scholarly journals Educational Transitions and Educational Inequality: A Multiple Pathways Sequential Logit Model Analysis of Finnish Birth Cohorts 1960–1985

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 700-719
Author(s):  
Juho Härkönen ◽  
Outi Sirniö
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Logit Model ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Weighted Sum ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Educational Stratification ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Educational Persistence

Abstract We developed a multiple pathways sequential logit model for analysing social background inequality in completed education and applied it to analyse educational inequality in Finland (birth cohorts 1960–1985). Our model builds on the sequential logit model for educational transitions, originally presented by Robert D. Mare and later extended by Maarten Buis, which disaggregates inequality in completed education into the weighted sum of inequalities in the transitions leading to it. Although the educational transitions framework is popular among educational stratification researchers, its applications have almost exclusively focused on analysing inequalities in separate educational transitions. Buis presented a unifying model of inequalities in educational transitions and completed education, which gives a substantive interpretation to the weights that link them. We applied this to an educational system in which the same educational outcomes can be reached through multiple pathways. Our analysis of Finnish register data shows that intergenerational educational persistence increased, particularly among women. The main reasons are increased inequality in academic upper-secondary (gymnasium) completion and gymnasium expansion that increased the weight of this transition as well as of the transition to university. We discuss the integration of structural and allocative mechanisms in educational stratification research.

Compensatory advantage in educational transitions

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Bernardi ◽  
Moris Triventi
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Transition From High School ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Simulated Scenario

In this article, first, we present new evidence on a specific type of compensatory advantage (CA) mechanism in educational transitions and attainment, whereby students from socio-economically advantaged families compensate the negative event of achieving poor grades by ignoring them and disproportionally moving on to the next level of education. Using two independent data sources, we focus on the attainment of an upper secondary degree and the transition from high school to university in Italy, investigating the role of parental education and social class in compensating for an early poor academic performance. Second, we develop a simulated scenario analysis to assess how much of the observed social background inequality is due to the educational outcomes of poorly performing students from high social backgrounds. The results are consistent with the notion that a CA mechanism is in place and show that the advantage of individuals with higher backgrounds over those from lower backgrounds is much larger among students with bad marks in earlier school stages. We estimate that at least one-third of the observed social background inequality in educational transitions in Italy can be attributed to the CA mechanism. This result is consistent across different outcomes, samples and birth cohorts, and is robust to a number of sensitivity checks.

scholarly journals Educational Inequality, Educational Expansion and Intergenerational Mobility

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
JO BLANDEN ◽  
LINDSEY MACMILLAN
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Educational Inequalities ◽  
Market Returns ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe distribution of education by social background and the mobility prospects of society are intimately connected. To begin to predict future trends in mobility in the UK we bring together evidence on educational inequality by family background for cohorts from 1958 to 2000 for a range of educational outcomes. There is evidence that educational inequalities have narrowed among recent cohorts as the overall level of educational achievement has increased. This could be promising for mobility provided the labour market returns to these qualifications are maintained. However, stubborn inequalities by background at higher attainment levels imply that narrowing inequalities and expanding equality of opportunity throughout the educational distribution is a difficult task.

scholarly journals Late-Stage Educational Inequality: Can Selection on Noncognitive Skills Explain Waning Social Background Effects?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Michael Smith ◽  
Eric Grodsky ◽  
John Robert Warren
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Family Of Origin ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
High School Completion ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
Noncognitive Skills ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
College Entry

Past research finds that the effect of socioeconomic origin on the probability of making educational transitions decreases for successively higher educational transitions, suggesting for example that one’s family of origin matters less for college entry than it does for high school completion. This pattern of waning effects could well be the result of selective attrition, since those of modest social origins who make a given transition may have unobserved characteristics, such as cognitive or noncognitive skills, that help them make the next transition, while better off individuals may be less steeply selected on these characteristics. I study a sample of American 10th graders from 1980 to assess how much the pattern of waning effects is due to selective attrition along academic and noncognitive skills for this cohort. I find that controlling for academic skills makes the effect of socioeconomic status more stable across transitions, but controlling for noncognitive skills does not. Socioeconomic advantage does not decline uniformly across transitions, and it appears most pronounced at the transition into college. These results do not support a claim that late transitions are egalitarian.

scholarly journals Expanding Inequality: Trends in Educational Stratification during China’s Market Transition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob J. Gruijters
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Market Transition ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Nationally Representative

This study looks at educational inequality in China, a country that has greatly expanded access to education in recent decades. It uses a sequential logit model to study the changing impact of family background on educational transitions and educational attainment, comparing birth cohorts that completed their schooling during different stages of the market transition process. Data are derived from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a large and nationally representative household survey that provides detailed retrospective information. The findings show that in reform-era China educational inequality has increased despite large-scale educational expansion. Since the onset of the market reforms the importance of social origin has continuously increased, particularly at the crucial transition to senior high school. I suggest that the resulting pattern of expanding inequality can be explained by a combination of market-based educational reforms, increasing returns to education and massive increases in wider social and economic inequality.

scholarly journals How does reserve capacity influences transition into upper secondary school among adolescent Finns?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Koivusilta ◽  
P Acacio-Claro ◽  
A Rimpelä
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Reserve Capacity ◽  
Upper Secondary School ◽  
Psychosocial Resources ◽  
Educational Inequalities ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Academic Placement ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Upper Secondary

Abstract Background Educational inequalities occur when differences in educational outcomes are more strongly related to students' background than their own academic efforts. During adolescence, psychosocial resources such as social support and self-efficacy, collectively termed “reserve capacity” may serve as a pathway to educational transitions and help reduce educational inequalities. We study how reserve capacity affects transition of adolescents into upper secondary school in terms of non-placement or placement into vocational or academic track. Methods We use data from 9th graders in 128 schools at the 14 municipalities of Helsinki Metropolitan region who participated in the MetLoFin follow-up survey in 2014 (n = 7,344 students). The data were linked with the national Joint Application Registry containing information on whether student was placed in academic (65%) or vocational (32%) track or had no placement (3%) for upper secondary schools. Multinomial logistic regression models, adjusted for sex and school, were fitted to analyse the effect of students' background and reserve capacity on type of educational placement. Results Students whose parents had low education were more likely to be in vocational than academic track compared to those whose parents had high education (OR = 2.5 95% CI: 2.1-3.0). Having a foreign background increased the risk of having no placement than academic placement (OR = 1.5 95% CI: 1.1-2.2) compared to native students. Low social support and low self-efficacy predicted vocational placement of students relative to academic track but not no placement compared to academic placement. Academic grades remained strongest predictor of placement. Conclusions Students' background still determine educational outcomes, but psychosocial resources could likely reduce educational inequalities and ensure successful educational transitions in adolescence. Key messages Social backgrounds impact adolescents’ educational transitions. Adding students’ psychosocial resources could reduce educational inequalities.

Do Well-off Families Compensate for Low Cognitive Ability? Evidence on Social Inequality in Early Schooling from a Twin Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos J. Gil-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Early Schooling ◽  
Academic Potential

This article bridges the literature on educational inequality between and within families to test whether high–socioeconomic status (SES) families compensate for low cognitive ability in the transition to secondary education in Germany. The German educational system of early-ability tracking (at age 10) represents a stringent setting for the compensatory hypothesis. Overall, previous literature offers inconclusive findings. Previous research between families suffers from the misspecification of parental SES and ability, while most within-family research did not stratify the analysis by SES or the ability distribution. To address these issues, I draw from the TwinLife study to implement a twin fixed-effects design that minimizes unobserved confounding. I report two main findings. First, highly educated families do not compensate for twins’ differences in cognitive ability at the bottom of the ability distribution. In the German system of early-ability tracking, advantaged families may have more difficulties to compensate than in countries where educational transitions are less dependent on ability. Second, holding parents’ and children’s cognitive ability constant, pupils from highly educated families are 27% more likely to attend the academic track. This result implies wastage of academic potential for disadvantaged families, challenging the role of cognitive ability as the leading criterion of merit for liberal theories of equal opportunity. These findings point to the importance of other factors that vary between families with different resources and explain educational success, such as noncognitive abilities, risk aversion to downward mobility, and teachers’ bias.

Multi-ethnic Girls' Social Positional Identities in Educational Transitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Solveig Roth ◽  
Dagny Stuedahl
Keyword(s):  
Case History ◽  
Figured Worlds ◽  
Educational Transitions ◽  
Gender Performativity ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
History Of ◽  
Life Trajectory ◽  
Ethnic Students ◽  
Societal Expectations ◽  
Gendered Expectations

In this article, we examine the case history of a young multi-ethnic Norwegian girl, whom we call Anna, from the age of 15 to 17 to show how her self-understanding of positionings within her educational transitions illustrates how gendered expectations in a Norwegian context influence girls’ future trajectories. We use the concepts of social positional identities in figured worlds and performativity to explore self-understanding. Anna’s case history illustrates how gender performativity comes about out of a complex web of family, school, and societal expectations. We discuss the tensions Anna experienced in her educational trajectory and the changes in her performative positioning when she entered upper secondary school. We consider the ways in which this had implications for her future life trajectory and offer suggestions to educators on how to understand and support the different learning trajectories of multi-ethnic students.

scholarly journals Social origin and educational attainment in China: a historical analysis of 70 birth cohorts

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Changchun Fang ◽  
Xiaotian Feng
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The impact of social origin on educational attainment is conditioned on the social context in which people live. In recent decades, with changes in the Chinese society, how has the impact of social origin on educational inequality changed? Based on an analysis of 70 birth cohorts, this study details the effect of social origin on educational inequality and its trends over the past 70 years. The results of this study also indicate that the historical stages hypothesis (HSH) and model-shift hypothesis (MSH) emphasized in previous studies cannot fully describe the historical changes in educational inequality. In addition to macrosocial processes, there may exist other structural factors that also affect educational inequality but are neglected. The social context and its transformation, which shaped the relationship between social origin and educational inequality, need to be examined in more detail.

scholarly journals Citizenship and Educational Attainment amongst the Second Generation: An Analysis of Children of Immigrants in Finland

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elina Kilpi-Jakonen
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Children Of Immigrants ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Intervening Variables

Citizenship acquisition is often viewed as an indicator of immigrant integration as well as an event that spurs integration further. Relatively little is know about the relationship between citizenship and integration for children of immigrants. This article examines the relationship between citizenship and educational attainment at approximately age 16 in Finland using register data. Results suggest that children of immigrants who are Finnish citizens have better educational outcomes than non-citizens, measured with three indicators of educational attainment. However, the Finnish citizens come from families with higher levels of educational and economic resources than non-citizens and this explains much of the relationship between citizenship and education. After controlling for intervening variables, second generation students with Finnish citizenship are found to be more likely to choose general rather than vocational upper secondary education compared to their peers who have another citizenship. It is argued that this reflects a difference in educational attitudes between the two groups.

The reproduction of educational elites through natural cultivation. A qualitative analysis of educational child-rearing practices as strategies of cultural distinction

Soziale Welt ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-83
Author(s):  
Tim Sawert
Keyword(s):  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

During the last decades, the socially inclusive educational expansion diluted the previous exclusiveness of upper secondary degrees. Unlike the UK, the USA, or France, no explicit “elite” institutions do exist in the German educational system. Nevertheless, educational inequality is no less pronounced. Hence, what child-rearing practices do educationally privileged families in Germany apply to intergenerationally transfer their social privilege in times of educational expansion? The article focusses on one such practice: the acquisition of humanist knowledge by learning Latin and Ancient Greek as a strategy of cultural distinction. To analyse educational strategies and whether people draw lines of distinction along knowledge in Latin and Ancient Greek, I conducted semi-structured interviews with parents of adolescents who had chosen different foreign language profiles. I show how the acquisition of this specific symbolic capital is embedded in a child-rearing practice aimed at obtaining horizontal educational distinction for a privileged academic class. Additionally, I show that the highly privileged status of particularly established academic families results in a child-rearing practice that I call natural cultivation, a more invisible strategy of distinctive child-rearing that appears almost passive compared to those already discussed more widely (e.g. Lareau 2003).

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