Comparative Analysis of the Russian and Ukrainian Educational Policy in Area of Implementation State Exams in Post-Soviet Period

In this paper we consider the problem of the representation of the state exam objectives in education policy discourse in Russia and Ukraine. The starting point for the analysis was the question of society's attitudes towards examinations in Russia and Ukraine. Why were they so different under similar premises of their implementation? In this study, the method of critical discourse analysis was used for the model N. Fairclough. In the course of that were analyzed by legislation of Russia and Ukraine devoted to public examinations, the World Bank documents connected with the introduction of state exams, as well as interviews of Education Ministers of both countries. Additionally, content analysis was used based on an interview with the Ministers of Education. Thus it was analyzed statements regarding the formulation of exam goals. Representation examination goals were considered in the discourse of educational policy in the time period from 1999 to 2015. Talking about the conclusions, we can say that the representation of EGE and ZNO goals is closely related with the general political discourse in the country and the models of legitimation of the implementation of examinations. Representation goals in Ukraine is based on the a more pluralistic model of explanation, with a larger number of elements of the neoliberal discourse. That it is possible explain the absence of a rigid vertical of power, and a more democratic political system. The Russian representation of the transformed from initial model, the center of which was to provide the exam objectives as providing equal access to higher education and objective assessment, to the model, when the representation was built, based on the usefulness of the exam for the state. At the same time we see a change in the representation of EGE goals on the example of discursive practices in an interview with the Minister Dmitry Livanov, which leads to the conclusion that is redefining EGE goals.