Publications

The vocational college system is regarded as a social mobility channel providing the highest profit with minimal risk. We analyze the specific features and trends of the institutional context that has developed in Russia over the last 15 years, which promote development of such channel. We discriminate between three types of colleges that have emerged after reorganization of this education level in Russia. Colleges of the three types differ in their legal status and in the way they interact with universities. We describe a social group using the “through college to university” educational trajectory. Its members fall in between those reproducing the qualified worker status and those reproducing the highly qualified professional status. Such people usually perform averagely at school. Having surveyed nine-graders in Saint Petersburg and in one of the districts in Leningrad region, we analyze the motives for choosing the “through college to university” educational trajectory and the ideas students with their parents had about benefits, costs, and risks of this pathway. It appears that geographical location plays a key role in choosing this trajectory. Opting for an alternative educational pathway is less typical of rural students dealing with much more structural constrains than their urban counterparts. Unlike in large cities, only more informed and higher-status groups make this choice in the countryside. A comparison of college systems in several countries allows to conclude that colleges in Russia represent an upward social mobility channel, just like in USA and unlike in Germany, where colleges ensure social reproduction.

Александров Д. А., Тенишева К. А., Савельева С. С. Мобильность без рисков: образовательный путь «в университет через колледж»// Вопросы образования. 2015. № 3. 

 Ethnic Composition and Migration Status of Primary and Secondary School Students in Russia

Data on ethnic diversity and ethnicity/migration correlation among primary and secondary school students is presented in the article for the first time ever. The study is based on polls held among 21,320 school students in 365 schools of five regions of Russia (Moscow Oblast, Saint Petersburg, Leningrad Oblast, Tomsk, and Pskov). The most part of students speaking Russian as their second language attend schools of Moscow suburbs area (16%) with the least part attending schools of small towns and settlements of Leningrad Oblast (6.6%)and Pskov (8.5%). The sample covers 56 ethnic groups with some being rather small. In Saint Petersburg, Pskov and Tomsk there are 63–66% locals among children speaking Russian as their first language, whereas in Moscow suburbs area there are 44% only. Among ethnic minorities, the highest numbers of locals are in Tomsk and Pskov (38–39%). In Saint Petersburg there are more locals or second generation migrants among Ukrainians, Belarusians and Tatars, whereas “generation 1.5” migrants prevail in number among Tadzhiks and Uzbeks (46–49%). Generation 1.5 migrants prevail among all ethnic groups in Moscow suburbs area with Uzbeks and Tadzhiks being the most prevailing (62%). In Tomsk, most of the ethnic minorities’ representatives are either locals or second-generation migrants. Statistics on ethnic and migration status of school students allows for assessment not only of the scale of migration flows but also of a retrospective time dynamics for various ethnic groups. Families from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia were actively moving to Russia 15–20 years ago. Now there is massive migration going on among Tadzhiks, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz who bring their children of various ages. We believe that education management authorities should initiate prudent integration of school students with Russian as their second language irrelevant of their citizenship but with consideration of their families’ migration background.

Disentangling Peer Influence On Multiple Levels

In this study we focus on the influence of peers on adolescents academic achievement. Specifically, how the learning motivation of peers is related to a student's school grades. We use multilevel regression to analyze the influence of peers on different levels of social circles: school, class, personal network, and compare the effects of "assigned friends" and "chosen friends". The methods of social network analysis are used to define the personal network of a student in different ways: cliques, complete ego networks, and mutual ego networks. We demonstrate that the model improves considerably when the level of personal networks is included between individual and class levels. The learning motivation of a student's friends (defined as a clique or ego network) has an important influence on the student’s school performance, net of student’s personal characteristics.
 
Ivaniushina V. A. ,  Alexandrov D. A.   Disentangling Peer Influence On Multiple Levels   / Working papers by NRU Higher School of Economics. Series SOC "Sociology". 2014. No. 43.

Socialization Through Informal Education: Extracurricular Activities of Russian School Students

The paper presents results of a large-scale research on the scope of services in extracurricular and extra-school education and on assessment of the potential role of education beyond the classroom and informal education in solving children socialization issues. The research was carried out through questioning students as consumers of education services. A new instrument was developed and tested to allow for a detailed description of various aspects of extracurricular activities and their correlation with studies and social and psychological characteristics of students. An extensive statistic material (over 6,000 questionnaires filled out by students from several regions of Russia) was used to analyze the degree of engagement in out-of-class activities among children of different age; the activities that are more popular for specific age groups; the age range when children are most engaged in such activities; the reasons for non-participation in extracurricular activities; the infrastructure of education beyond the classroom; the relative frequency of structured and non-structured classes; the correlation between out-of-class activities and development of self-esteem, feeling of community, and satisfaction. Age- and gender-related profiles of various classes are described. It appears that structured extracurricular activities, unlike unstructured ones, correlate with higher self-esteem (both overall and academic), stronger sense of belonging, and better satisfaction with school.

  Иванюшина В.А.,Александров Д.А. Социализация через неформальное образование: внеклассная деятельность российских школьников // «Вопросы образования», № 3'2014. 

2013

Basking in the glory of schools: school characteristics and the self-concept of students in mathematics

Our study contributes to the debate on the interaction between academic context, individual achievement, and mathematics self-concept in schools. It is known that high-achieving peers positively influence the individual achievements of all group members. At the same time, it has been shown that the self-concept of students tends to decrease in the presence of high-achieving peers, as individuals make relative judgments of their abilities vis-à-vis their peer group. Students with mediocre performance feel more confident about their abilities in a group of poor achievers (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect – BFLPE – introduced by H.Marsh). On the other hand, perceived prestige of a school enhances the self-confidence of students as people tend to “bask in the glory” of others (the “reflected glory” effect). We test the two effects mentioned above – BFLPE and the “reflected glory” effect. We hypothesize that both effects are stronger in highly stratified education systems where there is a stronger explicit difference between highand poor-achieving students, and schools are ranked by their prestige. We compare the interaction of academic context, achievement, and mathematics self-concept in stratified (Russia and Czech Republic) and non-stratified (Norway and Sweden) educational systems on the TIMSS’07 database using HLM7. Our study shows: 1) an absence of BFLPE for all four countries, i.e. the achievement of others is positively related to an individual’s math self-concept; 2) strong support for the “reflected glory” effect is found only in stratified educational systems; and 3) greater positive effect on self-concept for students with poor achievement who study in the best schools.

Ksenia Tenisheva, Daniel Alexandrov. Basking in the glory of schools: school characteristics and the self-concept of students in mathematics // SOC "Sociology", HSE, 01/2013. -28 p.

Different levels of social organization in the formation of anti-school attitudes among adolescents

This article analyzes student pro-school/anti-school attitudes on different levels and explores their relation to educational outcomes. We examine the individual level, school level, and clique level predictors (clique is defined as a tight social group within a class social network). Cliques were identified using special software called Kliquefinder. We use multi-level regression approach on a sample of 7300 students from 104 public schools from St.Petersburg. Our findingsshow that: 1.) Socio-economic differentiation of Russian schools does not lead to a polarization of pro-school/anti-school attitudes in different types of schools; 2.) The polarization of attitudes emerges and is maintained at the clique level; and, 3.) Clique attitudes have a significant impact on educational outcomes (net of a student’s socio-demographic characteristics and individual attitudes).

V.A. Ivaniushina, D.A. Alexandrov. Different levels of social organization in the formation of anti-school attitudes among adolescents // EDU "Education", HSE, 01/2013. -23 p.

Sociometric popularity in a school context

This study investigates how the sociometric popularity of schoolchildren is related to individual academic achievements in a context of different levels of academic culture and educational aspirations in the classroom. The sample includes 5058 students in 270 classes from 98 schools in St. Petersburg. To examine class-level effects, we employ multi-level hierarchical models using HLM 7 software. Different effects for boys and girls were found, indicating that the relationship between academic performance and popularity is gender-specific. The results demonstrate that in classes with a low learning motivation individual academic achievements of boys are negatively related to their popularity, while in classes with a high academic culture the relationship is positive.

V.Titkova, V.A. Ivaniushina, D.A. Alexandrov. Sociometric popularity in a school context // EDU "Education", HSE, 02/2013. -30 p.

2012 

Educational pathways and trajectories of rural students. I. Local educational systems

The paper presents first report on the study of rural schools and students in one educational district of Leningrad region. The district comprises 12 small rural municipalities and 2 townships with 18 schools. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods and focuses on sorting between schools and educational choice after the 9th grade when students can either stay in their schools or transfer to vocational schools and technical colleges in the urban area of St. Petersburg. In the paper the educational choices and resulting trajectories are viewed in local social context. Researchers introduce a notion of “local educational system”, defined a set of local social (and geographical) opportunities and existing educational pathways which determine educational choice of parents and students. Higher education is a preferred goal after the school for the majority of students, but the trajectories to this goal are different depending on both family resources and local circumstances, including school differentiation and student flows between schools. The paper makes a case for studying educational choice by surveying all schools in the context of local educational systems rather than in surveying schools randomly taken from different local contexts.

D.A. Alexandrov, K.Tenisheva, S.Savelyeva, E. Kochkin. Educational pathways and trajectories of rural students. I. Local educational systems // WP 001 "Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory Working Papers SESL", Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory, 2012. -23 p.

Migrant children in Russia. I. Migration, ethnicity and segregation in St. Petersburg

The paper presents first findings of large-scale study of children from migrant families (104 schools, 419 classes, 7380 students) carried out in St. Petersburg. Researchers discuss the issues of ethnic and social differentiation among schools, parents’ interaction with schools, teachers’ attitudes to migrant minority students, ethnic effects in communication among students. A multi-level regression modeling demonstrates the effects of migration status and ethnic status on academic performance. The study shows that migrant children from ethnic minority groups have higher levels of learning motivation than their local-born classmates, perform at school on the same level, and have educational plans similar to those of ethnic majority students. Social network analysis (p2 modeling) of multiple class networks shows the absence of discrimination on the part of the ethnic majority in relation to the ethnic minorities.

D.A. Alexandrov, V.V. Baranova, V.A. Ivaniushina. Migrant children in Russia. I. Migration, ethnicity and segregation in St. Petersburg // WP 001 "Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory Working Papers SESL", Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory, 2012. -29 p.

The Caucasus and Central Asia. Course of lectures for social workers. It is aimed at assistance with practical work with migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus (Russian)

This brochure is part of the tutorial for social workers, who face with migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus during their practical work. The second part of this manual consists of a course of lectures. It describes geographical location of the regions, history of their relationship with Russia, religious and cultural traditions, moreover, the reasons of mass migration from Central Asia and the Caucasus after collapse of the Soviet Union including the armed conflicts. Special attention is paid to the status of women and traditions of upbringing children, because social workers communicate exactly with these groups mostly. 

The Caucasus and Central Asia. Course for social workers. Part 2. Aimed at assistance with practical work with migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus. / Ed. D.A. Alexandrov, V.V. Kostenko, E.D. Ponarin / Group of technical support for the issues of adequate labor and office of ILO for the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Saint-Petersburg branch of National Research University - Higher School of Economics. – Moscow: ILO, 2012. - ISBN 978-92-2-426371-2 

The Caucasus and Central Asia. Tutorial for social workers. General information about geography, culture and religion of migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus (Russian) 

This manual is designed for social workers who face with migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus during their practical work. It includes brief and accessible descriptions of cultural and religious specificity of those ethnic groups, which comprise the major part of migration flow to Russia. Moreover, there are modern theoretical concepts of migration and historical background of the link between regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia with Russia. Attached to this annual is information which can help a social worker in a specific situation, for instance, important contacts and juridical information about migrants’ legal status on the territory of the Russian Federation.

 The Caucasus and Central Asia. Tutorial for social workers. Part 1.  General information about geography, culture and religion of migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus. /  Ed. D.A. Alexandrov, V.V. Kostenko, E.D. Ponarin / Group of technical support for the issues of adequate labor and office of ILO for the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Saint-Petersburg branch of National Research University - Higher School of Economics. – Moscow: ILO, 2012. – ISBN 978-92-2-426369-9

Monitoring of the Situation of Migrant Children in St. Petersburg (Russian)

The research project washeld by SESL and commissioned by UNICEF and the Red Cross. The main result of the study is the finding that schools in St. Petersburg are very tolerant. None of the surveyed schoolchildren (study involved more than 600 respondents) ever faced xenophobia towards themselves, although many have heard about it. Children who are representatives of the majority are 'ethnically blind'. National identity of their friends is not important for them. Migrant children show tendency to make friends with other migrants, but they do not form mono-ethnic coalitions. The cause of such friendly relations is that children have a similar experience of migration.

D.A. Alexandrov, V.A. Ivaniushina, V.V. Kostenko, S.S.Savelyeva, K.A.Tenisheva. Monitoring of the Situation of Migrant Children in St. Petersburg / Moscow:  2012. 168 p. - ISBN 978-5-9903016-5-8

2011 

Children from Migrant Families at Schools of St. Petersburg (Russian)

The main topic of the brochure is adaptation of children from migrant families at school. The first results of a longitude research project “Migrant children at Russian schools” that collected data from 22 schools of St. Petersburg are represented in this brochure.This work covers several issues: ethnic composition of schoolchildren in St. Petersburg, school-parents relations, school – migrant children relations, strategies of adaptation in relation to the age when they immigrated into the country and various aspects of language adaptation. The method was based on network analysis of children interpersonal communication for evaluation of social exclusion and inclusion. The broshure is in Russian.

D.A. Alexandrov Children from Migrant Families at Schools of St. Petersburg: SESL's working papers / D.A. Alexandrov, V.A. Ivaniushina, V.V. Baranova.- St. Petersburg: 2011. - 100 p. - ISBN 978-5-7422-2901-8