Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education: Communist and PostCommunist Patterns of Inequality

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Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education
Communist and Post-Communist Patterns of
Inequality

• The role of class in the transition between
  secondary and tertiary education in the Czech
  Republic 1948 - 1998

Petr MatejuBlanka RehákováNatalie
Simonová mateju_at_mbox.cesnet.cz
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Research framework

• Changes in social stratification in
  post-communist countries (a shift from the
  emphasis on the formation of elites and capital
  conversions to the formation of the entire
  stratification system, ? the role of education)
• Expansion, Differentiation and Stratification in
  Higher Education. A Comparative Study of 15
  Countries (Shavit, Arum and Gamoran) ? the role
  of structural factors)
• OECD coordinated research on equity in education
  (the role of structural factors and models of
  financing)

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Research question 1

• What has been a long term development of
  inequality in attaining higher education in
  formerly Communist countries? Are there typical
  pre-socialist, socialist and post-socialist
  patterns of inequality in access to tertiary
  education?

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Research question 2

• Whats the joint effect of
• a) the change in the class structure in
  post-communist societies (growth of inequality,
  crystallization of social classes, winners
  losers of the transformation),
  and
• b) limited growth of educational opportunity at
  the tertiary level (unitary and supply driven
  systems) on inequality in access to tertiary
  education ?

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Policy relevant issues

• Assumptions
• ?Unitary and supply driven systems of
  tertiary education are assumed to generate higher
  inequality than binary and demand driven
  systems.
• ? For more than fifty years, the Czech tertiary
  system has been supply driven and unitary type of
  system.
• ? Both these attributes are expected to result in
  high inequality.

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Policy relevant issues

• Questions
• Do the data support these assumptions?
• Is inequality higher in the Czech Republic
  than in typical binary and demand driven systems?
  
• Has inequality in the Czech republic increased
  after 1989?

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Research hypotheses

• H1 Socialism didn't bring any significant change
  in the effect of socio-economic background on the
  odds of making the transition between secondary
  and tertiary education (the only significant
  change was the reduction of inequality between
  men and women)

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• Theoretical argument supporting H1 Hanley,
  McKeever, Gerber, Hout, Wong theory of
  trajectory maintenance.
• Summary gtgt Members of the pre-communist elites
  (bureaucracy and professionals) were able to pass
  privileges to their children even under the new
  regime. gtgt They achieved this aim primarily by
  making use of their social and cultural capital.
  gtgt Social capital, such as membership in the
  communist party, played important role as a
  mediator of intergenerational inequalities .
• Application The initial (revolutionary)
  redistribution of opportunities in favor of lower
  social strata (quota system) was gradually
  replaced by a rank-order system favoring the
  new elite (bureaucracy and professionals)

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Research hypotheses

• H2 Post-communist transformation brought a
  significant increase in the effect of social
  background on the odds of making the transition
  between secondary and tertiary education. It was
  primarily due to the increasing effect of the
  father's social class.

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• Theoretical argument supporting H2 Raftery and
  Hout maximally maintained inequality .
• Summary gtgt Privileged social classes have
  enough capacity to maintain advantages in access
  to higher education. gtgt The chances of
  low-status groups can increase only when the
  demand for a given level of education is
  saturated among better-off children. gtgt The
  probability of low-status children making the
  transition can actually increase only with a
  further expansion of educational opportunities
  and softening of the selection criteria.
• Application growing aspirations cause enormous
  competition at the entry (50 of applicants
  rejected every year). In this competition higher
  social strata tend to win (also due to the tough
  entry exams designed to reject as many as
  possible)

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Research hypotheses

• H3The increase in class differentials in the
  odds of making the transition between secondary
  and tertiary education is caused in particular by
  the widening gap between the typical losers of
  the transformation (semi-skilled and unskilled
  workers) and other classes.

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• Theoretical argument supporting H3 Goldthorpe
  and Breen theory of rational action.
• Summary gtgt Educational expansion leads to the
  weakening of the role of primary factors
  (selectivity of successive transitions in terms
  of ability is reduced). gtgt This brings larger
  number of children to the competition for more
  ambitious educational options.gtgt Class
  differentials in taking up these options persist
  because only little change has occurred in
  relativities of cost-benefit evaluations made by
  individuals (children and parents) in different
  class situations.
• Applicationthe relative costs of achieving
  higher education are higher for working class,
  and so is the risk of failure (be it drop-out or
  obstacles in achieving an expected occupational
  position) hesitation to apply.

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Elementary evidence comparative perspective
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Inequality ratio for achieving tertiary education
by parents education (tertiary/lower
secondary)(Source SIALS)
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Inequality ratio for achieving tertiary education
by parents education (tertiary/lower
secondary)(Source SIALS)
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Inequality ratio for achieving tertiary education
by fathers class (professional/manual
worker)(Source SIALS)
17
Inequality ratio for achieving tertiary education
by fathers class (professional/manual
worker)(Source SIALS)
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Elementary evidence long-term development
19
Secondary school graduates, enrolled to
university, and the proportion of enrolled
between 1962 and 1999 in the Czech Republic.
Both graduates and enrolled include part-time
students
1968
1989
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Proportion of individuals who passed through the
second transition by father's class and cohort
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Testing hypotheses Data
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Merged data set

• 1991 Transformation of Social Structure Survey
  1991 (TSS-91),
• 1998 Second International Adult Literacy Survey
  1998 (SIALS-98)
• 1999 International Social Survey Program -
  survey module on Social Inequality 1999
  (ISSP-99)
• The analytical data file 6.740 cases

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Variables (distributions p.26)

• COHORT year when respondent reached 18 years of
  age 1. before 1948, 2. 1948 - 1964, 3. 1965 -
  1974, 4. 1975 - 1989, 5. 1990 1999
• SEX respondents gender (1. male, 2. female)
• PED parents education (1. lower secondary 2.
  higher secondary 3. tertiary)
• FCLS father's class at the time the respondent
  was 16 years old (1. semi-skilled and unskilled
  workers, farm workers, 2. skilled workers, 3.
  routine non-manual occupations, 4. professionals
  - including self-employed)
• SUCCESS respondents success in transition from
  secondary to tertiary education (1. yes, 0. no).
• TERTIARY respondents success in achieving
  tertiary education (1. yes, 0. no).

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Method

• Logit models
• Dependent variables a) SUCCESS
  (conditional models) b) TERTIARY
  (unconditional models)
• Independent variables (categorical) COHORT,
  SEX, PED, FCLS
• Variable COHORT transformed into a set of special
  contrast variables representing individual
  hypotheses

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Conditional models(desription of models p. 26)

• Dependent SUCCESS IN THE TRANSITION
• Model I COHORT, PED, SEX
• Model II COHORT, FCLS, SEX
• Model III COHORT, PED(2), FCLS(2)

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Results Model I

• Model I COHORT, PED, SEX
• Odds ratios between categories of PED are
  identical across cohorts, odds ratios between men
  and women changed between 2nd and 3rd cohort (the
  effect of socialist redistribution), stable
  afterwards.L2 20.5, DF 24, p 0.666

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Odds for the second transition Model I Men
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Odds for the second transition Model I Women
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Odds ratios for the second transition based on
odds predicted by Model IL2 20.5, DF 24, p
0.666
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Results Model II

• Model II COHORT, FCLS, SEX
• Odds ratios between all categories of FCLS are
  identical across the first four cohorts, odds
  ratios between UW and other classes increase
  after 1989, other odds ratios remain stable.L2
  26.1, DF 31, p 0.718

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Odds for the second transition Model II Men
32
Odds for the second transition Model II Women
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Odds ratios for the second transition based on
odds predicted by Model II L2 26.1, DF 31, p
0.718
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Results Model III

• Model III COHORT, PED (2), FCLS (2)PED2
  (1)(2,3), FCLS (1)(2,3,4)
• Odds ratios between categories of PED (2) stable
  over time, odds ratios between categories of FCLS
  (2) also stable except the last cohort, during
  which they significantly increased. L2 12.8,
  DF 14, p 0.543

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Odds ratios for the second transition from Model
III (PED 2 FCLS 2)(odds ratios are
identical for men and women)L2 12.8, DF 14,
p 0.543
Disadvantage of working class
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Conclusions 1
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• H1 Socialism didn't bring significant change in
  the effect of socio-economic background on the
  odds of making the transition between secondary
  and tertiary education (the only significant
  change was the reduction of inequality between
  men and women)

• Results
• the effect of parents education stable
• the effect of gender advantage of men reduced
• the effect of fathers class stable

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• H2 Post-communist transformation brought a
  significant increase in the effect of social
  background on the odds of making the transition
  between secondary and tertiary education. It was
  primarily due to the increasing effect of the
  father's social class.

• Results
• the effect of parents education stable
• the effect of fathers class significant
  increase
• the effect of gender stable

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• H3The increase of the class differentials in the
  odds of making the transition between secondary
  and tertiary education after 1989 was caused in
  particular by the widening gap between
  semi-skilled and unskilled workers and other
  classes.

• Results
• odds ratios between all classes except UW stable
• odds ratios between UW and other classes
  significant increase

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Unconditional models(desription of models p. 26)

• Dependent TERTIARY
• Model I COHORT, PED, SEX
• Model II COHORT, FCLS, SEX
• Model III COHORT, PED(2), FCLS(2)

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Results Model IV

• Model I COHORT, PED, SEX
• Odds ratios between categories of PED identical
  across all cohorts, odds ratios between men and
  women dropped between 1st and 3rd cohort, stable
  afterwards.L2 16.2, DF 22, p 0.807

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Odds ratios for attaining tertiary education PED
Model IV
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Results Model V

• Model II COHORT, FCLS, SEX
• Odds ratios between professionals and other
  classes dropped between 1st and 2nd cohort
  (short-term effect of quota system), then grew
  again between 2nd and 3rd cohort (new elite
  secured advanatages), stable afterwards. Other
  odds ratios stable.
• L2 25.5, DF 28, p 0.601

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Odds ratios for attaining tertiary education
FCLS Model V
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Odds for attaining tertiary education FCLS Model
V
Quota system applied on children of professionals
(4) at both secondary and tertirary level
Privileges of the new socialist elite restored
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Results Model VI

• Model II COHORT, PED (2) FCLS (2),
• PED2 (1)(2,3), FCLS (1)(2,3,4)
• Odds ratios between two categories of PED (2)
  stable over time, odds ratios between two
  categories of FCLS (2) stable until 1989,
  significantly growth afterwards. L2 15.3, DF
  14, p 0.355

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Odds ratios for attaining tertiary education PED
(2) and FCLS (2) Model VI
Disadvantage of working class
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Conclusions 2
49

• The effect of cultural resources (parents
  education) on tertiary education attainment has
  been stable over the entire period under the
  study no significant difference between
  pre-communist, communist, and
  post-communist patterns of inequality.
• The initial stage of communism brought
  significant change in the odds ratios between men
  and women the chances of women grew until mid
  seventies, then have remained stable.

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• The gross effect of class background (fathers
  class) weakened during the first stage of
  communist development (quota system affected
  mainly the chances of upper and bottom classes).
• However, as the new elite secured advantages for
  their children, the advantage of upper classes
  grew during the sixties and seventies, to remain
  stable afterwards.
• The net effects of parents education and
  fathers class confirm the overall stability of
  inequality (odds ratios) until 1989, then the
  post-communist transformation caused rapid growth
  of class inequality.

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General conclusions

• In a long term perspective, socialism didnt
  improve relative chances of working class
  children for attaining tertiary education (the
  effect of quota system was only temporary)
• Post-communist transformation brought significant
  increase of inequality, particularly due to the
  growth of relative disadvantage of children of
  working class origin.

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General conclusions

• This development has been caused primarily by two
  factorsa) rapid growth of demand for tertiary
  education after 1989b) maintaining the
  elitist nature of the tertiary system
  (supply driven unitary system)

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General conclusions

• From theoretical point of view, two theories
  receive particularly strong support by the
  development in the Czech Republica) theory of
  maximally maintained inequality (Raftery
  and Hout)b) theory of rational action
  (Goldthorpe and Breen)

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General conclusions

• To get further in testing the two hypotheses, a
  longitudinal project based on PISA 2003 was
  launched in the Czech Republic on a panel of
  10.000 students (15-years-olds)
• The first results (the role of class-determined
  aspirations) will be available next year.