The aim of this article is to identify the consequences of the stream followed in high school on the professional opportunities of baccalaureate holders at the beginning of their career. By combining the 1995 panel of secondary level pupils with the survey on entry into adult life, we are able to identify the effects that … Read more
Baccalaureate Tracks and Employment at the End of Education: Contribution of the Educational Pathway and Analysis of Gender Gaps
DIAL Policy Brief No. 5 ‘Causes and consequences of educational inequalities: What can policymakers learn from Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course (DIAL) research?’
There are a number of key European policy agendas related to education on which the DIAL research can shed light. This policy brief gives an overview of findings from DIAL projects in this area. Key Findings The more selective an education system is, and the earlier the age at which selection takes place, the more … Read more
Upper secondary tracks and student competencies: A selection or a causal effect? Evidence from the Italian case
This piece of research examines whether Italian students’ choice of educational track has a causal effect on general skills in reading and mathematics. The research, which relies on a population-level longitudinal dataset, looks at the choices students make at age 14 between four tracks: classical and scientific studies, a general humanistic track, technical, and vocational … Read more
Explaining gender segregation in higher education: longitudinal evidence on the French case
This article asks why gender gaps persist in higher education even though women’s attainment is higher than men’s across the OECD, and even though gender gaps at work are narrowing. Women are still under-represented in subjects such as engineering and computing, and over-represented in human sciences and humanities. The article tests a number of theories … Read more
Does ability grouping affect UK primary school pupils’ enjoyment of Maths and English?
This paper looks at how pupils’ enjoyment of the subjects they study is affected by the ability groups in which they are placed. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows a sample of children born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, it finds those in a low ability group were less likely … Read more
Long-term labor market returns to upper secondary school track choice: Leveraging idiosyncratic variation in peers’ choices
This study looks at the possible benefits and disadvantages of choosing a vocational rather than an academic track in upper secondary education. While supporters of vocational education and training (VET) say it can provide a safety net for those at risk of dropping out of education or failing to enter the labour market, critics say … Read more
Educational tracking and personality formation: Evidence from a dual system
Research on the effects of educational selection has tended to focus on how it affects academic development and achievement. This project asks a different question: does the educational track on which we are placed as teenagers affect the development of personality traits? Personality traits continue to develop throughout the adolescent and early adult years, and … Read more
Aggressive behavior, emotional, and attention problems across childhood and academic attainment at the end of primary school
This research assesses whether aggressive behavior and emotional problems from early childhood onwards are related to academic attainment at the end of primary education, and whether these links are independent of attention problems. The researchers make use of data on 2546 children participating in a longitudinal birth cohort in Rotterdam to look at aggressive behavior, … Read more
Geographical mobility and children’s non-completion of upper secondary education in Finland and Germany: Do parental resources matter?
It is often assumed that families migrate to improve their economic and social prospects, and that these additional resources can benefit the whole family. However, existing research suggests that many children who have experienced (internal) migration underperform compared to their non-migrating peers in terms of different socioeconomic outcomes. In this article, we study the effects … Read more
Sibling similarity in education across and within societies
The extent to which siblings resemble each other measures the omnibus impact of family background on life chances. We study sibling similarity in cognitive skills, school grades, and educational attainment in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also compare sibling similarity by parental education and occupation within these societies. … Read more