Paid Educational Activities for Preschoolers in Russian Cities with Over a Million People: The Interrelation between Income Level and Parental Investment

Journal of Economic Sociology. 2023. Vol. 24. No. 1. P. 162–181.

Seliverstova Y.

In many Russian families, the educational differences between preschoolers are
mainly formed outside of the municipal kindergartens through participation in
paid classes, which have become increasingly popular in recent years. This created
a new problem of increasing inequality in early childhood education (ECE),
as not all parents can afford to pay for extra educational activities. This study investigates
the effect of income level on parental investment in ECE by examining
the relationship between family income and the educational strategies chosen by
parents. The study involved 260 families with children aged 3 to 7 years old, living
in fifteen Russian cities with populations over one million people. The families
were divided into three income brackets. To identify the correlation between
the family socio-economic situation (SES) and expenditure, the study assessed
the money spent on the children's preschool education, including kindergarten
and for extra educational activities. The study also examined the types of extra
educational activities for preschoolers, and identified the motives for parental
decisions. The families with the lowest income invest significantly fewer financial
resources in ECE than the families with low and middle incomes. However,
the analysis of the parental preferences and motives in ECE did not confirm that
children from poor families are less involved in centre-based classes. Financial
constraints lead poorer parents to find other options to provide competitive education.
They mostly seek help from family members in conducting ECE, and
conduct more ECE activities at home. Furthermore, disadvantaged families try
to find the most affordable activities, i.e. cheaper classes at kindergartens or municipal
cultural centres.

Keywords: дошкольное образование, расходы на образование, Современное российское образование, educational services, preschool education, early childhood education, the modern Russian education, участие родителей в образовании, образовательные сервисы, parental involvement in education, educational expenditure

Publication based on the results of: Monitoring of Educational Markets (2015)