The aim of this paper is to highlight the concepts of private and alternative education, and their relationships and interactions. The focus is on the analysis of experiences regarding the work of private and alternative primary (compulsory) schools, with the emphasis on a wide range of practices implemented in particular central European countries in order to promote and implement the parental choice of school. The conclusion is that educational reforms in the region are conditioned by specific cultural characteristics of each country and its local communities. However, what most of them have in common is the fact that they regulated private education by law at the beginning of the transition. Also, the conclusion is that Serbia is still a...