School Choice Policies in Post-­Soviet Countries: Experiences in Constructing an Index

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of national educational policies in the field of school choice in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The aim of the study is to analyze the transformation of education policy after the collapse of the USSR – the transition from the unified Soviet system to sovereign national models of education management. It proposes a new approach to understanding school choice, taking into account legally established norms that ensure the individualization of students’ educational trajectories and support the possibility of exercising choice. The comparative analysis of the normative regulation of school choice is carried out using the indexing method based on the developed set of indicators characterizing the variability and centralization of the mechanisms of normative regulation of school choice. The study shows that all post-­Soviet countries have taken steps towards the formation and implementation of school choice mechanisms. In addition to the traditional consideration of 'ratings,' the paper focuses on the analysis of the combination of choice opportunities with the nature of their regulation at different levels, which allows for a fuller assessment of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the transformation processes. In particular, it is emphasized that although documented regulation and the provision of choice are widely proclaimed, the actual implementation and effectiveness of these mechanisms is often limited by local socio-­cultural, economic, and geopolitical conditions.