Just published: (Re)Examining Privatization and Public Education in Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The latest issue of European Education addresses a heatedly debated topic of privatization of public education in post-socialist Eastern Europe and Eurasia. This region is of particular interest because of the rapid transition from central to market economies, and the lack of subsequent systematic research on privatization in education either in the global literature on education or the regionally focused literature on privatization and its extension into marketization and public–private partnerships. This special issue aims to bridge this gap by stimulating further research and debate about the effects of privatization on education across the former socialist region. Drawing on case studies from Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Tajikistan, the articles in this issue raise questions about the incentives and potential for structural discrimination that are created as private funds for education are directed into school systems through a variety of mechanisms that include school choice, private schools, parent payments to public schools, not-for-profit private providers, and supplementary tutoring courses.

If you would like to read the entire paper or any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions here. We will also be featuring video interviews with the authors about their articles published in this special issue!

Table of Contents

Editorial Introduction: (Re)Examining Privatization and Public Education in Eastern Europe and Eurasia

Kate Lapham, Daniel Pop, and Iveta Silova

Private Pre-University Education in Romania: Mixing Control with Lack of Strategy

Cristina Stănuş

Reworking of School Principals' Roles in the Context of Educational Privatization: A view from Ukraine

Serhiy Kovalchuk and Svitlana Shchudlo

Parental Choices in the Primary and Secondary School Market in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Christopher Whitsel

The “Language Barrier” in Private Online Tutoring: From an Innocuous Concept to a Neoliberal Marketing Tool

Olga Kozar

Call for Papers - Marketization, Privatization, and Shadow Education

In March and June, 2014 European Education will publish a special issue in two volumes dedicated to marketization, privatization, and shadow education in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia. This special issue will be published in collaboration with the Privatization in Education Research Initiative (PERI), which is a global initiative supported by the Education Support Program of the Open Society Foundations. PERI seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms and outcomes of the marketization, privatization, and private sector participation in education.

This region has a unique contribution to make to the body of research already growing under PERI because of the ways that private funds have flowed to education in the 20 years since the collapse of the socialist bloc. Rather than overt privatization visible through the development of private schools, this region has seen a hybrid of public and private financing as state budgets have not been sufficient to maintain the quality and range of educational services offered in the past. Parents have supplemented public education budgets by making informal payments directly to schools or school-based NGOs, by topping up teacher salaries, and by paying for private tutoring to ensure that their children have access to the entire school curriculum necessary for passing tests and university admission exams.

We welcome submissions that explore the changing nature of public/private education provision and address some of the following key questions: What are the main facets of privatization or marketization of education in the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia? What are some of the policy changes relating to marketization or privatization of education in the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia and how have these policies originated and resonated in the national contexts? Why have countries with similar historical and transitional paths experienced different scope, intensity, and nature of privatization in education? Given current trends in privatization the countries and sub-regions in Southeast/Central Europe and Eurasia, what are the major concerns related to equity/educational justice and education quality that are either already manifesting themselves or are likely to manifest themselves in the future.

For more information about this call for papers and directions on how to submit papers, please see this .pdf document.