School Choice and School Differentiation in Comparative Perspective

Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory in the Higher School of Economics – St. Petersburg organizes the International conference on School Choice and School Differentiation in Comparative Perspective to be held in St. Petersburg on April 14-16, 2014.

The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for scholars who are studying the mechanisms and the effects of school choice in different countries. Many countries recently moved to allow more school choice, and scholars study the processes of school selection both from qualitative and quantitative perspective, using different theories and modelling techniques. There are different policies of school choice but often similar outcomes in terms of differentiation of schools by socio-economic background of pupils. Large surveys or governmental school datasets allow for statistical analysis of such differentiation. Parents and students are choosing schools, but schools also often have subtle ways of selecting students whom they find suitable. To study choice criteria and decision-making scholars tend to employ small samples and qualitative methods. The exchange of perspectives – national, theoretical and methodological - will help participants in their own research.

Deadline for abstract submission: February 15, 2014

Conference program 

Venue: Higher School of Economics, 16, Soyuza Pechatnikov, St.Petersburg 190121, Russia

Conference organizers: Daniel Alexandrov and Valeria Ivaniushina

Contacts: Valeria Ivaniushina, ivaniushina@hse.ru