Fostering Equality of Opportunity? Compulsory Schooling Reform and Social Mobility in Germany

Bastian Betthäuser

doi:10.1093/esr/jcx066

Abstract

Fostering Equality of Opportunity? Compulsory Schooling Reform and Social Mobility in Germany

Highlights

It is well known that, across all European societies, children from low social class backgrounds have substantially lower chances of obtaining a position in the middle or upper classes than is the case for people from higher social class backgrounds (Erikson and Goldthorpe, 1992; Breen, 2004)
Our article has sought to contribute to the ongoing debate about the potential of education policy to increase intergenerational social mobility (Ishida et al, 1995; Goldthorpe, 2007, 2016; Saunders, 2012)
While this debate has far largely relied on indirect evidence concerning the mediating role of education in the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage and longterm trends in intergenerational social mobility, we use a quasi-experimental approach to directly evaluate the effect of one specific education policy reform—the extension of compulsory schooling in Germany—on the educational and labour market chances of people from different social backgrounds

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that, across all European societies, children from low social class backgrounds have substantially lower chances of obtaining a position in the middle or upper classes than is the case for people from higher social class backgrounds (Erikson and Goldthorpe, 1992; Breen, 2004). Individuals in this group are disadvantaged in terms of the low level of parental economic resources they rely on during their early development and schooling and, given the strong link between parental class background and children’s educational attainment, they are likely to leave school earlier than people from more advantaged backgrounds (Blossfeld, 1993) It follows that the reduction in the relative cost of different secondary-level qualifications that resulted from the extension of compulsory schooling may be expected to have had a pronounced effect on the educational attainment and labour market position of children from unskilled working-class families.

1: Inequality in Educational Attainment

2: Inequality in Labour Market Chances

Conclusion