Reproducing social inequality within comprehensive school systems –The case of Australia

Abstract

A plethora of previous research shows that educational attainment is associated with social origin (e.g. Breen and Goldthorpe 1997; Becker 2003; Pfeffer 2008; Alon 2009; Roksa and Potter 2011; Triventi 2013). In Breen and Goldthorpe’s (1997) conceptualization, the primary effects of social origin include the association between parental social class and child’s academic ability as measured by achievement tests, whereas the secondary effects of social origin relate to differences in educational decisions according to parental social class. Pfeffer (2008) argues that there is a positive association between levels of social inequality and levels of stratification within secondary schooling systems However, other researchers find that inequality persists even within comprehensive schooling systems (Roksa 2008; Chesters and Watson 2013).