Desigualdad de oportunidades en rendimeinto académico en la educación primaria y educación secundaria obligatoria en Canarias

Abstract

This report characterizes the educational system in the Canary Islands in terms of inequality, inequity and inequality of opportunities in academic performance. We use census and/or sample data on compulsory primary and secondary education students enrolled in 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. This data is provided by the Agencia Canaria de Calidad Universitaria y Evaluación Educativa (ACCUEE) through its periodic diagnostic assessment reports. Our results reveal that, in terms of inequality and inequity in compulsory secondary education, Canary Islands are not situated in a bad position with respect to Spain and OCDE. However, although we do not find significant differences in inequality between primary and secondary education, we do find strong differences in inequity in academic performance. We show that students’ socioeconomic status plays a more important role in compulsory secondary education and in the English course. We estimate a regression model to analyse the variables that explain inequality of opportunity in academic performance. We conclude that, considering our set of circumstances, inequality of opportunity explains 36%, 38% and 46% of total inequality in the third and sixth stages of primary education and the fourth stage of compulsory secondary education, respectively, and that inequality of opportunities is higher in secondary education and in the English course. Among our set of circumstances, parents’ education and occupation, the number of books in the household and household income are the most important ones both in primary and secondary education, being parents’ education especially relevant in primary education and the number of books in secondary education. This work contributes to the identification of the sources of inequality of opportunities in the Canary Islands. Therefore, our results are intended to be helpful in shaping education policies aimed at improving the equity of the educational system.