Does More Schooling Lead to Less or More Inequality of Educational Opportunity?

Critical theories of education but also the dynamics of skill formation model predict that the education system reproduces educational inequalities. Contrary to this hypothesis, empirical studies comparing the change in inequalities in academic performance over the summer to the change in these inequalities during the school year, have argued that schooling reduces inequalities in educational performance. The present study sheds new light on the question whether schooling affects educational inequalities by analyzing a natural experiment, which induces exogenous variation in the length of schooling, and allows us to investigate the causal, long-term effects of the length of schooling on educational inequalities. Some German states moved the school start from spring to summer in 1966/1967. These states introduced two short school years, which were each three months shorter than regular school years. We use variation in the short school years across cohorts and states to estimate the causal effects of the length of schooling on inequalities in educational attainment using two German panel surveys. Less schooling due to the short school years did not affect inequalities in educational attainment. This finding runs counter to the results from the summer learning literature but also to the predictions of the dynamics of skill formation model and critical theories of education. We conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for our understanding of inequality of educational opportunity.

Regional Variation in Inequality of Educational Opportunity across Europe

A large body of literature documents cross-national variation in the level of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) among children from different social backgrounds. By contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the extent to which IEO varies within counties and across regions. On the basis of data from the European Social Survey, the authors map variation in IEO across regions in Europe and show that IEO varies substantially within counties. This visualization of the heterogeneity of IEO within European countries highlights the need for researchers and policy makers to extend the current focus on cross-national differences and to investigate and address IEO at the regional level. The visualization raises important questions with respect to the contours, causes, and consequences of cross-regional variation in IEO.

Inequality of Educational Opportunity – The Role of Performance and Choice

Equality of opportunity is a central aim in the political agenda of many nations, and political leaders consequently speak about the importance of reducing differences in educational attainment between young persons from differing social origins. Such differences are apparent at two educational steps – the transition from compulsory school to upper secondary and at the transition from upper secondary school to tertiary institutions. Both steps have to be considered if the interest lies in attainment of university degrees, since the outcome at the first transition affects that at the second. Differences in educational attainment by parental origin appear through two separate mechanisms. Children from higher origins tend to perform better at school than other children, and consequently they more than others continue to higher educational levels. However, also among children who did perform equally well, children from more advantaged origins more often than other children choose to continue to higher and more academically oriented tracks. Children of immigrants tend to perform less well at school than native-born children, but given performance, they tend more than the native-born to choose to continue in academically oriented school tracks.

Intergenerational Mobility and Social Fluidity in France over Birth Cohorts and Across Age

Using the 1970, 1977, 1985, 1993, and 2003 Formation et Qualification Professionnelle (INSEE) surveys, this chapter analyzes how intergenerational social mobility and social fluidity have evolved in France for men and women born between 1906 and 1973. It demonstrates that the statistical association between class of origin and class of destination has become weaker in recent cohorts than in older ones, and also that the same association diminishes with age, i.e., along the occupational career. It demonstrates that change in education has played a key role in the process of increasing social fluidity. In the 1945–54 cohort, the reduction in inequality of educational opportunity is the main factor and the educational expansion is the secondary factor for explaining the reduction of the association between class of origin and class of destination, but the relative importance of these two factors is reversed in the 1955–64 and 1965–73 cohorts.