Nicole Tieben

Success and Failure in Secondary Education: Socio-Economic Background Effects on Secondary School Outcome in the Netherlands, 1927-1998.

In the Netherlands, educational attainment is the result of a sequence of separate educational transitions. Because of the tracked nature of the Dutch educational system, students do not make binary stay‐or‐leave‐decisions at each transition. After having entered one track of secondary education, students can change tracks during the entire secondary course. The initial track and the secondary school outcome therefore are incongruent for a significant proportion of the Dutch students. As social background partly predicts initial track placement, track changes and successful termination of the course, we suggest distinguishing conditional and unconditional effects of family background in the transition to secondary school outcome. This paper complements findings of previous research by taking into account the tracked structure of the Dutch educational system and the entire sequence of transitions in secondary education. For the empirical analysis, repeated cross‐sections from the Family Survey Dutch Population (1992, 1998, 2000 and 2003) are used. Multinomial logistic regressions reveal that inequality in the outcome of secondary education is partly explained by the fact that initial track placement is socially selective and because this initial inequality is even enhanced by track changes during secondary education. The remaining ‘conditional’ effect of parental education, however, indicates that parental education works on top of this selection to prevent drop out. Inequality in secondary school outcome thus is a cumulative result of social background effects in a sequence of educational transitions throughout secondary education. Decreasing inequality over time is entirely explained by decreasing inequality in the transition from primary to secondary education.

Social selectivity of track mobility in secondary Schools. A comparison of intra-secondary transitions in Germany and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that track mobility during secondary education is influenced by parental background. However, family background effects might vary due to institutional variations in the educational structure. Therefore, in our paper we compare social selectivity of track mobility in two countries, Germany and The Netherlands. Both countries offer a hierarchically tracked educational system, but differ in details. Further, both countries established educational reforms in the late sixties, changing the conditions for track mobility differently. In our empirical analyses using data from the Family Survey Dutch Population and the German Life History Study we find that changing to a higher track is more likely for students who face the threat of status demotion, whereas changing to a lower track is independent of status maintenance motives. Intra-secondary transitions occur less often in The Netherlands than in Germany and are less motivated by status maintenance. Educational legislation reduces the effects of relative education of the parents only on upward mobility in Germany and only on downward mobility in The Netherlands.

A healthy sorting machine? Social inequality in the transition to upper secondary education in Germany

The German secondary education system is highly stratified. However, the higher tracks have expanded vastly over the last decades, leading to substantial changes in the distribution of students across the different tracks. Following the German re‐unification, the school structure itself has also changed to some degree. Furthermore, several smaller education reforms have increased the flexibility of moving between different tracks. This study describes the changing distributions from 1970 to 2006 and examines whether social inequality in lower secondary education outcome and transition to upper secondary education has changed during the process. We find no robust evidence for change in social inequalities in the attainment of lower secondary school‐leaving certificates or entry into the various upper secondary options. Most but not all of the observed inequality is due to individuals’ lower secondary track placement.

Wer nutzt die Durchlässigkeit zwischen verschiedenen Schulformen? Soziale Selektivität bei Schulformwechseln und nachgeholten Schulabschlüssen

In Deutschland werden Kinder bereits im Alter von 10 bis 12 Jahren nach Beendigung der Grundschule in unterschiedliche Schultypen zugewiesen, in der Regel in eine der drei dominierenden Schulformen Hauptschule, Realschule oder Gymnasium. Die Zuweisung zu diesen Schultypen erfolgt vor allem auf Basis der vorherigen schulischen Leistung, aber dennoch steht in den aktuellen Debatten gerade diese fruhe Selektion im deutschen Schulsystem im Verdacht, soziale Ungleichheiten zu produzieren oder sogar zu verstarken, da die Eltern erheblichen Einfluss auf die Entscheidung nehmen konnen. Im Unterschied zu spateren Entscheidungen sind hier die Bildungsabsichten der Eltern besonders bedeutsam, da weder den Kindern selbst die notige Entscheidungskompetenz zugesprochen wird noch das zukunftige kognitive Entwicklungspotenzial bereits ganzlich abzusehen ist. Da es um eine weitreichende Entscheidung mit langjahrigen Folgen geht, spielen die eigenen Erfahrungen der Eltern mit dem Bildungssystem, ihre Bildungsaspirationen aber auch ihre Einschatzung uber mogliche Kosten und dem zukunftigen Nutzen der gewahlten Bildungslaufbahn neben den tatsachlichen schulischen Leistungen ihrer Kinder eine grose Rolle.