Shadow Education in the Soviet and Post‐Soviet Eras

A Political‐Economic Analysis of Changing Tides

Bibliographic Data

ID21445688
AuthorsM Bray (0000-0002-5886-1570, UNESCO Chair in Comparative Education, Comparative Education Research Centre, Faculty of Education The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China, corresponding author), Tatiana Mikhaylova (0000-0002-5916-0565, Department of Educational Sciences University of Gävle Gävle Sweden)
Year2025
Volume60
Issue4
Publication date2025-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-8211 • E-ISSN: 1465-3435
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejed.70252
OpenAlexW4414183638
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited31

Focusing on the shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring, this paper contains comparisons over time and place in the distinctive circumstances of the Soviet Union and the 15 independent countries that emerged following its collapse in 1991. The paper uses the lenses of politics and economics to understand changing tides in the scale and nature of shadow education. The phenomenon did not fit the official ideologies of the Soviet era, but became evident particularly in the decades from the 1970s. In the post‐Soviet era, shadow education expanded markedly, but with diversity across the 15 countries and with changing features as the decades progressed. The paper shows the broad contours in this diversity while also highlighting significant research gaps

Diversity (politics) · Ideology · Phenomenon · Politics · Shadow (psychology) · Soviet union · Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities

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Open DOIOpen Access