Centers for Extracurricular Activities in Post-soviet Сountries: Soviet Heritage and New Trends

P. 135–160.

Kosaretsky S., Ivanov I.

In this article, we describe and analyze the main trends related to the infrastructure and providers of extracurricular education in the countries of the former Soviet Union. A developed and diversified infrastructure with specialized spaces, a profile character, and uniform content and formats was characteristic of the Soviet system. This infrastructure presence has become one of the essential characteristics of the Soviet model. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries that gained or regained independence embarked on a path of simultaneously solving the problems of identifying the national educational strategy in the new institutional conditions. This paper uses national statistics and interviews with specialists and researchers of extracurricular education in all 15 countries of the former USSR. Using an institutional approach, we describe and analyze trends in and across countries to highlight changes in the infrastructure and network of providers of extracurricular education. There is a special focus on specifically extracurricular spaces: pioneer palaces, art schools, sports schools, and children’s railways. We also demonstrate the unique transformation of the Soviet system in terms of its infrastructure, which allowed for easy access and high enrollment. The legacy of the Soviet period and path-dependence ensure the inertial development and sustainability of extracurricular education in post-Soviet countries.

Keywords: образовательное неравенство, extracurricular activities, extracurricular education, внешкольное образование, education in post-Soviet countries, образование в постсоветских странах, внешкольные занятия, Education inequality, Education providers, провайдеры образования

Publication based on the results of: Comparative analysis of the impact of social, economic and educational reforms implemented in the post-Soviet countries on the situation with educational inequality in general and extracurricular education of children (2023)

In book

Extended Education. Different Impetus, Conceptions, Developments in an International Perspective

Book 18: Different Impetus, Conceptions, Developments in an International Perspective. , Wiesbaden: Springer, 2025.