Changes in Nine-grade School Leavers’ Educational Trajectory Preferences

Larisa Yu. Bedareva – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow, Russia). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elena V. Lomteva – Leading Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor (Moscow, Russia). E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Research carried out by the Center for Economics of Continuous Education of the Institute of Applied Economic Studies, RANEPA has revealed that the share of nine-graders who leave school after passing a basic state exam (BSE) varies from 40% to 55% depending on a subject of the Russian Federation. Most school leavers are enrolled in secondary vocational education institutions (SVEI), but a certain portion of nine-graders stop studying at educational institutions (EI) of their regions with some school leavers moving to other regions to enter vocational training institutions. At the same time, plenty of nine-graders do not continue their studies, but start working, particularly, in the informal economy and there are also some who neither study, nor work.

Key words: nine-grade graduates, main state exam, secondary vocational education, educational establishments.

JEL-codes: I21, I24.