scholarly journals The Evolution of Educational Expectations in Spain (2003-2018): An Analysis of Social Inequality Using PISA

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Manuel Tomás Valdés
Keyword(s):  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Educational Expectations ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Secondary

This paper examines the educational expectations of the Spanish student body at the end of compulsory education. Using the 2003 and 2018 waves of PISA, I report a remarkable increase in the educational ambition of the Spanish student body. Two aspects are worth noting. Firstly, virtually all 15-years-old students expect to enroll in Upper Secondary Education by 2018. Secondly, Higher Vocational Education has become a very appealing alternative at tertiary level. Furthermore, significant inequalities have been documented in the configuration of educational expectations. However, inequality has been reduced in the expectations of enrolment in Upper Secondary and Tertiary Education due to the higher educational ambition among socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In turn, inequality has increased in the horizontal expectation of enrolment in the academic track in both levels because a larger share of socioeconomically disadvantaged students preferred the vocational track in 2018 (diversion thesis). Using counterfactual analysis, I have observed that this increase in horizontal inequality would have been larger had it not been for the change in the social structure between 2003 and 2018

Ethnic choice effects at the transition into upper-secondary education in Switzerland

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasper Dag Tjaden ◽  
Katja Scharenberg
Keyword(s):  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Ethnic Inequality ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
University Admission ◽  
Immigrant Background ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Academic Tracks ◽  
Immigrant Optimism

Compared to natives, students with immigrant background are – other things being equal – more likely to choose academic tracks over vocational education and training (VET) at upper-secondary level. Evidence of so-called ethnic choice effects is mostly based on education systems where vocational tracks are often regarded as ‘unfavourable’. Our study investigated ethnic choice effects at the end of compulsory school in Switzerland, a country with a strong VET sector offering competitive incentives, particularly for students with lower or average achievement. Based on longitudinal data from the ‘Transitions from Education to Employment’ (TREE) survey, we found that most migrant groups were more likely to choose academic-track pathways preparing for university admission over VET preparing more directly for employment. Nested logistic regression analyses revealed that a large share of these ethnic choice effects was explained by immigrant optimism. Our findings shed light on general educational decision-making processes among migrant families and their potential consequences for ethnic inequality in post-compulsory education.

scholarly journals The social class gap in bachelor’s and master’s completion: university dropout in times of educational expansion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens-Peter Thomsen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Bachelor's Degree ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Educational Expansion ◽  
Master's Level ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
University Dropout

While many papers have focused on socially unequal admissions in higher education, this paper looks at the persistence of class differentials after enrolment. I examine the social class gap in bachelor’s programme dropout and in the transition from bachelor’s to master’s in Denmark from the formal introduction of the bachelor’s degree in 1993 up to recent cohorts. Using administrative data, I find that the class gap in bachelor’s departures has remained constant from 1993 to 2006, with disadvantaged students being around 15 percentage points more likely to leave a bachelor’s programme than advantaged students, even after adjusting for other factors such as grades from upper secondary school. Importantly, the class gap reappears at the master’s level, with privileged students being more likely to pursue a master’s degree than less privileged students. The size of the class gap is remarkable, given that this gap is found among a selected group of university enrolees. As other studies have found that educational expansion in higher education is not necessarily a remedy for narrowing the class gap in educational attainment, scholars need to pay more attention to keeping disadvantaged students from leaving higher education.

Academic and Vocational Tracking in Upper Secondary Education

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Lessard-Phillips ◽  
Yaël Brinbaum ◽  
Anthony Heath
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
High Status ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Academic Tracks

This chapter focuses on students who continue in full-time education after compulsory schooling and asks whether minority students are disproportionately channelled into lower-status vocational tracks and are excluded from the high-status academic tracks which lead to higher education. The picture that emerges is of distinct patterns in different sets of countries. In Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, minority groups are less likely to follow the academic track, but this under-representation can be entirely explained by their disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and relatively low grades in lower secondary school. However, in a second group of countries – England and Wales, Finland, France and Sweden –most minorities are in fact more likely to follow the academic track than their majority-group peers from similar socioeconomic backgrounds and with similar grades. The indications are that comprehensive systems offer greater opportunities for minority students to fulfil their ambitions than do tracked educational systems.

scholarly journals Different systems, same inequalities? Post-compulsory education and young adults’ literacy in 18 OECD countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 332-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Borgna
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
The Social

Education is increasingly seen as a substitute for social policy, but opportunities for skill development vary by social background and educational institutions are not neutral in this respect. While previous research has extensively examined how schooling affects skills distribution, the role of post-compulsory education has been long overlooked. Using data from the 2011/2012 Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competences, this article investigates how selected features of upper secondary and tertiary education are connected to the social stratification of young adults’ literacy skills in 18 OECD countries. First, I use individual-level regressions to assess the extent to which disparities in the skills of 24- to 29-year-old individuals are explained by parental education in each country. Second, I apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis across countries to investigate under which institutional conditions the social stratification of young adults’ literacy skills is most severe. The findings point to the existence of functionally equivalent education regimes: young adults face severe disparities not only in socially selective higher education systems but also in relatively open systems characterized by institutional differentiation; moreover, disparities arising during compulsory schooling are consequential for the skill distribution of young adults, underscoring the importance of a life-course approach to education policies.

scholarly journals Making pathways? A mixed methods analysis of young women who have left school early in ‘the new work order’

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-653
Author(s):  
Signe Ravn ◽  
Brendan Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
New Work ◽  
Present Climate ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods ◽  
Shed Light

Much research has investigated how young women with tertiary education fare in contemporary labour markets and pointed to persistent gender inequalities. However, very little is known about how young women who leave school early fare in the present climate. In this article we shed light on the challenges facing these women in the ‘new work order’. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative methods, we investigate how young Australian women who have left school before completing upper secondary education fare, and how they make choices regarding education and work as they envision their futures. Our analyses reveal a perceived and real tension between education and ‘real’ experience in the labour market. This leaves young women without upper secondary qualifications in a difficult position when making decisions about their futures.

scholarly journals Project Based Learning in Literature: The Teacher’s New Role and the Development of Student’s Social Skills in Upper Secondary Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Despoina Styla ◽  
Aikaterini Michalopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Project Method ◽  
Methodological Triangulation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Secondary

<p>The present research examines the project method, as it is met at the new curriculum of literature in the first Grade of Greek high schools and the effectiveness of it and of the teacher’s role at the development of social skills, of students with low level. At first it is made an effort to measure that level at the beginning of the literature lessons, by giving to 381 students a questionnaire to answer about themselves and to their 13 teachers a questionnaire to answer about their student’s social skills. The investigation was made with methodological triangulation. We observed at the beginning and at the end of the semester the 42 students who were found to have low level of social skills. Also we interviewed their 13 teachers about the way they organized their lessons. Moreover we interviewed the 42 students about the role of their teachers and if the teachers helped them to increase their social skills. At the end of the semester we gave the same questionnaire both to the 42 students and their teachers (post-tests). The comparison of the pre and post tests and the data processing of the observations and the interviews, show an increase of student’s social skills. Those results are important because of the following reasons: first of all the majority of the investigations examine the results of project method at the “territory” of cognition and not at the “territory” of social skills and secondly the majority of the investigations focuse on the social skills of disabled children.</p>

Extracurricular School Activities: The Good, the Bad, and the Nonlinear

2002 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Marsh ◽  
Sabina Kleitman
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequality ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Threshold Model ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽  
Government School ◽  
Reduction Model ◽  
School Activities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Model Predictions

In this article, Herbert W. Marsh and Sabina Kleitman examine the effects of participation in extracurricular school activities (ESAs) on grade-twelve and postsecondary outcomes (e.g., school grades, coursework selection, homework, educational and occupational aspirations, self-esteem, freedom from substance abuse,number of university applications, subsequent college enrollment, and highest educational level). Their analyses are grounded in three theoretical models: the threshold model, the identification/commitment model, and the social inequality gap reduction model. They find that, consistent with the threshold model predictions, there were some small nonlinear ESA effects — monotonic increases over most of the ESA range, but diminishing returns for extremely high levels of ESA. Consistent with identification/commitment model predictions, school-based ESAs were more beneficial than out-of-school activities, and the most beneficial ESAs included both nonacademic(sports, student government, school publications, and performing arts)and academic activities. Finally, consistent with the social inequality gap reduction model predictions (as well as the identification/commitment model), ESAs benefited socioeconomically disadvantaged students as much or more than advantaged students. In summary, the authors' findings support the conclusion that ESAs foster school identification/commitment that benefits diverse academic outcomes, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are least well served by the traditional educational curriculum.

scholarly journals Adult Vocational Qualifications Reduce the Social Gradient in Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Bernt Bratsberg ◽  
Torgeir Nyen ◽  
Oddbjørn Raaum
Keyword(s):  
Parental Education ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Vocational Qualifications ◽  
Early School ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Lower Education ◽  
Alternative Routes

Many youth leave school early without an upper secondary education, impeding their chances in the labor market. Early school leavers come disproportionately from families with low parental education. In some countries, there are alternative routes to upper secondary qualifications as adults. Does adult attainment reduce initial social differences in educational attainment, or does it reinforce such differences? Norway is one of the countries where many attain upper secondary qualifications in adulthood. Using individual data from administrative registers, we follow five Norwegian birth cohorts (1973–1977) from age 20 to 40. We document that the association between parental education and upper secondary completion declines monotonically with age, ending at age 40 about 35% below that at age 20. We also document that the alternative routes to adult qualifications recruit students of different family backgrounds. In particular, adults who acquire vocational qualifications via the experience-based route come from families with lower education than other groups. Our evidence suggests that institutions that offer opportunities for certifying qualifications acquired at work mitigate social gradients, fostering more equal opportunities within the education system.

Two Functions of Peer Influence on Upper-secondary Education Application Behavior

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Rosenqvist
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Peer Influence ◽  
Educational Decisions ◽  
Family Effects ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Application Behavior ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Mediating Factor ◽  
Point Of Reference

Peers have a paradoxical influence on each other’s educational decisions. On one hand, students are prone to conform to each other’s ambitious educational decisions and, on the other hand, are discouraged from ambitious decisions when surrounded by successful peers. In this study I examine how peers influence each other’s decision to apply to an academic track in upper-secondary education through these two functions of peer influence. The results show that students are more likely to conform to their in-group peers. However, discouraging effects are structured differently, whereby expectations about self- and peer achievement seem to be a mediating factor. This suggests that the point of reference varies with the mechanism mediating interpersonal influence together with characteristics of both peers and egos. The analysis benefits from rich population registers covering 13 full cohorts of Swedish students, facilitating controls for several sources of endogeneity, such as unobserved time-constant school and family effects.

scholarly journals Comprehensive School and Vocational Training in Spain. A Longitudinal Approach from the Transition from Lower to Upper Secondary Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Rafael Merino ◽  
Ona Valls ◽  
Albert Sánchez-Gelabert
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Education ◽  
Young People ◽  
Education System ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Social Bias ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
The Social

Fitting vocational training into the Spanish education system has been challenging and problematic because two objectives are trying to be fulfilled; the first to supply skills for the productive system and the second to be an alternative option for the young people who do not follow the academic track. Moreover, the political vicissitudes of recent decades have added to the difficulties involved in balancing these requirements. In Spain, both the economic agents and the education system itself with its academic inertia have relegated vocational training to a subordinate position, able to attract mainly young people with lower academic achievement and largely rejected by families with a higher educational level. The assumption was that the introduction of a comprehensive secondary education in the 1990s would provide parity between the academic and the vocational tracks. However, the comprehensive nature of this system was not fully applied, with students in many schools separated by ability levels, and in fact having little impact on the social bias of the students choosing vocational training. The empirical contribution of this study is based on a survey carried out among 2056 students from Barcelona in their last year of compulsory secondary education in 2013–14 and who continued in full-time education, be it baccalaureate or vocational training. The main result shows that comprehensive education improves school success and decreases the vocational orientation of students from low social backgrounds.

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