School Educational Ecosystems in Territories with Complicated Context: the Way of Keeping Population

This paper examines the concept of school educational ecosystem from its theoretical understanding to comparison with real practices of Russian schools. Representations and discussions about the educational ecosystem often appear in the public agenda, in the media, in the priorities of educational policy, or in discussions about the importance of network interaction between educational and socio-cultural institutions. However, it is not entirely clear if the discussion of the ecosystem approach is directly applicable to the reality of Russian education. The paper focuses on understanding how the interaction between schools and the external environment is organised in different territories, and can it be called an ecosystem? A separate perspective focuses on the characteristics of such interaction and the differences between territorial cases depending on contextual conditions. For the analysis, a theoretical literature review was made around the concept of "educational ecosystem": the origins of the phenomenon, its definition, properties and characteristics, goals and objectives. Examples of interaction between educational organisations that exist in Russia today are given. An attempt is made to theoretically conceptualise one of the varieties of educational ecosystems - the school ecosystem. The empirical part uses data collected in three territories as part of the expeditions of the HSE University. The practical part of the study includes analyses of school practices in territories with a complex context that includes special socio-economic, climatic and geographical conditions; comparison of territorial cases; identification of characteristics that correspond to the concept of "educational ecosystem"; conclusions about the influence of contextual conditions on school practices.