Education Law Laboratory

Moscow City Pedagogical University Hosted an International Scientific and Practical Conference on the Rights of Parents and Family Education in Russia and Abroad

On May 17, 2018, the international scientific and practical conference on the rights of parents and family education in Russia and abroad was held in the main building of the Moscow City Pedagogical University. Representatives of the USA, Brazil, Great Britain, Kenya, China, Colombia, Mexico, and others spoke at the conference.

“If we compare the Russian regulation of family education with foreign practices, we see that we adhere to a very liberal model. All the homeschoolers' needs are to apply for training in this form of training and undergo a midterm assessment at any school or specialized organization. We do not require a confirmation from parents whether they are able to organize education at home properly, we do not have requirements for pedagogical education of parents, hiring tutors, there are no inspectors who come and check whether the child is studying at home and whether he has textbooks. The child must be accepted for assessment in any school and any child with any developmental disorders can be transferred to family education.

More than 8,000 children study to get a family education in Russia. However, no one collects and analyzes information about what kind of children they are, why they study in a family form, what difficulties they face, how they go throw assessments. We go by the problems and pitfalls of family education based on the appeals of parents and teachers to us. These problems are associated with the absence of compensation for family education in most regions (and this is the case with the per capita financing system), “squeezing” of children from large families and children with health problems, biased (and too simplified) assessment in the family form of education”.