Non-State Preschool Education: Current Practices of Territorial Development

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the problem of preschool education in Russia and the Vologda region. It shows that in the current context of shortage of places in state nurseries it is necessary to develop private care service providers. Day-care is in great demand among parents having children at the ages from 1 to 3. The paper analyses the main characteristics of preschool educational organi-zations. It shows that in the Vologda region, particularly in Vologda, private demand for preschool education service is to a wide extent unsatisfied. In Vologda more than ten thousand children are on waiting lists for preschool educational organizations. In total, in the Vologda region the list numbers about 28.9 thousand children, 34% of them are registered in Vologda. The paper provides the results of the study into Vologda private nurseries and day-care carried out in May-June 2015 by using the method of involved observation. It reveals key factors hampering growth of private nurseries.It is noted that one of the factors is the lack of license for educational activities and motivation for most entrepreneurs to obtain it. The results show that unlicensed gardens are not controlled by the authorities and public organizations. Interaction between the private institutions of pre-school education is not provided as well. We can observe that some private sector organizations do not meet the requirement of health and safety standards and impose limiting measures for the sake of children health such as organization of walks due to the absence of a secure walking site. High amount of parental fee is also found out.It offers directions for the development of private preschool education service

Keywords

• preschool education
• accessibility
• non-public area
• private nursery
• day-care