Research Papers

Overview of EDUC publications

• Applying the ISCED–97 to the German educational qualifications
  Schneider, S.L.
  Abstract | Download
  in Schneider, Silke L. (Ed.) 2008: The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-97). An Evaluation of Content and Criterion Validity for 15 European Countries. Mannheim: MZES, chapter 3 (76-102). http://www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/buch_d.php?tit=isced97.html
• Assessing the cumulative impact of primary and secondary effects on the way from elementary to tertiary education. A simulation study for Germany
  Schindler, S.
  Abstract | Download
  The distinction of primary and secondary effects of social background on educational attain-ment, which has been introduced by Boudon (1974), has received a lot of attention recently. Primary effects are influences of social background on school performance and secondary effects are influences of social background on educational decisions even if performance is held constant. Erikson et al. (2005) have provided a method to empirically evaluate the impact of primary and secondary effects at educational transitions. In this paper I draw on this method and extend it to a sequential consideration of transitions from elementary school to higher education enrolment in Germany. Furthermore, I provide an example of how different data sources can be combined for this purpose when biographical data on educational careers is absent. Following the primary and secondary effects framework I simulate the cumulative impact of interventions at different branching points of the education system and evaluate the counterfactual outcomes against the factual situation. The results reveal that interventions at early branching points are more effective than late interventions. They suggest further that measures that are targeted at reducing primary effects are effective in retaining performance levels but only moderately effective in increasing educational participation rates. Measures that are targeting at a reduction of secondary effects are effective in increasing participation rates but lead to a devaluation of performance levels.
• Benefits and Costs of Vocational Education and Training
  Müller, W.
  Abstract | Download
  Vocational education and training (VET) has grown in many countries in recent decades. According to Eurostat statistics, more students take part in vocational than general/academic upper secondary education tracks in Europe. And yet, the discussions about the benefits of such programmes are highly controversial. The European Commission and their advisers hold that Vocational Education and Training is vital for Europe‘s future competitiveness and innovation. The Commission sees it as an essential part of its education policy and tries to push Member States to strengthen the provision of VET.1 Others, in contrast, argue: Europe has too much vocational training at the expense of general education. Vocational education was appropriate for the manufacturing age, but with the scientific, technological and communication revolution since then, jobs have become more knowledge intensive; they require more analytical and communication skills. In this new world, education with an emphasis on general competences is more efficient than vocational qualifications that are too narrow and too specific. Krüger and Kumar (2004) explicitly conclude that it is because of the now outdated emphasis on vocational education in Europe that up to the 1970s Europe had similar or higher economic growth rates than the US while since then the rates of growth in Europe are smaller than in the US. What is the evidence of benefits and costs of VET that gives rise to such contrary assessment? In this contribution, two issues are addressed. First, what do we know about the individual and social returns to VET on the labour market? Second, what is the contribution of VET to educational and social inequality? Needless to say: both issues are crucial. To relate them is interesting because benefits and costs in the two dimensions might differ. Various other aspects of VET must be neglected, such as how different forms of education might influence competences of individuals in everyday life, or their values, attitudes, civil engagement or political participation; also the pedagogical questions, such as whether the direct application of the teaching content in practice facilitates learning. Do students understand an idea or problem more easily when it is taught in connection with practical application rather than in an abstract theoretical way or are students motivated to try harder when they see the immediate practical utility. Also, the focus will be on initial education and training and neglect recurrent education in later stages of life.
• Can the Teacher’s Gender Explain the 'Boy Crisis' in Educational Attainment?
  Neugebauer, M., Helbig, M., Landmann, A.
  Abstract | Download
  Trend statistics reveal a striking reversal of a gender gap that has once favoured males: girls have surpassed boys in many aspects of the educational system. At the same time, the share of female teachers has grown in almost all countries of the western world. There is an ongoing, contentious debate on whether the gender of the teacher can account, in part, for the growing educational disadvantage of males. Findings have been mixed, so the issue remains unresolved. In this study, we use large-scale data from IGLU-E, an expansion of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in Germany, to estimate whether there is a causal effect of having a same-sex teacher on student outcomes. The students in the sample were tested and interviewed at the end of fourth grade and have been taught by the same teacher for at least 2 years up to 4 years. This is a major advantage, because it can be assumed that substantial teacher-gender effects only occur after a certain time of exposure to a same-sex or other-sex teacher. We estimate effects for typical ‘female’ subjects and typical ‘male’ subjects as well as for different student outcomes (‘gender-blind’ test scores and more subjective teacher’s grades). We find virtually no evidence of a benefit from having a same-sex teacher, neither for boys nor for girls. These findings suggest that the popular call for more male teachers in primary school is not the key to tackle the growing disadvantage of boys.
• Career mobility in Italy: a growth curves analysis of occupational attainment
  Barone, C. (Trento university), Lucchini, M. (Bicocca university), Schizzerotto, A. (Trento university)
  Abstract | Download
  This work analyzes the evolution of career mobility in Italy over the 20th century. First, we want to quantify the amount of career mobility and to identify the main flows between occupational classes across different birth cohorts. It is well-known that career mobility is generally low in Italy, but here we want to assess whether it is at least increasing over time. Our second research issue concerns the relationship between intra- and intergenerational mobility. We will assess whether the influence of family background and of educational qualifications on occupational attainment is confined to labor market entry or extends to work-life mobility. As mentioned above, it is well-documented that social origins display a marked influence on entry class and that this influence is largely, though not exclusively, mediated by educational attainment, but what happens to this initial allocation? Does it become more or less unequal over the life course with regard to the conditioning of social origins, and what is the role of education in this respect? In other words, our concern is whether individuals originating from the upper classes benefit from any additional advantage in the occupational attainment process other than that ensured by their parents at the beginning of their careers. Our third research question connects the previous two. In other words, the relationship between origins, education and career progression will be studied across different birth cohorts, in order to assess whether changing dynamics of career mobility contribute to a greater or lower social openness of the Italian society.
• Change in the social selection to upper secondary school – primary and secondary effects in Sweden
  Erikson, R., Rudolphi, F.
  Abstract | Download
  Inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) depends on two separate mechanisms: children from advantaged social backgrounds perform better at school – primary effects – and tend more than others to choose to continue in education – secondary effects. IEO in the transition from compulsory to upper secondary education has earlier been shown to have decreased in Sweden since the middle of the 20th century. In the present paper we investigate whether this change can be accounted for by changing primary or secondary effects, or perhaps by both. The analysis is based on longitudinal data for six cohorts of children, the oldest born in 1948 and the youngest in 1982. Primary and secondary effects are separated both by grade point averages and cognitive test results. The estimation of the effects is based on the comparison of actual and counterfactual transitions among children from different social classes. Results show that the decrease in IEO overall seems to be related to corresponding changes in the primary and secondary effects, that is, we do not find that either of the two effects has been crucial for this observed decrease. Secondary effects are greater when the separation is based on cognitive ability tests rather than grades and we end by discussing the consequences of this observation for the separation of primary and secondary effects.
• Changing Labour Market Outcomes and their Impact on Postsecondary Educational Decisions in Germany
  Reimer, David
  Abstract | Download
  This paper explores to what extent changes in outcomes to tertiary compared to vocational training qualifications in Germany influence educational decisions of students that are eligible to enrol in tertiary education. The core hypothesis of the paper is that students from different social backgrounds should react differently to changes in returns on education. To this end, a unique dataset consisting of large scale surveys of university qualified students from the German Higher Education Information System Institute is used. The surveys were conducted at five different points in time between 1983 and 2004. All analyses are run separately for men and woman and average state unemployment and income ratios for tertiary degree holders and apprenticeship graduates for each survey year were matched to the micro data to assess the effect of changes in labour market outcomes on educational decisions. Contrary to many previous findings, the results of the paper suggest that variations in relative income ratios do not seem to affect educational decisions of school leavers while variation in unemployment seems to have significant effects on postsecondary decisions for women only. Furthermore, female students from lower class backgrounds seem to be more responsive to changes in unemployment ratios than their higher class peers.
• Clerics die, doctors survive - A note on death risks among highly educated professionals
  Erikson, R., Torssander, J.
  Abstract | Download
  Aims The death rate of medical doctors was one of the highest among the professions in England in the late 19th century, while the death rate of the clergy was the lowest. We here present relative death risks of clerics, doctors and other educational groups in Sweden today, and make a comparison to 19th-century England. Methods Relative death risks from Cox regressions are reported for 12 occupational or educational groups in the ages 30-64. Results Those with a theological exam show higher risks of dying during the follow-up period compared to others with a similar educational level. On the other hand, medical doctors have relatively low death risks, although professors in medicine deviate by having high risks. Professors in other subjects experience the lowest death risks of all identified groups. Conclusions The death risk pattern among clerics and doctors seems to be reversed in present-day Sweden compared to England a hundred years ago. This may reflect changes in working conditions as well as the prestige of the occupations. Keywords: Mortality, occupations, education, health inequality
• Confusing Credentials: The Cross-Nationally Comparable Measurement of Educational Attainment
  Schneider, S.L.
  Abstract | Download
  The quality of educational attainment measures lies at the heart of many cross-national micro-sociological research projects and inter- national education statistics. This study aims at validating cross-nationally comparable measures of educational attainment, among which are the International Standard Classification of Education 1997 (ISCED 97) and years of education. Following a conceptual discussion of what educational attainment means, the most common ways of measuring educational attainment cross-nationally as well as previous evaluations thereof are reviewed. Then, the implementation of ISCED 97 in cross-national surveys is examined by looking at both the resulting educational attainment distributions in three European surveys as well as the data generation and harmonisation process. Finally, a number of cross-national measures of educational attainment are compared with country-specific measures with respect to their information content by firstly examining the dispersion of educational attainment, and secondly the predictive power when explaining the core social stratification outcomes, occupational status and social class attainment, by educational attainment. The main results of the study are that the measurement of educational attainment in cross-national surveys is affected by a number of avoidable weaknesses which adversely affect the validity of claims based on analyses of these data: 1. Countries and surveys are inconsistent in the way they measure educational attainment and apply ISCED 97 to national data; and 2. actual years of education and the one-digit version of ISCED 97 distort measures of association to differing degrees in different countries, making cross-national comparisons using these measures highly problematic. Therefore, some amendments to the implementation of ISCED 97 in cross-national surveys and coding for statistical analyses are proposed. As part of the latter, an alternative simplification of ISCED 97, optimised for European survey research, is developed and validated. Moreover, suggestions for data collection procedures are made to improve the measurement of educational attainment nationally and cross-nationally.
• Differentiation and Social Selectivities in Higher Education in Germany
  Schindler, Steffen and Reimer, David
  Abstract | Download
  In this paper we investigate social selectivities in access to higher education in Germany and, unlike most previous studies, explicitly devote attention to semi-tertiary education such as the universities of cooperative education. Drawing on rational choice models of educational decisions we seek to understand which factors influence upper secondary graduates from different social backgrounds in their choices of diverse tertiary institutions in Germany.
• Does Horizontal Differentiation Make Any Difference ? Heterogeneity of Educational Degrees and the Labour Market Entry in Poland.
  Baranowska, Anna
  Abstract
  The Polish education system has recently undergone a number of reforms leading to substantial expansion and differentiation of tertiary sector. New forms of higher education institutions have been introduced, which have lower entrance requirements and provide shorter and less intensive study programmes. In parallel, there was no clear strategy for reforming the VET system, the role of the state in supporting cooperation between vocational schools and employers declined and currently only few students can receive firm-based training. These developments call for detailed examination of labour market outcomes of graduates, who currently obtain different degrees within Polish education system. This paper provides the first evidence on the timing of entry into employment, the job quality and duration among young people, who obtained different degrees in Polish education system. The results of this study show that graduates from vocational schools, who participated in firm-based training, have significantly higher transition rate of entry into first job than graduates who completed the same type of school, but received school-based training only. The divergence in occupational status and job duration within group of graduates from vocational schools with and without firm-based training is much more limited, though. The results of this study suggest pronounced differentiation of employment chances among graduates with tertiary education. The graduates from the traditional, most selective and challenging study programmes constitute the most advantaged group in terms of all labour market outcomes. Although young people, who obtained ‘second tier’ tertiary education degrees have advantage over graduates with secondary education, their chances are clearly inferior as compared with graduates from traditional higher education institutions.
• Does Student Employment Account for Inequality in Academic Outcomes? Evidence from Italian Higher Education
  Triventi, M., Trivellato, P.
  Abstract | Download
  The relation between higher education and work has been extensively studied by sociologists and economists. While most of these research focus on the work after higher education, less attention has been devoted to the experience of working during higher education. Interest in this topic is growing in the United States and Great Britain because of the rising costs of attending higher education. Up to now, research on this topic has obtained contradictory results. In Italy the topic has not been so widely analysed despite its relevance. The importance of this issue relies on several considerations. First, employment during university studies is quite spread regardless of low tuition fees and the small number of students who study far from home. Second, there is not a formal distinction between full-time and part-time students and there are no part-time courses for adult learners and for employees. Third, the amount of drop-outs and graduations behind schedule is very high and it has been raising quickly in the youngest cohorts. Fourth, still nowadays there are inequalities in the rates of graduation among different social categories. Thus it is interesting to understand whether and to what extent students’ employment affect the probability of dropping-out and having a delayed graduation (i.e. the consequences of students’ employment). Looking at the equity side, it’s also important to determine whether social origins affect the decision of working during university studies (i.e. the antecedents of students’ employment). In this paper I examine the role of student employment – i.e. working during university – in the reproduction of social inequality in academic outcomes in Italian Higher Education during the 20th century. In the first part, I review previous research results in the US, UK and Italy and discuss several competing hypotheses. In the second part, I use data from the Italian Longitudinal Household Survey (ILFI) to study a) the relation between student employment and academic outcomes; b) the relation between social origin and student employment, and c) the mediating effect of student employment in the relation between social origin and academic outcomes. Bivariate analysis and multinomial logistic regression models show that full-time students are more likely to graduate on time than working-students, but only high-intensity work has a detrimental effect on dropping out. Social origin affects the probability of being a high-intensity worker, but not the likelihood of being a low-intensity worker. Finally, results from a non-linear decomposition analysis suggest that the overall role of student employment in the reproduction of inequality in higher education is low while the most important variable is the type of high-school attended (especially lyceum vs non-academic).
• Does school make people believe in meritocracy?
  Tenret Elise
  Abstract | Download
  This paper aims at explaining the perception of social inequalities and the support for an education-based meritocracy (EBM) among individuals. The level and type of education impact has been closely investigated – at a macro and micro level –, as education is theoretically supposed to influence the support for dominant ideologies. To this end, the third wave of Issp survey dataset has been used, as well as the results of a survey conducted in France among tertiary students attending different tracks and fields of study (Sts, Iut, Classes préparatoires and University). This research shows that education influences the representations of meritocracy at both micro and macro levels. From an individual point of view, it has been established that people with higher degree and lower degree tend to perceive more often their society as meritocratic (“U” curve effect of education on representations), and that more educated people defend more the importance of diplomas than the others. In addition to this relative effect of diploma, it has been evidenced, at a more macrosocial level, that the school system organization and development also has an effect on the representations of meritocracy: the educational stock of a country, measured by the percent of persons attending tertiary education, increases the justification of social inequality, while the percent of social science students decreases it. The French case has been specifically examined. In France, the criticism of diplomas seems to derive from its incapacity, according to students, to reflect one's competencies or merits.
• Education, Social Background, Partner Choice and Labour Market Success
  Büchner, Charlotte, Smits, Wendy, van der Velden, Rolf
  Abstract
  Educational attainment and social background have crucial impact on individual labour market outcome and explain part of the differences in hourly earnings of Dutch males and females in their thirties (cf. Traag et al. 2006). However, actual earnings will not only depend on one’s earnings capacities but also on the family situation that has an impact on both the labour supply decision and the type of job one chooses. In this paper, we analyse the relationship between educational attainment, social background, and spouse’s resources on the chance to have a paid job and on earnings. The labour division within the household is partly due to cultural factors and individual preferences but will also depend on the earnings capacity of both partners. It is expected that the relative importance of the partner’s earnings capacities and cultural factors varies with educational background. For our analysis we use data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The basis builds the Secondary Education Pupil Cohort (SLVO) that started in 1982 with 16.813 pupils who were in their last year of primary education. These pupils were followed until the moment they left full time education. Tests of school performance and non-verbal intelligence were administered in the first year of their secondary education, as well as socio-economic background information about the nature and quality of their families of origin. The dataset has been enriched by register data of the labour market position, income situation, family composition and neighbourhood information from 1999 to 2005. As proxies for the individual and partner’s earnings capacity we consider the actual hourly earnings, hourly earnings before cohabitation and the income and wealth positions of siblings, parents and parents in law. We find that for women the chance to have a paid job strongly depends on the earnings capacity of their partner. The higher the earnings capacity of the partner the lower is the chance to have a paid job. The number of hours does not depend on the husband’s earnings capacity, but on the number and age of children in the household. For men the opposite is true; the chance to have a paid job does not depend on his wife’s earnings capacity. Both for men and women earnings, the chance to have a paid job and the number of hours worked increase with the level of education. The impact of the partner’s earnings capacity does not seem to vary with educational background, however. For both men and women actual hourly earnings are positively correlated with the wealth of the father in law, suggesting that there is positive assortative mating with respect to unobserved earnings traits.
• Education-Based Meritocracy: The Barriers to its Realisation
  Goldthorpe, J., Jackson, M.
  Abstract | Download
  The idea of an education-based meritocracy (EBM) has evident political attractions. It suggests a basis on which the objectives of social efficiency, social mobility and social justice might be reconciled. However, the question is raised of its sociological viability. Three processes of change are identified, concerning the association between individuals’ social origins, their educational attainments and their social destinations, each of which should be observed in any society that is moving towards an EBM. Results of analyses based on several different data-sets are then presented which indicate that in Britain these changes are not in fact in train. Similar results from other modern societies are noted. It is then argued that the barriers to the realisation of an EBM to which these findings point are of more than a transient kind. There are features of modern market-based economies and societies that are not consistent with the principles of an EBM and that could be modified, if at all, only through rather radical policy interventions.
• Educational Aspirations and Inequality in Educational Opportunity: The Difference between Realistic and Idealistic Aspirations
  Stocké, Volker
  Abstract
  In the tradition of the Wisconsin-School, it has been argued that educational aspirations are of causal significance for explaining educational outcomes. Furthermore, effects of families’ socioeconomic background are assumed to be explained by respective differences in academic ambitions. In testing these assumptions barely all studies failed to differentiate between two different aspiration concepts. Whereas realistic aspirations are merely forecasts about the likely educational career, taking all relevant and known factors influencing educational success into account, idealistic aspirations refer to (self-)obligations to reach certain educational credentials. Since only idealistic aspirations can be assumed to have motivational significance and both kinds of aspirations are likely to be associated, only the net-effect of idealistic aspirations, controlling for the effect of realistic expectation, provides evidence for differences in ambitions to explain educational outcomes. Despite the Janus-faced nature of the aspiration concept, barely all available studies tested the effect of single aspiration measures on educational outcomes. Thus, it is unclear to what extend the observed effects express motivational differences due to idealistic wishes or only the anticipation of opportunities and constraints. In the present article we propose separate measures for both aspiration concepts and test their net-effects on the decision between secondary school tracks in Germany. Firstly, we found realistic rather than idealistic aspirations much more affected by the students’ level and temporal development of grade-point average. This supports the assumed differences in the nature of the two aspiration measures. Secondly, realistic aspirations were substantially associated with educational decisions. This effect was considerably reduced when controlling indicators for the children’s academic competencies. Thirdly, although controlling school achievement and realistic aspirations, the parents’ idealistic wishes were found to have a substantial additional net-effect on educational decisions. This confirms the assumed independent effect of aspirations. However, the effect of idealistic aspirations is found to be dependent on the discrepancy from realistic expectations: the more both differ, the less high idealistic aspirations motivate a decision for the most ambitious secondary school track. Keywords: Educational Aspirations, Educational Decisions, Inequality.
• Educational Differentiation and Inequality The Netherlands in Comparative Perspective
  Mijs, J.J.B., Van de Werfhorst, H.G.
  Abstract | Download
  In this paper, the international comparative literature on the effects of educational differentiation (early selection and vocational orientation) on inequality is reviewed. Inequality is conceptualized in two manners: inequality as dispersion of educational performance and inequality of educational opportunity by family background, sex, and immigrant status. First, an institutional perspective is offered through which to see the Netherlands in international comparison. The institutional perspective rests on four main characteristics of educational systems: stratification, standardization, vocational orientation, and track mobility. Second, the most promising theoretical and empirical insights in the international literature are analyzed. Third, our theoretical assumptions are tentatively tested with the most recent PISA (2006) data. It is concluded that Dutch students' test scores are more equal (lower variance) than the Netherlands' education system's institutional characteristics would suggest. Measures of inequality of opportunity in the Netherlands, however, match the assumptions derived from the institutional perspective.
• Educational Expansion and Social Mobility in the Twentieth Century
  Breen, R.
  Abstract | Download
  Sociologists have long considered inequality in educational attainment to be a major cause of inequality between people in their chances of occupying a more advantageous class position. However, there is some dispute as to whether or not educational inequality according to social class background declined during the 20th century. What is not in doubt is the marked expansion of education in the advanced economies during this time, and several authors have pointed to educational expansion as a mechanism by which inequalities in social mobility chances may be reduced. I measure the magnitude of such an effect and compare it with the impact of educational equalization on social mobility in Britain, Sweden and Germany during the twentieth century. I find that in all three countries educational expansion has had a positive effect in promoting greater social mobility.
• Educational Transitions in the Context of the Life Course: Understanding Class Inequality in American Higher Education
  Roksa, J.
  Abstract | Download
  The expansion of higher education over the course of the 20th century has provided more opportunities for access, but it has not reduced socioeconomic inequality. Students from less advantaged family backgrounds continue to lag in all areas of higher education, from entry into postsecondary institutions and access to more selective colleges and universities, to degree completion (for recent reviews see Baker and Velez 1996; Gamoran 2001; Walpole 2003). Stratification scholars have proposed several macro-level explanations for these trends, such as a lack of saturation of the upper classes (Raftery and Hout 1993) and limited political mobilization (Karen 1991; Rubinson 1986). More micro-level studies on the other hand have explored how students’ skills, knowledge and predispositions, in the form of academic preparation and social and cultural capital, shape educational outcomes. While these micro-level explanations provide a rich account of class differences, they cannot fully explain inequality in higher education. One of the key limitations of the previous accounts of inequality in higher education is that they focus on the bundle of skills and predispositions that students bring to higher education but fail to consider how schooling fits in the broader context of students’ lives. Being a student is a social role, and for students in higher education, that role is often combined with other social roles, such as being a worker, a spouse/partner, or a parent (Pallas 1993). The transition to adulthood has become increasingly “demographically dense” (Rindfuss 1991), with transitions taking place within a short amount of time and often overlapping. Moreover, there is much variability in sequencing and timing of different life course transitions, with a decreasing proportion of individuals following what might be considered the traditional sequence: finishing schooling, getting a full-time job, getting married and having children (e.g., see reviews in O'Rand 2000; Pallas 1993; Shanahan 2000). To the extent that social roles are intertwined, and that their combination varies by social class, considering how students combine schooling with other life course transitions can provide new insights for understanding inequality in higher education. Drawing on the life course tradition, I broaden the theoretical lens of the status attainment model, which underlies much of the research on class inequality in educational outcomes. I break with the implicit assumption that schooling precedes other life course transitions and thus that inequality in student outcomes is only a product of interactions with the educational system. Although skills, knowledge, and predispositions embedded in the student role are undeniably important, they are not the sole basis of inequality in educational outcomes. Being a straight A student who performs well on standardized tests and has the “know-how” to navigate the educational system is certainly advantageous in entering and completing higher education. But what if that student is working full-time, or gets married, or has a child? With the prolonged participation in schooling, transitions into adult roles of full-time work, marriage, and parenthood are not unusual occurrences in higher education. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY 1997), I examine social class inequality in two educational transitions: entry into higher education and completion of a bachelor’s degree. Even net of a range of commonly used controls, students from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to successfully complete both of these transitions. However, students from less advantaged backgrounds are also more likely to make other life course transitions, including working-full time, getting married/cohabitating, and having children. Do these life course transitions help to explain class inequality in higher education? Making a transition into the adult roles of worker, spouse/partner and parent during high school does not account for class inequality in entry into higher education among high school graduates. However, these transitions, and particularly employment patterns, explain class inequality in bachelor’s degree completion among students who enter higher education. Thus, while focusing on the student role may be adequate for studying entry into higher education, it is not for understanding inequality in completion. Considering educational transitions as a component of the life course provides an alternative understanding of the patterns of class inequality in higher education.
• Educational careers of Estonians and Russians
  Lindemann, Kristina, Saar, Ellu
  Abstract | Download
  We analyse ethnic stratification in the Estonian school system focusing on track chosen in secondary education and on the transition to higher education. We investigate if educational transitions of the second generation are related to differences in educational and social origin. First generation of immigrants arrived to Estonia during the Soviet Union period. They differed from classic labour migrants in many other Western countries as their educational level and labour market opportunities were rather similar to natives. Also the situation in Estonian educational system is very different from western European countries. In soviet period due to parallel educational systems, which divided population on the basis of language of instruction (Russian or Estonian) the Estonian society became highly segmented in terms of structural integration. Russians still have their own separate educational system (until higher education). It means that many explanations for ethnic stratification formulated for western European societies cannot account for situation in Estonia. We use data from Estonian TIES survey, which is a part of The Integration of the European Second Generation project. This survey was conducted among second generation immigrants in two Estonian cities. In most western European countries second generation of immigrants experience less disadvantages than generation of their parents. In Estonia, contrary, differences between educational attainment of second generation Russians and natives have grown compared to their parents’ generation. Results show that Russians tend to continue studies less often in general secondary and higher education. Although parental resources are important, ethnic differences in educational decisions are not explained by differences in social background. Advantageous social background is more essential for Russians. On the other hand, parents’ Estonian language proficiency and citizenship does not influence educational decisions of young Russians. We suppose that changed institutional conditions have had important impact on the second generation’s educational attainment. Up to secondary education it is possible to study in Estonian or Russian school, while studies in public higher education are in Estonian.
• Equal chances by the third generation? Cognitive and language skills of second and third generation children of Turkish origin in Germany
  Becker, B.
  Abstract | Download
  Many studies have demonstrated a disadvantageous position for children of Turkish immigrants in the German educational system. This paper analyses whether an intergenerational assimilation process can be detected regarding the cognitive skills and German language skills of young children of Turkish origin in Germany. A ‘forms-of-capital’ model is applied that assumes that the families’ endowment with various sorts of capital strongly affects the next generation’s skill development and educational attainment. A detailed differentiation of children’s generational status is used including second and third generation immigrant children as well as the 2.5 generation and children of intermarriages with natives. The data of the project ‘Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children’ show large differences between native German children and all groups of migrant children with regard to German language skills. Also substantial differences with regard to cognitive skills are found for all children of Turkish origin except for those with one native German parent. Second and third generation children do not differ from each other on both tests while especially children with a first generation mother and a second generation father score worse than all other groups. All differences between the generational groups (including the difference to the Germans) regarding children’s cognitive skills can be explained by the families socioeconomic status and educational resources while significant generational differences remain regarding children’s German language skills. This latter skill is very specific for the receiving society and all remaining generational differences within the sample of Turkish children can be accounted for by the parents’ endowment with receiving country specific resources (e.g., parental German language proficiency). The results contradict the notion of a straight-line assimilation of Turkish immigrants in Germany.
• Explaining ethnic inequalities in the educational career of second generation immigrants in Estonia
  Lindemann, Kristina, Saar, Ellu
  Abstract
  We analyse ethnic stratification in the Estonian school system focusing on track chosen in secondary education and on the transition to higher education. We investigate if educational transitions of the second generation are related to differences in educational and social origin. First generation of immigrants arrived to Estonia during the Soviet Union period. They differed from classic labour migrants in many other Western countries as their educational level and labour market opportunities were rather similar to natives. Also the situation in Estonian educational system is very different from western European countries. In soviet period due to parallel educational systems, which divided population on the basis of language of instruction (Russian or Estonian) the Estonian society became highly segmented in terms of structural integration. Russians still have their own separate educational system (until higher education). It means that many explanations for ethnic stratification formulated for western European societies cannot account for situation in Estonia. We use data from Estonian TIES survey, which is a part of The Integration of the European Second Generation project. This survey was conducted among second generation immigrants in two Estonian cities. In most western European countries second generation of immigrants experience less disadvantages than generation of their parents. In Estonia, contrary, differences between educational attainment of second generation Russians and natives have grown compared to their parents’ generation. Results show that Russians tend to continue studies less often in general secondary and higher education. Although parental resources are important, ethnic differences in educational decisions are not explained by differences in social background. Advantageous social background is more essential for Russians. On the other hand, parents’ Estonian language proficiency and citizenship does not influence educational decisions of young Russians. We suppose that changed institutional conditions have had important impact on the second generation’s educational attainment. Up to secondary education it is possible to study in Estonian or Russian school, while studies in public higher education are in Estonian.
• Have working class daughters caught up? Social inequality among women in first- and second-tier institutions of higher education in Germany
  Jacob, Marita
  Abstract | Download
  First draft – please do not cite or quote! Abstract In Germany as in many other industrialised countries participation rates of women in higher education have markedly increase and enrolment rates of men and women are nowadays almost equal. The increase of participation in higher education among women has affected both, graduation from higher institutions (universities) and lower tier institutions (Fachhochschule). Regarding changes of inequalities in education due to social background, previous research has shown that in spite of expansion and differentiation of higher education inequalities have not disappeared. For example, working class children more often opt for the less costly and risky Fachhochschule whereas children from higher social classes prefer universities. Although both aspects gender and class differences have already been examined broadly in previous research, only a few studies go into more details by e.g. concentrating on the effect of social class background among the increasing share of female graduates. In this paper I will look at women only and examine changes in the effects of family background on women’s participation in higher education. In the empirical analyses I use pooled data of four Germany surveys: the German general social survey (ALLBUS 1980 – 2006), ZUMA Standarddemographie (ZUMABUS) 1976 – 1982, German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) 1986, 1999 and 2000 and German Life History Study (GLHS) I to III.
• Higher education expansion in the Republic of Ireland
  McCoy, S., Smyth, E.
  Abstract | Download
  Participation in higher education in the Republic of Ireland has expanded dramatically since the early 1990s. This expansion has taken place in both sectors – universities and institutes of technology . This paper uses a rational choice framework to explore the patterns of higher education entry by social class over this period. It uses School Leavers' Survey data over the period 1980 to 2006 to consider the extent to which differentiation is evident between the university and institute of technology sectors in terms of the gender, social class background and prior attainment of entrants. The paper concludes that social class differentiation in higher education participation can only be properly understood by taking a gender perspective.
• Higher education expansion in the Republic of Ireland
  McCoy, S., Smyth, E.
  Abstract | Download
• Human Capital or Discrimination: Labor Market Entry Disadvantages of Second Generation Turkish Migrants in Germany
  Hunkler, C.
  Abstract | Download
  Earlier studies disagree whether differences in the human capital configuration or employer discrimination explain second generation Turkish migrants‘ disadvantages when entering the labor market. This research understood the successful completion of an occupational education as part of the human capital configuration and identified it as the major predictor of a successful transition into the labor market. However they disregarded that access to occupational education in Germany is for the most part provided by companies, and hence discrimination can occur already when companies decide whom to take in for their occupational education programs. We therefore analyzed the whole secondary school to labor market transition using data from the German Socioeconomic Panel Study. Human capital variables, including receiving country specific capital as e.g. German language abilities or ethnic composition of networks, did not fully explain the ethnic penalty Turkish migrants experience when entering vocational education. Analyzing who starts and who manages to complete a vocational education, significant residuals for Turkish remain. Estimating labor market entry models, we find vocational education to be one of the strongest predictors of a successful transition into paid labor. Finally, interaction models show that a complete vocational education pays of less for Turkish migrants. The latter finding is direct evidence for statistical discrimination. Our conservative conclusion is that the available human capital measures do not fully explain Turkish migrants‘ disadvantages.
• Immigrants' emotional identification with the host society: the example of Turkish parents' naming practices in Germany
  Becker, B.
  Abstract | Download
  The naming practice of immigrants is studied as an example of their emotional identification with the host society and with the society of origin. Since first names can be chosen freely and at no cost, they are a good indicator for the parents’ desired form of acculturation. With data from the project “Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children” it is analysed if Turkish parents in Germany choose a first name for their child which is common only in Turkey, only in Germany or in both countries. This first name choice represents a separated, an assimilated or an integrated emotional identification of the parents. Most of the parents choose a Turkish name for their child, but girls are more frequently given names that are common in both cultures than boys, while German names are only rarely chosen. Intermarriage strongly decreases the probability for separation in naming and especially increases the probability for the integration option, while the presence of a parent with the German citizenship enhances assimilation stronger than integration. More traditional and religious families tend to choose rather a Turkish name. The results of the first name choice are compared to analogous analyses of the respondents’ identity, which is the usual indicator of immigrants’ emotional identification. In principle the effects are similar, but the proportion of integration is considerably higher in the identity choice than in the name choice.
• Inclusion or Diversion in Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland?
  Byrne, Delma
  Abstract | Download
  In this paper I investigate the extent to which the Irish higher education system promotes inclusion or diversion in relation to social selectivity. In doing so, stratification processes are examined for two educational outcomes: inequality in the type of higher education institute attended (institutional differentiation) and the level of qualification pursued at higher education (qualification differentiation). The paper considers the individual level and school level influences on these two educational outcomes and concludes that the Irish system is inclusive, but class disparities remain in terms of institutional differentiation and qualification differentiation. Class disparities are largely mediated through educational attainment at the individual level and diversion is particularly evident in relation to the non-manual and skilled manual groups. Furthermore, school effects have a particular influence on those who do not obtain their preference of higher education course.
• Inequality of Opportunity in Secondary School Enrolment in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands
  Contini, D., Scagni, A.
  Abstract | Download
  Aim of this work is to evaluate the overall effect of social origins on secondary school track enrolment in Italy, Germany and Netherlands, allowing for consistent cross country comparisons. PISA 2003 is employed. Track choices are assumed to depend on student's ability and social origins; since proficiency before tracking is not observed, ability is not kept under control. Nonetheless, the unconditional social background effect is the quantity of main substantive interest because it represents the _total_ effect of social origins on school choices. Yet, since regression coefficients in logit models are biased even with independent unobserved heterogeneity, comparison across countries are difficult; the average sample derivative of the response probability is employed instead and it is showed to be a valid alternative measure of the total social origins effect. The following issue is also addressed: social origins inequality in secondary school choices may be affected by access restrictions policies, at work in some countries, where enrolment into the more prestigious tracks is subject to binding school recommendations or ability tests. First, we propose a simple theoretical model and we derive that the policy is expected to lower the effect of social origins conditional on ability, although the impact on the total effect can either decrease or increase. Second, by exploiting the institutional differences across German Länder with respect to enrolment policies, we carry out a preliminary empirical analysis within Germany. The main empirical findings are: (i) the total effect of social origins on track choice is weaker in the Netherlands and stronger in Germany, with Italy in between; (ii) within Germany, access restriction seem to weaken the parental background effect.
• Institutional Variation and Meritocracy: Primary and Secondary Origin Effects at the Transition to Upper Secondary School across German ‘Länder’
  Neugebauer, M.
  Abstract | Download
  According to Boudon’s (1974) well-known micro-theoretical model of educational transitions, educational inequality stems from two sources: primary effects – which are all those that are expressed by the association between social origin and academic performance; and secondary effects – which are transition propensities differing between families of different social origin – even at the same level of performance. The evaluation of the relative importance of primary and secondary effects is the aim of a growing body of literature. I contribute to this line of research by firstly evaluating the relative importance of these two effects at the transition to upper secondary school in Germany and secondly assessing whether the substantive federal state (‘Länder’) differences in the transition regulations affect the relative importance of these effects. Employing nationwide panel data (years 2002-2005) developed by the German Youth Institute (DJI), primary and secondary effects can be decomposed through counterfactual analysis. Results indicate that secondary effects are the main source of educational inequality, accounting for 59% of the total inequality. They are especially strong for children with medium (as opposed to very high or very low) grades. Furthermore, the relative importance of secondary effects is higher when parents can freely choose a secondary school track and lower when the parents’ freedom to choose is restricted because teachers decide instead of them. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
• Institutional determinants of public opinion on pay differentials: a macro level exploration of the interaction between education system, wage centralization and social policy
  Kocer, Rüya Gökhan, van de Werfhorst, Herman
  Abstract
  This article explores the possible impact of three institutional structures (education system, labor market institutions and social policy arrangements) on the public opinion on educational pay differentials by using cross national aggregate data (OECD countries). First it examines the hypothesis that so long as education system provides the opportunity to acquire the competencies that are valued in the market, and, social policies provide sufficient protection from market failures, individuals would accept educational pay differentials as a fair outcome which would, in turn, lead to the majority to have a favorable opinion on these differentials. The alternative hypotheses, on the other hand, emphasizes the impact of the nature of the wage determination on the formation of the public opinion by claiming that unless pay determination is centralized and possibilities for skill upgrading are provided (i.e. unless the necessary conditions for internalizing the systemic pay outcome are created) the public opinion on pay differentials would not be favorable regardless of the qualities of the education system and social policy. The implied micro mechanism is that so long as pay is largely determined by low level bargaining (i.e., enterprise, factory, individual) people would be inclined to evaluate the emerged outcome negatively despite the opportunities offered by the education system and risks covered by the social policy. By revealing the strengths and weaknesses of (and overlaps between) these two hypotheses the paper tries to account for the institutional determinants of public opinion on pay differentials. In the conclusion section, possible juxtapositions of these three institutional structures (education system, wage determination, social policy) would be revealed and the impact of particular ideal case institutional settings on legitimization of pay differentials is discussed.
• Long-term Trends in Educational Inequality in Europe: Class Inequalities and Gender Differences
  Breen, R., Luijkx, R. Mueller, W., Pollak, R.
  Abstract | Download
  Using data for seven European countries we analyse trends among women in class differences in educational attainment over the first two-thirds of the 20th century. We also compare educational attainment between men and women; we ask whether class differences among the two sexes are similar or not; and whether trends in class differences over birth cohorts have differed between men and women. We find that, as expected, over the 20th century, inequalities between men and women in their educational attainment declined markedly. More importantly, changes in class inequalities in educational attainment have been similar for both men and women, although, in some countries, women displayed greater inequality at the start of the 20th century and have shown a somewhat greater rate of increase in equality. Patterns of class inequality were also largely similar for both sexes, though in some countries daughters of farmers and the petty-bourgeoisie did relatively better than their brothers. While some of these results reinforce what has long been believed, our central finding of a decline in class inequality in educational attainment for both men and women contradicts the ‘persistent inequality’ in education that earlier scholars claimed existed.
• Making the Transition: Education and Labor Market Entry in Central- and Eastern Europe
  Kogan, Irena, Gebel, Michael, Clemens Noelke
  Abstract
  This paper is the concluding chapter of the book manuscript that explores the role of the education system in the process of labour market integration in ten CEE countries (Eastern Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Ukraine and Russia). This book is a first systematic comparative study on the consequence of system transformation on young people’s educational attainment and labour market integration which moves beyond simple contrasts of socialism vs. capitalism as modes of social organization by putting into focus the institutional diversity in post-socialist societies, in which stratification processes are embedded. For the ten CEE countries we analyze, we can document educational expansion and differentiation of tertiary education at a speed hardly ever observed in Western societies, with substantial variations across countries in the role of market-based financing of higher education. At the same time in many countries, we observe a decline in the role of vocational schools at the secondary level, which had formed a crucial part of skill supply under the socialist production regime. While these post-transformation trends are general, their dynamics and consequences differ depending on the national historic and institutional context. Our results of the educational attainment show that the expansion of tertiary education has benefited children from the middle classes. We further show whether and how expansion, stratification and diversification of higher education as well as the changing significance of vocational education have altered educational attainment and labour market entry. While more favourable performance of tertiary graduates in terms of speed of entry and quality of the first job is observable in all CEE countries, the relative advantage of tertiary graduates varies with the degree of expansion and differentiation of the tertiary sector. Nevertheless, even relatively inferior tertiary tracks still have better payoffs compared to secondary education in the majority of countries. In countries with shrinking vocational secondary education vocationally-oriented lower tertiary tracks provide a functioning substitute. The role of vocational degrees is highly differentiated depending on the country-specific institutional arrangements. In countries that inherited or re-established a German-Austrian tradition of strong vocational orientation at the secondary level and adhered to vocationalism and apprenticeships as a key pathway into the labour market, vocational education still provides a viable alternative to tertiary education. In the absence of an institutional framework supporting effective vocational education, however, vocational programs have become a last-choice option for disadvantaged youth.
• Making the Transition: Education and Labor Market Entry in Central- and Eastern Europe
  Kogan, Irena, Gebel, Michael, Noelke, Clemes
  Abstract
  This paper is the concluding chapter of the book manuscript that explores the role of the education system in the process of labour market integration in ten CEE countries (Eastern Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Ukraine and Russia). This book is a first systematic comparative study on the consequence of system transformation on young people’s educational attainment and labour market integration which moves beyond simple contrasts of socialism vs. capitalism as modes of social organization by putting into focus the institutional diversity in post-socialist societies, in which stratification processes are embedded. For the ten CEE countries we analyze, we can document educational expansion and differentiation of tertiary education at a speed hardly ever observed in Western societies, with substantial variations across countries in the role of market-based financing of higher education. At the same time in many countries, we observe a decline in the role of vocational schools at the secondary level, which had formed a crucial part of skill supply under the socialist production regime. While these post-transformation trends are general, their dynamics and consequences differ depending on the national historic and institutional context. Our results of the educational attainment show that the expansion of tertiary education has benefited children from the middle classes. We further show whether and how expansion, stratification and diversification of higher education as well as the changing significance of vocational education have altered educational attainment and labour market entry. While more favourable performance of tertiary graduates in terms of speed of entry and quality of the first job is observable in all CEE countries, the relative advantage of tertiary graduates varies with the degree of expansion and differentiation of the tertiary sector. Nevertheless, even relatively inferior tertiary tracks still have better payoffs compared to secondary education in the majority of countries. In countries with shrinking vocational secondary education vocationally-oriented lower tertiary tracks provide a functioning substitute. The role of vocational degrees is highly differentiated depending on the country-specific institutional arrangements. In countries that inherited or re-established a German-Austrian tradition of strong vocational orientation at the secondary level and adhered to vocationalism and apprenticeships as a key pathway into the labour market, vocational education still provides a viable alternative to tertiary education. In the absence of an institutional framework supporting effective vocational education, however, vocational programs have become a last-choice option for disadvantaged youth.
• Maximally Maintained Inequality and Effectively Maintained Inequality in British Higher Education, 1950 to 1995
  Boliver, Vikki
  Abstract | Download
• Maximally Maintained and Effectively Maintained Inequality in British Higher Education since 1960
  Boliver, Vikki
  Abstract | Download
  Conventional political wisdom has it that educational expansion reduces socioeconomic inequalities of access to education by increasing equality of educational opportunity. The counterarguments of Maximally Maintained Inequality (Raftery and Hout 1993) and Effectively Maintained Inequality (Lucas 2001), in contrast, contend that educational inequalities persist despite expansion because those from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are better placed to take up new educational opportunities afforded by expansion (MMI) and to secure for themselves qualitatively better kinds of education at that level (EMI). This paper elaborates on the theoretical arguments posited by MMI and EMI; offers a critical review of existing empirical research; and tests the predictions of each theory against empirical data for the case of British higher education. The empirical results presented in the paper show that, despite a ten-fold expansion of higher education in Britain between 1950 and 1995, quantitative inequalities between socioeconomic groups in the odds of higher education eligibility and attendance have proved remarkably persistent, as have qualitative inequalities in the odds of participating in prestigious degree-level rather than sub-degree level programs and in Old rather than New universities. In other words, despite expansion, socioeconomic inequalities of access to higher education in Britain have been both maximally and effectively maintained.
• McIntosh and Munk’s Supposed Test of the Validity of the E-G Class Schema: A Comment
  Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H.
  Abstract | Download
  McIntosh and Munk (forthcoming) claim that the class schema developed by Erikson and Goldthorpe lacks validity and should not be taken as a basis for studies of intergenerational social mobility. Their paper is founded on a serious misconception of why the schema is in fact used by sociologists in mobility research and, for this reason, their test of its validity is essentially misdirected. In addition, the test itself is not carried out in an appropriate way, nor, it would seem, with data of adequate quality. Given these shortcomings we suggest it unwise to take seriously any of the results of McIntosh and Munk’s analyses.
• Measurement of Education in EU-SILC – Preliminary Evaluation of Measurement Quality
  Schneider, S., Müller, W.
  Abstract | Download
  The paper examines the quality of educational information collected for the SILC database, concentrating on the following specific issues: (1) The distribution of education along the ISCED 97 level categories (2) The stability of education measures over successive survey years in EU-SILC (3) Comparison of education measures in EU-SILC, EU-LFS and ESS (4) Explanatory power of education as measured in EU-SILC In EU-SILC education is measured along a simplified version of the International Standard Classification of Education 1997 (ISCED 97). The ISCED version used in the harmonized EU-SILC database distinguishes 6 levels of education. It neglects, however, any distinctions within levels of education according to the sub-dimensions programme orientation and programme destination, which, in principle, are also available in the ISCED 97-classification Roughly speaking, the former sub-dimension refers to the distinction between predominantly general/academic vs. predominantly vocational types of courses of study. This distinction is known to be quite crucial for a number of education related outcomes, such as for returns on the labour market, educational opportunities of children or various attitudinal or behavioural correlates of education. In examining the 4 data quality aspects, mentioned above, the paper finds a number of serious problems in the measurement available for education in the EU-SILC data. (1) As a consequence of using the simplified “only levels version” of the ISCED classification the resulting measurement of education comes out as a very rough classification with large proportions of the population coded into large highly heterogeneous categories. This is particularly true for ISCED level 3, but with increasing significance among the younger cohorts also for ISCED level 5. But even in countries, in which educational attainment is more evenly distributed among the various levels distinguished by ISCED, the lack of differentiation within heterogeneous categories can damage measurement quality. . (2) In a number of countries the paper finds high measurement instability from wave to wave drawing into doubt the interwave reliability of the measures. Also in terms of criterion validity education measures in EU-SILC need improvement. In a few countries, the correlations between ISCED and ISEI (International Socio-Economic Index) vary considerably between waves. (3) Even larger discrepancies in education distributions result from the comparison of education measures in EU-SILC and the education measures in EU-LFS in spite of the fact that both databases are produced by the same NSIs. In some of the countries, dissimilarities between the two sources are rather large. (4) Neglecting the vocational/general distinction can lead to substantial heterogeneity within the aggregated levels of education in terms of the various correlates of education. The explanatory power of education (as measured e.g. by the variance explained) is considerably underestimated when vocational and general courses of study are not distinguished. In comparative research these issues lead to a further problem: The significance of the vocational / general distinction likely varies between countries, and therefore, the explanatory power of educational attainment is likely to be attenuated in different ways and to a different extent in different countries. Thus, cross-national comparisons based on the simplified ISCED used in EU-SILC (and other cross-national surveys) are likely to be seriously misleading.
• Measuring Educational Attainment in Cross-National Surveys: The Case of the European Social Survey
  Schneider, S. L.
  Abstract | Download
  Educational attainment is a core social background variable covered in each and every single social survey. Cross-national surveys are particularly vulnerable to sub-optimal measurement of education. In this paper, the cross-national measurement of educational attainment is evaluated using data of the European Social Survey (ESS). After discussing some theoretical background of the comparable measurement of education generally, the most commonly used comparable measures are introduced. A brief overview over previous evaluations is given. In the main part of the paper, the implementation of a simplified version of the International Standard Classification of Education 1997 (ISCED–97) in the ESS is discussed and evaluated in several ways: By looking at the consistency of the reclassification of national education variables into the comparable variable; at how the comparable variable is distributed, how much explanatory power of educational attainment is lost by harmonising the national variables (using occupational status as the criterion), and which steps of the harmonisation process affect the results most strongly in the single countries. Finally, an alternative way of simplifying ISCED–97 is proposed, which could improve the measure’s comparability and predictive power.
• Measuring social class: the case of Germany.
  Wirth, H., Gresch, C., Müller, W., Pollak, R. and Weiss, F.
  Abstract | Download
• Nominal comparability is not enough: Evaluating cross-national measures of educational attainment using ISEI scores
  Schneider, S.L.
  Abstract
  Educational attainment is a core social background variable covered in each and every single social survey. Since educational qualifications are difficult to compare across countries, cross-national surveys pose a particular challenge to the measurement of educational attainment. In this paper, a number of cross-national measures of educational attainment—two versions of the In- ternational Standard Classification of Education (ISCED–97) and years of education —are evaluated using data from the European Social Survey. To begin with, the distributions of ISCED–97, simplified to the main levels of ed- ucation, are examined for the different countries. Since this reveals a number of weaknesses of ISCED–97 as implemented in the ESS, an alternative way of simplifying ISCED–97 is proposed. In a next step, using linear regression models, it is shown how much explanatory power educational attainment loses when comparable variables are used, rather than country-specific categories. The outcome variable used for this validation is social status as measured by the International Socio-Economic Index. The results suggest that harmonisa- tion always entails some loss of explanatory power. Moreover, the adequacy of years of education as well as the levels-only ISCED–97 differs strongly across countries. Of all measures tested, the proposed alternative simplification of ISCED–97 fares best: it shows the lowest relative loss of explanatory power and the lowest variation of losses across countries. Some recommendations on how to implement cross-national measures of educational attainment in international surveys are made.
• Nonpersistent Inequality in Educational Attainment: Evidence from Eight European Countries.
  Breen, R., Luijkx, R. Mueller, W., Pollak, R.
  Abstract | Download
  In their widely cited study, Shavit and Blossfeld report stability of socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment over much of the 20th century in 11 out of 13 countries. This article outlines reasons why one might expect to find declining class inequalities in educational attainment, and, using a large data set, the authors analyze educational inequality among cohorts born in the first twothirds of the 20th century in eight European countries. They find, as expected, a widespread decline in educational inequality between students coming from different social origins. Their results are robust to other possible choices of method and variables, and the authors offer some explanations of why their findings contradict Shavit and Blossfeld’s conclusions.
• Occupational attainment and career progression in Sweden
  Härkönen, J., Bihagen, E.
  Abstract | Download
  In this study, we analyze occupational attainment and career progression over the life course for Swedish men and women, born in 1925-74. We find that careers progress (measured as improvements in occupational prestige) fast during the first ten years in the labour market, and flattens out afterwards (approximately between 30-40 years of age). This is in line with the occupational status maturation hypothesis. Both class origin and educational attainment affect occupational attainment, but the effects of educational attainment vary more over the career, depending on the educational attainment level in question. Successive cohorts of women gain higher occupational prestige, and continue to gain in occupational prestige longer across their careers. We also find that cohorts that entered the labour market in times of economic downturns and restructuring (the oil crisis years and the early 1990s) had more difficulties in establishing their careers. Returns to education generally increase across cohorts, while class background differences decrease, as has been reported in earlier research.
• Primary and Secondary Effects in Class Differentials: The Transition to Tertiary Education in Germany
  Schindler, S., Reimer, D.
  Abstract | Download
  In this article we investigate social inequality at the transition to tertiary education in Germany by drawing on Boudon’s well-known distinction between primary and secondary effects of social class origin. Primary effects describe class differentials that are related to academic performance, secondary effects comprise class differentials in educational choices, given the same performance levels. In order to generate estimates on the relative importance of primary and secondary effects in the creation of class differentials in tertiary choices and their development over time, we apply a procedure which has recently been developed by Jackson et al. (2007). For our analyses we rely on a series of datasets from the German Higher Education Information Systems Institute (HIS) on students who have gained eligibility for tertiary education in 1983, 1990, 1994 and 1999. Our results show that class differentials in the transition to higher education in Germany are mainly due to secondary effects. While the relative importance of primary vs. secondary effects does not change over time, overall class effects seem to be generally more pronounced for women. In the second part of the analyses we relate the secondary effects to explanatory factors, such as motivational differences or cost-benefit expectations in order to gain more insight into the underlying mechanisms. Reference: Jackson, M., Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J. H. and Yaish, M. (2007) ‘Primary and Secondary Effects in Class Differentials in Educational Attainment: The Transition to A-Level Courses in England and Wales’, Acta Sociologica 50(3): 211-229.
• Primary and Secondary Effects in Educational Attainment in Italy
  Contini, D., Scagni, A., Riehl, A.
  Abstract | Download
  Aim of this paper is to provide an assessment of the relative contribution of primary and secondary effects in secondary school choices in Italy. Since prospective longitudinal data on schooling careers are not available for Italy, the analysis is based on the cross-sectional survey _Percorsi di studio e di lavoro dei diplomati_ (ISTAT, 2004), which collects detailed information on individuals educational histories up to three years after the secondary school degree. A major issue to deal with is self-selection, as only secondary school graduates are interviewed. By employing the survey data together with administrative and census information, we derive estimates of the relevant distributions, correcting for selection bias. As lower secondary school final marks are assigned on a 4-level scale (_satisfactory, good, very good, excellent_), a semi-parametric version of the standard approach is adopted. The empirical evidence is that secondary effects account for a larger proportion of the social origin differential than primary effects; by comparing our estimates with those reported in the recent literature, we derive that the relative contribution of primary effects is substantially weaker in Italy than in the other countries.
• Primary and secondary effects in Italy in the '90s
  Dalit Contini and Andrea Scagni
  Abstract | Download
• Qualifications and the Returns to Training Across the Life Course.
  Müller, W., Jacob, M.
  Abstract | Download
• Relative Risk Aversion in Real Life: A Dynamic Model of Educational Decision Making with Ability Updating and Heterogeneous RRA behavior
  Jæger, Mads Meier, Holm, Anders
  Abstract | Download
  The Theory of Relative Risk Aversion (RRA) stipulates that students make educational decisions with the aim of minimizing the risk of downward social class mobility. According to the RRA theory, actors reach their optimal educational level just prior to the point where the costs of more education (cognitive, monetary, opportunity, etc.) outweigh the utility of more education (with respect to avoiding social class mobility). In a previous paper we have formulated and tested a dynamic RRA model of educational decision making (Holm and Jæger 2008). In this paper we extend this model in two important regards. First, we allow for actors to update information on their academic ability at several points during the educational career. Thus, we allow for people to learn “how smart they are” as they move along in the educational system and to act on this new information. Second, we allow for heterogeneous RRA effects, i.e., for the possibility that not everyone adopts RRA behavior and that some actors may act “irrationally” when making educational decisions. We test our new dynamic model of RRA behavior using data from the National Child Development Study.
• Schein oder Sein: Bildungsdisparitäten in der europäischen Statistik. Eine Illustration am Beispiel Deutschland.
  Müller, W., Klein, M.
  Abstract | Download
• Shifting Tensions between Vocational and General Education in France and Germany
  Coutrot, L., Graf, L., Powell, J., Kieffer, A.
  Abstract | Download
• Shifting tensions between General and vocational education in France and Germany : a neo-institutional approach
  Powell, J.W., Coutrot, L., Graf L., Bernhard N., Kieffer A.
  Abstract | Download
  This paper provides the main theoretical references and some empirical data in order to produce the basic elements for a future comparison of the relationship between vocational and general education in France and Germany, both at secondary and post-secondary level. Recent changes concerning Higher education in both countries are presented and the role or influence of European process on these changes are investigated.
• Social Disparities in Children’s Vocabulary in Early Childhood. Does Preschool Education Help to Close the Gap?
  Becker, Birgit
  Abstract | Download
  Children start school with differing levels of skills. Thus, children of different social origin have different probabilities of educational success right from the start of their school career. This paper analyses how the gap in language abilities of children with different class background develops from age three to five. A focus lies on the question whether preschool education can help to close this gap. The data of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) show that children’s score on a standardized vocabulary test strongly depends on their parents’ social class. These class differences remains stable or even increase slightly over the two-year period. Using fixed effect models, it is demonstrated that children of higher class families can improve their vocabulary more strongly than children whose parents have either a lower or middle class position. Participation in an early education institution positively affects the vocabulary development of middle and lower class children while there is no significant preschool effect for children of higher class parents. The results indicate that preschool attendance does not lead to a catching up process of lower class children. But without preschool attendance, the gap between higher and lower class children widens even further.
• Social Inequality in Higher Education and Labour Market in a Period of Institutional Reforms. Italy, 1992-2007
  Argentin, G., Triventi, M.
  Abstract | Download
  The focus of this paper is on the relationships between social origin, participation in tertiary education (enrolment, drop-out, enrolment at second level and post-tertiary education) and occupational outcomes of degreeholders (unstable job, overeducation) in a recent period of university and labour market reforms (the “Bologna process” and the flexibilization of employment contracts). In the first part of the paper we review these institutional reforms and previous research on this topic in Italy. In the second part we analyse data from several cross-section waves of the Upper Secondary Graduates Survey and the University Graduates Survey which cover both pre- and post-reform cohorts of students. Results from logistic regression models show a slight decline in the effect of parents’ education on enrolment in tertiary education, while a reduction and again a new increase of inequality in drop-outs. We find smaller effects of parents’ education on the risks of having unstable or overeducated jobs and they are stable over time. Our conclusion is that some traits of inequalities connected to tertiary education processes are changing in the direction of a slight reduction of the social origins weight, but these shifts seem mainly due to general macro trend and not to the specific reforms occurred in Italy.
• Social Origin and Discontinuities in Higher Education Careers A Comparison between Germany and the US
  Weiss, F., Jacob, M.
  Abstract | Download
  Previous research as shown that social origin affects educational attainment. In the light of increasing participation in tertiary education, there has recently been growing interest in social selectivity at the tertiary level and how these differences are conditioned by educational institutions. In this paper we examine a particular feature of educational careers in postsecondary education, namely labor force participation before final graduation comparing Germany and the US. We analyze two different aspects of discontinuities in education: First we look at tertiary graduates asking who - in terms of social origin and other individual characteristics - has achieved the final degree ‘in one go’ and who has interrupted education. Second, we are interested in the decision process of returning to education being in the labor market and examine the influence of social origin on re-enrollment. To explain the micro processes we build on theories of educational decisions, for comparing differences in social origin effects in Germany and US we use a characterization of each country’s ‘transition regime’ of higher education. We expect that working class children more often interrupt their educational career and that this effect is weaker in the US. At the same time, once in the labor market service class children are expected to be more likely to return to education, in particularly in the US. Our empirical analyses only partly confirm our hypotheses: Although there are some class differences at first sight, these are small and almost disappear if we take other variables into account. Hence on both - patterns of interrupted educational careers and the decision to return to higher education - parental class has only a marginal influence. Rather, individual characteristics such as gender and ability and institutional factors such as having attended lower tiers of higher education or having achieved a vocational degree are the main variables of influence. Comparing Germany and the US, class differences are slightly stronger in the US, but here “ability” explains most of the class differences in re-enrolment rates.
• Soft Factors Mediating School Success: A Comparison of Migrant and Native Families
  Hämmerling, Aline
  Abstract | Download
  Abstract Cultural resources are central strategic means for families to promote their children’s school success. Cultural resources become particularly relevant in micro-interactional processes between parents and their children as well as between parents and school agents in order to ensure the child’s success. Two mediating ways that possibly affect children’s school carrier are of analytical interest here: first, via frequent and qualitatively high contact between parents and school agents, and second, via regular school related exchange between parents and their child (Coleman, 1988). Parents’ motivation and initiative are potential ‘soft’ factors of success that, as one piece of the puzzle, might contribute to the explanation of systematic ethnic differences in the educational outcome (Lareau & Weininger, 2003). Migration is predominantly believed to at least in part devaluate innate resources (e.g., strategic knowledge or skills) of migrants which at the same time lack resources specific to the receiving country (Esser 2006, Kalter 2003). In contrast, ‘soft’ factors such as educational motivation and engagement are rather context independent resources that might have a positive impact on academic achievements. Educational aspirations of certain migrant groups are known to be remarkably high (Kao & Tienda 1995). For school agents, these factors might as well be a signal of high educational motivation in the migrant family. Consequently, the following assumption can be made: If interactions of parents, both with the child and with school agents, are characterized by high educational interest and school involvement, the probability of a favourable positioning in the educational system increases when controlling for achievement test scores. This article investigates types of exchange that can enhance children’s achievements and favour teachers’ recommendation for the transition to the secondary school level; in Germany, this early transition is quite decisive for child’s entire educational carrier. Furthermore, this article looks at differences between migrant groups in Germany and asks whether these ‘soft’ factors account for varying positioning of the respective groups in the educational system. The analysis are conducted using longitudinal data from the project Immigrants’ Children in the German and Israeli Educational Systems (n=3014). The groups of interest are Ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union and the offspring of immigrants from Turkey compared to natives who attend grade four in the German educational system, which is right before the transition to the secondary school system. The dependent variables are competence levels and teachers’ recommendation; explaining variables are quality and quantity of parents’ contact with school agents and their involvement in the child’s school issues.
• Soziale Disparitäten in der Sekundarstufe und ihre langfristige Entwicklung
  Klein, M. Schindler, S., Pollak, R., Müller, W.
  Abstract | Download
  Der Beitrag untersucht für Deutschland die sozialen Disparitäten beim Besuch des Gymnasiums und beim Erwerb der Hochschulreife in ihrer langfristigen Entwicklung seit dem ersten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts bis in die jüngste Gegenwart. Er diskutiert theoretisch den Wandel der institutionellen und strukturellen Bedingungen, aus denen Veränderungen in den primären und sekundären Disparitäten nach sozialer Herkunft zu erwarten sind. Auf der Grundlage von Daten aus zahlreichen repräsentativen Bevölkerungsumfragen und einer langen Reihe von Mikrozensuserhebungen zeigt er dann, wie beim Erwerb höherer Bildung die Abhängigkeiten von der sozialen Herkunft in verschiedenen historischen Perioden für Männer und Frauen geringer geworden sind. Dabei zeigt sich, dass in jüngster Zeit bei den Frauen die Bildungsbeteiligung weniger von der sozialen Herkunft abhängt als bei den Männern. Dies erklärt zu einem nicht unwesentlichen Teil den inzwischen von den Frauen gegenüber den Männern erreichten Vorsprung im Erwerb höherer Bildung.
• The Determinants and Effects of Training at Work: Bringing the Workplace Back In
  O'Connell, P.J., Byrne, D.
  Abstract | Download
  This paper brings together two research fields: on work-related training and high performance work practices (HPWP), respectively. We estimate models of both the determinants and the impact of training. Our models of the determinants of training confirm previous research: age, education, contract, tenure, and firm size all influence training. Several components of HPWP are associated with a higher probability of training, specifically, general (non-firm-specific) training. Participation in general training is associated with higher earnings, as is involvement in highly participative and consultative working arrangements, and performance reward systems. These patterns of training, and returns to training, are broadly consistent with HPWP approaches and represent a challenge to human capital theory.
• The Double Whammy: The Impact of Social Origins and School Systems on Educational Transitions in Europe and the USA
  McMahon, Robert, Robert, Peter
  Abstract
  The paper investigates the process of school progression at three stages, from primary to secondary level, from secondary to post-secondary level and to tertiary level. Father’s class is the main predictor variable to determine these odds. The institutional context is based on taking tracking in the school system into account. The existence (or non-existence) of tracking is a major characteristic of the educational systems and affects the way how these systems are shaped and how students progress over the stages of the school system. Regarding the European societies, countries analyzed in the paper are grouped into an early tracking and a late tracking cluster and USA is a third case for expanding the scope of comparability. The paper uses the merged data file of the European Social Survey (ESS), Round 1, 2 and 3 from 2002, 2004 and 2006 and the GSS data for the same period. As cases for early tracking countries Belgium, Germany and Hungary were chosen, while the late tracking countries are investigated on the examples of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The general hypothesis is that the later an education transition the lower the social background effect. The pattern is expected to be present in the USA above all. Furthermore it is assumed that societies where tracking is less strong and occurs at a later age and stage in the school system, social origin will show smaller impact, while school progression is influenced by family background in the early tracking countries at most. For testing these hypotheses and estimating the impact of father’s class on the chances of school progression, binary probit models are used. The analysis shows that the role of social origins differs in the context of early tracking and late tracking school systems in Europe. The hypothesis that the importance of social origin declines with later transitions is not fully confirmed for the European societies, particularly not for the early tracking ones, but holds more for the USA.
• The application of the ISCED-97 to the UK’s educational qualifications
  Schneider, S.L.
  Abstract | Download
  in Schneider, Silke L. (Ed.) 2008: The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-97). An Evaluation of Content and Criterion Validity for 15 European Countries. Mannheim: MZES, chapter 15 (pp. 281-300). http://www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/buch_d.php?tit=isced97.html
• The comparative measurement of supervisory status.
  Pollak, R., Bauer, G., Müller, W., Weiss, F., and Wirth, H.
  Abstract | Download
• The educational choices made by adolescents of Turin after compulsory schooling
  Cavaletto, G.M.
  Abstract | Download
  The educational choices of adolescents between family constraints and context effects by Giulia Maria Cavaletto This paper presents the initial results of research on the educational choices made by adolescents in Turin after compulsory schooling, realized in 2007 on a sample of over one thousand families with children at secondary school. The project involved a quantitative stage, entailing a questionnaire distributed using the CATI method and a subsequent qualitative analysis through interviews with a sub-sample of families, the aim of the latter being to probe deeper into the decision making processes within families. At present, are available the results of the quantitative part with the relative explanatory model, while the analysis of the qualitative interviews is underway. For the research has been selected a sample of urban working class families (COU, Schizzerotto, 2002; Pisati, 2000), and a control group composed of middle class families of white collar employees (CMI) and of independent middle class (CMA), each of which with at least one child aged between 15 and 18. The aim of the research was not only to explore differences between classes but also differences within classes and to observe the effect of the presence/absence of phratries in decisions regarding education and the family’s investment in human capital. The literature of the past ten years on inequalities in educational opportunities has confirmed the role that several ascribed characteristics continue to play in the choices of educational paths after compulsory schooling (Schizzerotto, 2002; Pisati, 2000, 2002; Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993). Back in the 70’s, Boudon emphasised how inequalities in opportunities to acquire education were the most impervious to change within advanced industrial societies (Boudon, 1973). This trend, although not as marked, is still present today in highly developed countries such as Italy, where there is a general tendency to continue education after compulsory schooling (Checchi, 1999, 2000), but in different ways depending on the family of origin (Checchi and Ballarino, 2006; Schizzerotto and Barone, 2006) If, therefore the first bifurcation (Gambetta 1990) between continuing to study or stopping and entering in the labour market regards an increasingly small number of individuals, the array of choices that direct some towards one path of study and others towards a completely different one is still highly diversified. These trends then show further developments with relation to the more recent attempts to reform the education system, particularly those regarding upper secondary school, first with the Moratti law and then with the Fioroni decree. This research looks at the theory of rational choice considered in its more recent forms (Elster, 1986; Boudon, 2000; Goldthorpe, 2000). In particular, an approach of analytical sociology was adopted, therefore defining scholastic choices as phenomena to be explained by means of “individual (and family) decision making processes that may (or may not) sustain reproductive forces (of class)” (Gambetta, 1987). What are the mechanisms that act without the knowledge of the actors involved in educational choices (“necessarily”, Gambetta, 1996), with respect to intentional ones (“for love”, Gambetta, 1996) and how important are they? In the theoretical model, elements that influences differences in the quantity and quality of education acquired in a reference population have been defined as factors. The economic and financial situation of the family, the social and cultural capital possessed by the family and school performance (talent in Checchi and Ballarino, 2006; Checchi, 2000) of the children are considered endogenous factors. On the other hand, the supply of institutional education in the area and the situation of the labour market, in terms of positions and professional skills requested, as well as sectors in expansion at local level, are considered exogenous factors. Preference systems, opportunities (Gambetta, 1996) the educational styles of the family of origin towards their children (Kellerhals and Montandon, 1996), strategies for the allocation material and symbolic resources to family members and the past schooling experience of parents were then defined as generative mechanisms. The sample selected for the research was obtained from the records of the Studio Longitudinale Torinese (SLT), which contains individual and ecological records of the resident population of Turin, cross-referencing censor data updated as of 2001 with records of the registry office of the city of Turin. The SLT is composed of a system of longitudinal records, both retrospective and prospective, which integrate databases of registry, censor and national health information. At present, the Study involves, to varying degrees of coverage, depending on the records, the entire population of the city of Turin, from 1st January 1971 to 31 December 2005. The tool used to gather information was a closed-answer telephone questionnaire, divided into sections: personal details on the household, previous and current school career of the children, jobs and income, housing and district and health of children. A total of 1127 interviews were conducted, of which 750 COU cases, 273 CMI and the remainder CMA. The data gathered in this way were first analysed through the construction of two versions of a multinomial logit model: the school attended at the time of the interview was used as a dependent variable in the first; the scholastic performance of children attending secondary school at the time of the interview was used as a dependent variable in the second. Evaluations were then made of the effects of context, through a comparison with secondary data from the past ten years, particularly concentrating on periods in which elements of change, such as the Moratti reform, were introduced to the Italian secondary school system. The model was constructed starting from the assumption of the continuing influence of social class on educational choices, but with a growing attenuation of the influence exercised by variables such as the level of economic stability of the family of origin and the sex of the children. Other micro variables observed, such as scholastic performance/achievement and the past educational curriculum, the willingness of the adults to invest in human capital and the presence of the influence of peers within a phratry may have an explanatory importance when choosing secondary school. Lastly, it was shown how the “social class” variable is more important the more one highlights on one side its internal heterogeneousness by position in the labour market, whether referring to the urban working class (no longer comprised of blue collar workers alone but also by white collars) or to the middle class (freelance or employed); on the other hand, its internal organisation based on the position of the family members (cross class families, dual-income families in which the parents belong to the same social class but hold very diverse position in the labour market).
• The educational choices of adolescents of working class: opportunities and constraints
  Cavaletto, Guilia Maria, Olagnero, Manuela
  Abstract | Download
  Abstract The choice made at the end of compulsory school represents a crucial moment in the life of an individual, which will shape both his/her professional career and quality of life. In tertiary societies long-term education has spread throughout the social classes. Nevertheless the uncertainty connected to the increasing precariousness of the labour market could either reinforce or weaken the orientation to risk that is normally connected to investment in education. On the one side children of the working class are supposed to be much more involved in the high school experience than before (on account of the democratisation of educational opportunities, but also of the increase in the credentials needed to enter the labour market). On the other side, especially when the conversion of the economy from the industrial to tertiary phase is low and incomplete, some good reasons for families in keeping a low profile of education, especially for the working class, could persist. The research explores the conditions (analysed at micro level) that reduce or maintain the gap between the educational choices of working and middle class during a period of great uncertainty about social mobility and life chances. Is the aversion to risk, traditionally assumed an exclusive propriety of the working class, still exclusive to this group? Data are provided by a survey (based on CATI method interviews) carried out in 2007 and concerning the school choices and first career steps in secondary school of 1127 children of working and middle class families living in Turin.
• The educational choices of adolescents of working class: opportunities and constraints
  Cavaletto, G.M.; Olagnero, M.
  Abstract | Download
  The choice made at the end of compulsory school represents a crucial moment in the life of an individual, which will shape both his/her professional career and quality of life. In tertiary societies long-term education has spread throughout the social classes. Nevertheless the uncertainty connected to the increasing precariousness of the labour market could either reinforce or weaken the orientation to risk that is normally connected to investment in education. On the one side children of the working class are supposed to be much more involved in the high school experience than before (on account of the democratisation of educational opportunities, but also of the increase in the credentials needed to enter the labour market). On the other side, especially when the conversion of the economy from the industrial to tertiary phase is low and incomplete, some good reasons for families in keeping a low profile of education, especially for the working class, could persist. The research explores the conditions (analysed at micro level) that reduce or maintain the gap between the educational choices of working and middle class during a period of great uncertainty about social mobility and life chances. Is the aversion to risk, traditionally assumed an exclusive propriety of the working class, still exclusive to this group? Data are provided by a survey (based on CATI method interviews) carried out in 2007 and concerning the school choices and first career steps in secondary school of 1127 children of working and middle class families living in Turin.
• The educational choices of adolescents of working class: opportunities and constraints
  Cavaletto G.M., Olagnero, M.-
  Abstract | Download
  The choice made at the end of compulsory school represents a crucial moment in the life of an individual, which will shape both his/her professional career and quality of life. In tertiary societies long-term education has spread throughout the social classes. Nevertheless the uncertainty connected to the increasing precariousness of the labour market could either reinforce or weaken the orientation to risk that is normally connected to investment in education. On the one side children of the working class are supposed to be much more involved in the high school experience than before (on account of the democratisation of educational opportunities, but also of the increase in the credentials needed to enter the labour market). On the other side, especially when the conversion of the economy from the industrial to tertiary phase is low and incomplete, some good reasons for families in keeping a low profile of education, especially for the working class, could persist. The research explores the conditions (analysed at micro level) that reduce or maintain the gap between the educational choices of working and middle class during a period of great uncertainty about social mobility and life chances. Is the aversion to risk, traditionally assumed an exclusive propriety of the working class, still exclusive to this group? Data are provided by a survey (based on CATI method interviews) carried out in 2007 and concerning the school choices and first career steps in secondary school of 1127 children of working and middle class families living in Turin.
• The importance of social class in explaining the educational attainments of minority ethnic pupils in Britain: evidence from the Youth Cohort Study
  Rothon, C.
  Abstract | Download
• The influence of the partner’s education on fertility. A life course perspective on the impact of educational constellation and partnership characteristics on family formation
  Gerrit Bauer & Marita Jacob
  Abstract | Download
  A review of existing sociological literature on the relation between educational attainment and fertility decisions reveals that most empirical studies focus on characteristics of the female spouse. The role of the partner is neglected for the most part. Yet, most children are fathered and raised in an existing relationship. Hence, we assume that the influence of both partner’s education has to be regarded as an important determining factor for childbirth. From a theoretical perspective using bargaining models family formation can be seen as a collective decision mutually agreed upon by both spouses and therefore characteristics, resources and attitudes of both partners have to be considered. In our paper, we use this approach to examine fertility decisions, taking into account both partners as actors and couples as the unit of analyses. Hence, we look at each partner’s educational attainment and the couple’s educational constellation, i.e. if both partners have the same educational level or if one partner is higher educated than the other. Furthermore, from a life course perspective we apply a dynamic perspective. Regarding education, we are interested in both, in educational attainment and as well as the time since having left the educational system. In particular we are interested in how these individual characteristics are mediated by the partner’s and how these develop with the partnership’s duration. We thereby combine aspects of the individual life course of women and men with couple’s life course characteristics. Our empirical analysis is based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) that allows us to model partnership formation and duration as well as childbirth simultaneously.
• The success at school in France of children of mixed couples. The existence of a “mixed condition”?
  Unterreiner Anne
  Abstract | Download
  The children of mixed couples – defined here as the persons whose parents were born in different countries, one of them being France, and had a different nationality at birth one from each other – were culturally integrated in France, if we suppose that they were schooled in a French school. But, this "cultural integration" does not have for direct consequence their "structural integration " , that is their success at school. It is true that mixed children are from families of social categories superior to those of the mononational families of their group of origin. But, the analysis of the survey "Histoires de vie. Construction des identités " (INED, INSEE, 2003) tends to show that mixed children do not attend university in the same numbers as individuals who were born in France and whose parents were born in the same foreign country, ceteris paribus. So, if we control for two variables, the age of the investigated and the social category of the father of this one, we notice that descendants of immigrants are more successful than people having two French parents, Foreigners and Mixed individuals, which is significant. The question is then how to explain this phenomenon. A first hypothesis would be that mixed couple parents invest less in their child’s schooling than foreign parents. Previous research indeed have shown that, ceteris paribus, the descendants of immigrants are more successful in their studies than French people, which can be explained by the immigrant family’s hope that they might gain social ascent through their child’s success at school . A second hypothesis would be that some Mixed, the Half-bloods, are victims of discrimination because of their mixed parentage . The third hypothesis would be that some mixed couples are "cacogamous" , marginalized because of their mixed union with regard to their communities of origin. Their children would thus make fewer bonds within their communities than the descendants of immigrants .
• The ‘Europeanisation’ of Reference Groups: A Reconsideration Using EU-SILC
  Whelan, C.T., Maître, B.
  Abstract | Download
  In this paper we address the question of the relative importance of within and between country differences in income and material deprivation in the European Union in the context of recent suggestions that insufficient attention has been paid to the latter. In particular, we respond to the argument that the ‘state bounded’ relative income approach obscures the significanceof EU-wide reference groups. Making use of EU-SILC 2004, we have sought to quantify the magnitude of relevant within and between country differences and their relative impact. Overall, our analysis supports the view that the predominant frame of reference is a national one. The limited impact of European reference groups observed in our analysis does not require explanation in terms of the emergence of a European social stratification system. Furthermore, the significance of such comparisons depends not only on the expectations of those affected by European inequalities but on the degree of legitimacy afforded to ensuing demands. While an EU-wide income-threshold can provide information regarding progress of the Union towards greater social cohesion, its usage for this purpose does not require a strong sense of European identity. Given, the current status of the European Social Model it would seem unwise to attribute an undue degree of policy relevance to the relatively modest impact of EU-wide reference groups revealed in our analysis.
• Update on a “Theory of Social Mobility” – conceptual amendments and empirical results
  Pollak, Reinhard
  Abstract
  John Goldthorpe (2007) based his “Outline of a Theory of Social Mobility” on the assumption of cross-national similarity and temporal stability in (relative) mobility rates. In his theory, he argues that all individuals try to reach at least the same class position as their parents and that individuals do so by using class-specific resources and following class-specific investment strategies “from below” and from “above”. Goldthorpe’s explanandum, however, is no longer in accordance with recent empirical findings. As, for example, Breen and Luijkx (2004) have shown, there is a considerable amount of cross-national variability and – for many countries – an increasing trend in social mobility. These findings cannot be addressed with the existing theoretical outline by Goldthorpe. Instead, we need to find out what accounts for these variations. In my paper, I will argue that it is necessary to contextualize Goldthorpe’s main ideas of his outline of a theory of social mobility. It is not sufficient to look at different pathways for social mobility per se (set out by the “OED triangle”), but to bring in institutional and other macro-structural effects that have an impact on a) investments in education; b) returns to education; and c) direct inheritance effects. In the empirical part of the paper, I show for seven European countries, that institutional and other structural effects indeed have an impact on levels as well as on trends in social mobility. Much of the changes and differences in social mobility can thus be related to different contexts in which social (im-)mobility processes operate.
• What Kind of Higher Education Pays Off? An Analysis of Labour Market Entry of Higher Education Graduates in Ukraine
  Gebel, Michael, Kogan, Irena
  Abstract
  While a considerable body of research about tertiary education expansion and its labour market returns exist for western industrialized countries, far less is known concerning Eastern European countries. However, especially the rapid tertiary education expansion seen there in recent years demand research on the specific conditions governing school-to-work transition among tertiary education graduates. In this respect, Ukraine is an interesting case because of its massive expansion in tertiary educational attainment in recent years. This expansion has been accompanied by an increased differentiation of higher education institutions. In previous research we have shown that even relatively inferior tertiary tracks still have better payoffs compared to secondary education in terms of different labour market outcome dimensions such as the speed at labour market entry and the occupational status attained. The central research question of this contribution is, however, whether we can identify differences between graduates of various tertiary education institutions. From a theoretical point of view, we expect to find large heterogeneity within the group of tertiary graduates in terms of labour market prospects due to differences in self-selection mechanisms, signalling capacities, skill acquisitions, and closure processes. Furthermore, the strong tertiary education expansion might have outpaced the demand for high-skilled and led to a certain degree of occupational mismatches among tertiary graduates. Our analyses are based on retrospective micro-data data from unique, high-quality, large-scale Ukrainian school-leaver survey, which is representative for the whole country. The data allow for a differentiated view at the level of higher tertiary education in the light of its remarkable expansion such as different nationally standardized levels of institutional accreditation, differences between public and private higher education institutions, tuition and non-tuition based institutions, part-time and full-time students as well as field of study differences. We investigate the performance of graduates from different higher education institutions in a multidimensional evaluation looking at the pace of labour market entry and, especially, the matching quality of the first significant job attained. The matching quality is measured by subjective assessments of the respondents whether and how much their educational level deviates from the education required for the specific job they perform. Furthermore, we use an objective approach of measuring occupational matching by analyzing the transition probabilities to specific skill segments in the labour market.

EDUC projects are listed on the left hand side. For more information on specific projects click on the project titles in the blue boxes. The research results are presented in the State of the Art report (above) and the EDUC Research Papers: