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Excellence through equality of opportunity – Increasing the social inclusiveness of education systems benefits disadvantaged students without harming advantaged students

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  • Holtmann, Anne Christine

Abstract

Middle- and upper-class parents tend to think that school systems in which students from different socio-economic backgrounds learn together in the same schools would promote equality of opportunity but would harm their children. I investigate this belief, making both a conceptual and a methodological contribution. Conceptually I broaden the concept of differentiation in education arguing that not only formal differentiation but also more ‘hidden’ forms of differentiation such as residential segregation or private schools might contribute to a segregation of students from different socio-economic backgrounds into separate schools. Methodologically I contribute to the debate by analysing changes within countries, controlling for time-constant unobserved differences between countries. Using five waves of PISA data for 35 countries from 2000 to 2012, I find that in education systems in which schools become more socially inclusive, students from disadvantaged families improve their performance. Students from better-off families perform well independent of whether the education system becomes more socially segregated or inclusive. Thus, there is no conflict between equality of opportunity and excellence in education. In contrast, excellence can be improved through equality of opportunity without hindering advantaged students or top performers.

Suggested Citation

  • Holtmann, Anne Christine, 2016. "Excellence through equality of opportunity – Increasing the social inclusiveness of education systems benefits disadvantaged students without harming advantaged students," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 61-76.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:195171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Wössmann, 2006. "Does Educational Tracking Affect Performance and Inequality? Differences- in-Differences Evidence Across Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 63-76, March.
    2. Robert Bifulco & Helen F. Ladd & Stephen Ross, 2007. "Public School Choice and Integration: Evidence from Durham, North Carolina," Working papers 2007-41, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2008.
    3. Jakubowski, Maciej & Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Porta, Emilio Ernesto & Wisniewski, Jerzy, 2010. "The impact of the 1999 education reform in Poland," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5263, The World Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Burger, Kaspar, 2019. "The socio-spatial dimension of educational inequality: A comparative European analysis," MPRA Paper 95309, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2019.

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