Позитивные изменения. Образование. Школа будущего (Тематический выпуск, 2022)/Positive changes. Education. The school of the future (Special issue, 2

Some of the examples of private investments in school education are more of a social business, while others are more of a social impact, contributing to the development of the school system. The business model underlying the school’s model also depends on this — in some places it is on the border of break-even, and in other schools it makes a high-margin business.

The financial model of the school can be socio-entrepreneurial at the choice of the investor (which does not involve making a profit, but has at its core a mechanism for financial sustainability). That is, when the cost of education and income from other types of services cover the existing costs, and profits are invested in the expansion of the project. Another option is the subsidized model (involving regular investment) or the classic business model (maximization of profit generated by the investor).

And while choosing a financial model is not that difficult since this is a common task for any business, everything is much more complicated with educational model.

STRATEGIES FOR CHOOSING EDUCATIONAL MODELS

Who can invest in general secondary education? For example, a developer of residential projects with an obligation to build social infrastructure facilities. Or any other investor who considers it important to achieve social change (impact) in this very area, interested in maximizing the social effect of the investment and focused on choosing a model that will achieve this goal.

Let us consider the options for choosing strategies for investment for the second type of investors, i.e. those who aim to make a meaningful contribution to changing the school system — in the neighborhood, in a particular community, in the country or in the world.

1. EDUCATIONAL FRANCHISE

The first thing that comes to mind when choosing an educational model is to focus on something that is already working successfully and stably and provides a guaranteed or at least «time-tested» option. As our study showed, there are not many proposals on the market, especially if you take local projects created in Russia and following the Federal State Education Standards (or generally assuming certification by the standards of Russian school education).

Some of the examples of private investments in school education are more of a social business, while others are more of a social impact.

The most «popular» franchise option is the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Many private schools and impact-investment projects follow the path of buying a foreign franchise. The great advantage of this option is that graduates can enter many universities around the world without additional exams, using only the results of the IB program certification. In fact, the creation of this global continuity of school and university education, regardless of the country where general secondary education is received, is the basic idea of the International Baccalaureate. A nice addition is also the availability of developed program components not only for elementary, middle, and high school, but also for kindergarten.

The main disadvantages of this model are, first, the lack of continuity between the International Baccalaureate and the basic program of Russian schools. A child who has studied, say, in a secondary school under the IB program, will find it very difficult to return to the space of a school relying on the Federal State Education Standards (FSES) — there is no correspondence between the programs even at the subject level. In addition, only two Russian universities accept IB results. This together means that this educational model involves a "one-way trip" (without the possibility of returning to a school that relies on the FSES) and, apparently, only in the direction of getting a higher education abroad.