Rural Community Education as Inspiration for Post-Soviet Space

Abstract

The paper deals with the concept of community education and its possible application in post-Soviet as well as post-communist space. The main research question of the paper is: What are the objective and subjective conditions and barriers for successful establishment of community education in rural areas of post-Soviet countries, which have similar conditions as other post-communist states? From this research it is possible to conclude that Rural Community Schools should be established upon fulfilment of certain objective conditions, such as geographic location and accessibility: the Community School should meet the selected educational needs of the residents of the catchment area; demographic structure of the population showing the parameters of the target population’s education; and potential participation given by the existence of a local school and local societies – the Community School works towards the final solution of creating local partnerships. Some subjective barriers to the development of Community Schools also exist. This starts (at macro-level) with support of their existence by the general legislative and promotional framework as a basis of cooperation between the Ministry of Education and local and regional development authorities and should continue (at mezzo-level) with support from decentralised government authorities and self-government authorities.