Types of Alternative Schools in Russia: Trends and Characteristics

The increasing demand of parents for other formats of education has given a new impetus to the development of alternative education in Russia. The lack of a unified approach to the definition of “alternative education”, and the strict regulation of the Russian education system with regard to programs and the results of their mastering and in this regard it is necessary to define what it means to be an “alternative school”. The purpose of this article is to determine the essential characteristics that characterize alternative schools and to assess the degree of compliance of existing educational institutions that identify themselves as “alternative” with these characteristics. The main methods of research are analysis of scientific literature, phenomenological analysis, semi-structured interviews with school leaders. There are educational organizations positioning themselves as “alternative schools” in the market of educational services. The research sample includes schools in St. Petersburg, which were examined for their alternativeness in terms of the identified characteristics.