Specific Features of Children Involvement in Supplementary Education Depending on Cultural, Educational and Financial Status of Families and Place of Living

Abstract

This paper presents research results on children involvement in supplementary education. This research was conducted by NRU HSE in partnership with Levada Center as part of the 2013 Education Markets and Organizations Monitoring. The survey covered over 2,000 parents of school students involved in supplementary education provided by various institutions. Correlations between some parameters of student involvement in supplementary education (the rate and continuity/discontinuity of services’ consumption; the choice of supplementary education programs’ and institutions’ types; the place of supplementary education in the structure of free time and holidays) and family characteristics (place of living, financial status, cultural and educational background) are analyzed. Some solutions are suggested on how to overcome difficulties produced by differences in policies and the real situation in the field of supplementary education. For instance, authors claim that national policies oriented at children from vulnerable socioeconomic backgrounds and those living in rural areas should be a combination of two instruments: informational (raising parental awareness of and motivation for their children supplementary education), and socially supportive to disadvantaged families (introducing certificates for supplementary education services; setting quotas for public-funded places in high-quality supplementary education programs; targeted financing of supplementar y education programs in rural schools and schools for difficult students).