Introduction. The quality of education in Russia is considered one of the national development goals of the country for the period up to 2030. To manage the personnel training quality, a standardised assessment system is needed that allows identifying the degree of results achievement and promptly adjusting development strategies taking into account the labour market requirements.
Aim: to describe the trends and regional features of the development of new practices for assessing the training quality of VET-programmes graduates in the observation period of 2022–2024.
Methods. The methods of generalisation, comparison and contrast, analysis of time series of indicators, descriptive analytics, methods of mathematical statistics and graphical presentation of information were used. Information sources: data from the statistical reporting forms of the Federal Statistical Observation SPO-1 and SPO-Monitoring.
Results. It was revealed that over a 3-year observation interval, all Russian regions increased (on average by 11 percentage points) the relative number of VET programmes graduates who passed the final certification using a demonstration exam (DE). However, as before, in Russia as a whole, less than half of VET programmes graduates participate in the assessment of the training quality in the form of DE (in 2024 – 34,5 %), while the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are significantly differentiated by this indicator. Statistical analysis revealed a marked shift of assessment scores toward higher values, attributable to the violation of the unified scales principle for the transition from “raw” points to assessment on a 5-point scale.
Scientific novelty. The trends in the development of a system for external assessment of the VET programmes graduates using standardised DE-mechanisms in the Russian regions are identified. It is established that federal and regional executive authorities in the education field currently lack reliable tools for diagnosing the vocational education quality achieved in the regions.
Practical significance. The obtained data will make it possible to adjust the regulations and methods for conducting the DE. This will allow its results to be used as an effective monitoring tool for managing the training quality in regional VET systems, enabling prompt adjustments and minimising the risks of failing to achieve vocational education goals in response to changing labour market requirements.