

selected conversation. It is clear that at different

stages of the implementation of the educational route,

specific tasks arise. In elementary school, children

firstly need a good teacher, and in the eleventh final

year - high-quality preparation for entering the

university. But it was important for us to get the big

picture and understand why families prefer a private

school to a public one, despite the material costs. An

in-depth study of the reasons for choosing non-state

education by families of schoolchildren of different

ages is a promising task of sociological research.

To process the information of the Internet forum,

the Russian computer system Discant was used. It

was developed by Russian researchers G.I.

WFSDS 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

488

Saganenko and E.A. Kanevsky specifically for

solving complex problems of empirical sociology.

Discant is an interactive system of classification and

analysis of texts (Kanevsky, Saganenko, et al., 1997).

Initially, the program was designed to process

answers to open-ended questionnaire questions.

Thus, the sociologist Aleksey Eduardovich Geger

obtained an interesting experience of using Discant

while studying the value orientations of Russian

youth (Geger, 2010). Subsequently, Discant was able

to adapt to the analysis of unstructured texts in

sociological research of a qualitative type. In

particular, the authors of the article applied Discant to

the materials of the Internet forum in previous

projects of educational issues (Proshkova,

Saganenko, 2019).

The discussion about paid school education was

analyzed with the help of Discant by the method of

classifying the statements of the participants of the

Internet forum. On the basis of the classification, a list

of arguments for the education of children in a non-

state school was obtained. The list was lined up

hierarchically: from the most common, that is,

significant parental motive, to the less reflexive

positions.

3 RESULTS OF THE STUDY

Rating of motives for choosing a non-state school.

Actualization and classification of the ideas found

in the texts of the Internet forum showed that parents

are trying to tell the story of a child's admission to a

non-state school and explain why the family chose

private education. In the published cases, there are

two main plots - the change of the state educational

institution to a private one and the initial choice of a

non-state gymnasium. A rare type of educational

route is the return from a private educational

institution to a public school. We came across 15 of

these stories, with parents choosing top-rated public

schools. We call high-rated educational institutions

included in the list of the "500 best schools in Russia"

(specialized secondary educational institutions with

the best indicators of passing the general state exam;

a large number of students winning intellectual

Olympiads).

Table 1: Motives for choosing a non-state school.

№ Groups Types of judgments Numb

er of

judgm

ents

Frequen

cy of

occurren

(

)

1 Quality of

education

High quality of education, few children in the class (10-20 people), excellent

teachers, new teaching methods are used, successful curricula, a high level of

technical equipment in the class, there is no rush to work, tests are given after

mastering the material, additional lessons if necessary, several foreign

languages are taught, children leave school with good English, a lot of

attention is paid to mathematics, a modern approach to teaching computer

science,

reparation for admission to 239 or 610 schools

259 42

2 Safety The likelihood of contracting the coronavirus is lower, there are no

hooligans, the children are looked after well, the child falls sick less, small

classes are better for health, more strict monitoring for children health at

school, s

ecial menu for children in a dinin

room.

91 15

3 Individual

approach

My child was unable to adapt to public school, it was recommended to leave

school, need in an individual route, poor contacts with classmates in the

previous school, overtakes the regular school program, is bored in public

school, did not cope with the school program, needs lengthy explanations,

conflicts in school, the son goes in for sports and often at the training camp,

the child is engaged in creativity, the daughter is passionate about

rogramming.

86 14

4 Availability A school close to home, a private primary school in our house, it is a long

way to take a child to an English school, there are no schools in new

uildings, there was not enough space in a school in the micro-district.

55 9

5 Finances We can pay for a paid school, parents help with payment for school, why not

allow children to study comfortably with good incomes, both parents have a

high salary, it is cheaper for us to pay for a school closer to home, there is a

assive income, discounts for tuition.

50 8

Non-state Schools for Sustainable Education Development: Family Choice Motives

489

Table 1: Motives for choosing a non-state school (cont.).

6 Preparation

for the

Unified State

Exa

You can focus on preparing for the Unified State Exam, tutors in the final

class will cost more, a good preparatory program for the Unified State Exam,

daily testing on the Unified State Exam collections, do not load extra subjects

in grade 11.

41 7

7 Digitalization

of education

Interactive whiteboard in the classroom, useful online platforms,

rammin

trainin

, electronic diar

, re

orts with electronic

resentation.

29 5

TOTAL: 611

ments 611 100

The table shows that the rating of family motives

for choosing a non-state education is made up of

seven groups of statements. Each group is united by a

common theme, which the researchers determined on

their own. It was difficult to understand what type of

answer is, for example, the judgment "Good schools

were far from home." We are talking about the

territorial inaccessibility of the school or the quality

of education. By a common decision, we attributed

the statement to the group "Quality of education",

since the idea of studying in a strong educational

institution was the main one in the answer of the

participant of the Internet forum.

4 DISCUSSING THE RESULTS

Arguments for non-state school education.

When justifying the choice of a paid lyceum or

gymnasium, the parents paid the main attention to the

quality of education. Almost half of the judgments

concerned the advantages of non-state schools in

terms of efficiency and comfort of learning. The

remaining 59% of responses were distributed among

six groups of arguments.

4.1 Quality of Education

As stated, the most important reason for parents to

choose a non-public school is the quality of

education. The group "Quality of education" includes

41% of judgments. Parents provide various

explanations for their position. They say that in the

former school in lower grades 35-40 people studied.

It is noted that non-state schools have good

technology and a balanced curriculum. Students

master several foreign languages, and English at the

B2 level. The teachers are highly qualified. At all

levels of education, students are given unremitting

attention. According to participants of the Internet

forum, while graduates and primary school students

are taught in public schools, grades 5-8 lack care.

Parents appreciate modern educational approaches

and innovative methods. The informants emphasized

that the choice of private school education will

increase a person's success after graduation, which is

consistent with the findings of modern sociological

research (Agranovich, 2020). So, parents hope for the

admission of their son or daughter to the budgetary

department of the university, and they choose the best

universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

4.2 Safety

In second place, unexpectedly for us, there were

judgments about the preservation of health and life.

Apparently, this is due to the coronavirus epidemic,

during which the parents talked on the Internet forum.

In smaller classrooms, there is less risk of infection.

Conflicts are resolved without fights, there is a special

staff to look after children, especially after primary

school students.

4.3 Individual Approach

The group included judgments about children with

special needs, as well as the parents' desire to

individualize the child's educational route. For

example, in the latter case, high school students who

want to become programmers and focus on

specialized academic subjects go to a non-state

school. In addition, in twelve families, children are

engaged in creativity and take an external program for

grades 10-11 in natural science and mathematics.

4.4 Availability

Even in Moscow and St. Petersburg there is a problem

of territorial accessibility of schools for primary

school students. Not all parents are ready to take their

child 3-5 kilometers from home twice a day. The

situation is especially difficult in new buildings. The

situation is different with specialized education,

access to which is geographically limited. It would

seem that parents of children in grades 1-4 could be

satisfied with an ordinary school near their home, but

many would like to teach children from an early age

in gymnasiums and lyceums. The fact is that one of

the factors in choosing a school is the reputation of an

educational institution, which today is easy to learn

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490

not only from local residents, but also from the

Internet. Parents are afraid that after poor initial

training they will not go to a good school.

4.5 Finances

In this group of statements, we are talking about

family income, parents' salaries and readiness for

financial investments in high-quality education of

children. An interesting fact is that in a third of the

cases reported on the Internet forum, non-state school

education is paid for by the student's grandparents.

4.6 Preparing for the Unified State

Exam

Parents of students in grades 10-11 told on the

Internet forum the history of transferring

schoolchildren from public schools to paid education

in order to provide senior high students with high-

quality preparation for the Unified State Exam (USE).

According to the informants, such a solution saves

time and money, as well as preserves the health of

graduates. Parents do not consider tutors to be an

alternative to school.

4.7 Digitalization of Education

Digital teaching methods were in the last place in the

ranking of motives for choosing a non-state school.

Parents love whiteboards, helpful online resources,

and distance classroom assessment and testing. The

informants hope that new didactic approaches will

increase the digital literacy of students in education.

But parents do not support the transition to distance

learning at school in general.

5 CONCLUSION

The sociological study identified seven groups of

reasons why families choose non-state school

education for their children. Parents believe that in

private gymnasiums and lyceums, the quality of

education is significantly higher, the safety of

children is ensured, and it is also possible to

individualize the student's educational route. In

addition, families strive to find a good school closer

to home, have the opportunity to pay for the education

of their children, and support digital teaching

methods. Among the practical recommendations of

the project is to improve the accessibility and quality

of school education, to provide strong preparation for

passing the Unified State Exam at school. The next

task of the empirical research is to analyze the

motives of the family choice of non-state schools at

different stages of schooling.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The reported study was funded by RFBR, project

number 19-011-00947.

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