Publisher:
Instituto Carlos III - Juan March de Ciencias Sociales (IC3JM)
Issued date:
2014-02-20
Sponsor:
Research funded by the Spanish National Plan for R&D CIEDES [CSO2011-30179-C02-01]. Part of this re-search has taken place at Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs), between August and December 2012, where María Fdez. Mellizo-Soto was Visiting Research Scholar (funds from the Spanish National Ministry of Education for the mobility of University Professors).
Serie/No.:
Estudios = Working Papers 2014/286
Keywords:
Sociology of education
,
Economy of education
,
Social stratification
,
Inequality of educational opportunities
,
Inequality dynamic
,
School failure
Rights:
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
Abstract:
School failure is substantive in Spain. The percentage of students that do not achieve the compulsory education diploma is around 20%. Students who “fail” cannot continue to post-compulsory education and, sooner or later, have to leave formal education. SchoolSchool failure is substantive in Spain. The percentage of students that do not achieve the compulsory education diploma is around 20%. Students who “fail” cannot continue to post-compulsory education and, sooner or later, have to leave formal education. School failure is usually higher for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This article explores the evolution of Inequality of Educational Opportunities (IEO) in compulsory education from the seventies in Spain. Using logit models of estimation to control for socio-demographic factors that may interfere with IEO dynamic, it shows that IEO at this level of education ran parallel with school failure: specifically, it decreased until the late nineties and increased afterwards. In order to explain this (unexpected) increase, we have tested the impact of a Law, known as LOGSE, which was implemented in Spain at the end of the nineties. We provide evidence that this Law, although egalitarian in spirit, in practice could have worked against students from lower socio-economic backgrounds continuing in education; thereby increasing IEO at this transition point.[+][-]