Table of Contents Volume 47 Number 2 (Summer 2015)

EDITORIAL: PISA and Participation in Education
Iveta Silova & Noah W. Sobe
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1043172P

Steering the National: Exploring the Education Policy Uses of PISA in Spain
Laura C. Engel
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033913

Shadow Education in Spain: Examining Social Inequalities Through the Analysis of PISA Results
Ariadne Runte-Geidel & Pedro Femia Marzo
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033667

Ideas, Institutions, and School Curricula: Explaining Variation Between England and France
Leah Haus
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033604

Children’s Participation in Slovene Preschools: The Teachers’ Viewpoints and Practice
Marcela Batistič Zorec
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1039878

University Graduates’ Skills Mismatches in Central Asia: Employers’ Perspectives From Post-Soviet Tajikistan
Dilrabo Jonbekova
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033315

BOOK REVIEWS
Pedagogized Muslimness: Religion and Culture as Identity Politics in the Classroom. Religious Diversity and Education in Europe, Band 27 by Mette Buchardt
Shabana Mir
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033224

Contemporary Debates in Holocaust Education by Michael Gray
E. Doyle Stevick
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1033226

CESE NEWS Equity In and Through Education: Changing Contexts, Consequences, and Contestations
DOI:10.1080/10564934.2015.1035025

Parental Choices in Tajikistan's School Market

A recently published special issue of "European Education" examines the emergence of various forms of education privatization in the former socialist countries. In "Parental choices in the primary and secondary school market in Dushanbe, Tajikistan," Chris Whitsel explores the factors motivating parents in Tajikistan to choose schools for their children in an educational landscape that includes elite public and private schools, low-fee private schools, and neighborhood public schools. Watch a short interview with Chris Whitsel discussing his study!

If this piqued your interest and you would like to read the entire paper or any other content from our journal, you can find out more about subscriptions at this page. See the abstract of the article for more information:

This paper presents findings about factors parents consider when choosing schools in the new educational market in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The eco- nomic and political chaos of the early independence period led to greater dif- ferentiation between public schools. Policies were enacted that encouraged the growth of private schools and fee-charging specialized public schools (lyceums and gymnasiums). In this paper, I first outline some of the causes for the growth of diversity among schools. I then present results about the factors that parents in Dushanbe weigh when deciding among schools. I find that parents utilize a complex matrix of factors—school location, child aptitude, child’s gender, and school quality—in making their decisions. Sur- prisingly, cost is not at the forefront of the decision matrix as most parents make choices that are comfortably in their range of affordability. 

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