Reproduction of social inequalities in the German school system

Author(s):

Agnes Stancel

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Poster

Session Information

MC_POST, Main Conference Poster Session and Lunch Break

Posters will be displayed throughout the conference and submitters are asked to be present in both Poster Sessions to answer questions. Poster Session I: Tuesday, 12.15 - 13.30 Poster Session II: Wednesday 12.15 - 13.30

Time:

2009-09-29

12:15-13:15

Room:

Otkogon

Chair:

Contribution

Despite the educational expansion that was initiated in the German school system by the educational reforms in the beginning of the 60-ies, several research results show that although there is a higher participation in education of all social classes, the structure of the educational discrimination however has not changed significantly at all (Becker & Lauterbach, 2007; Maaz, 2006; Maaz et al., 2006; Bos et al., 2007; Bos & Pietsch, 2005). Considering this resistance of the correlation between social class and educational participation of students the causes and mechanisms of social inequalities in the school system are becoming an increasing important research issues in the recent studies in Germany. An often placed question thereby regards the interactions between causes and mechanisms on different levels of the school system, the individual, class and school level including their sociological and culture context (Dravenau & Groh-Samberg, 2005; Grundmann et al., 2007; Becker & Lauterbach, 2007). At the same time it is pointed out that ability differences between groups of the social stratum are increasing while the social selective marking is decreasing in the German school system (Boudon, 1974; Bourdieu, 1983; Arnold et al., 2007). In the sense of Bourdieu (1983) this can be interpreted as a deception of the social inequalities. However, the assignment of educational system to qualify pupils for further educational and job carriers makes the social equality an important concern (Maaz et. al., 2006; Watermann & Baumert, 2006; Pietsch & Stubbe, 2007; Ditton, 2007). The following study explores the influence of institutional conditions on the degree of inequalities within the school system controlling individual achievement and background variables. The main focus at the school-level is on teacher traits and instruction as well as on class-composition (socio-economic and language background, educational distance of pupils’ households). This will be explored by reanalysing the data from KESS-4-study that had been run in Hamburg in 2003 (Bos & Pietsch, 2005). Thereby secondary school track recommendations for the pupils for a particular level are considered as a result of the coaction of teachers’ and pupils’ psychological traits as well as the institutional and social context variables (ecological perspective, Bronfenbrenner, 1978, 1981).

Method

The following research uses the multilevel structure modelling method (Muthén & Muthén 1999, Bovaird 2007) to explore the influence of the teacher traits and the class composition on primary and secondary social discrimination effects (Boudon 1974). 1) Individual level: Modelling the primary and secondary social discrimination effects (Baumert at al. 2006). 2) Class level: adding on - the teachers’ variables (diagnostic-expertise, individual orientation and judgement, teaching style, expectations), - and the class composition variables (socio-economic background and achievement). The comparison between the path coefficients of the different models as well as the goodness-of-fit statistics will show if there is any influence of the class and teacher traits on the reproduction of the social inequality.

Expected Outcomes

1. Degree of social inequality by teachers’ recommendations for a particular school level correlates with: a) Teachers traits and instruction (Ditton 2007, Bromme et al. 2006, Perrez, Huber & Geißler 2006). b) Class-composition (e.g. Ditton 1992). 2. The value of the social selectivity of parents’ choices can be allayed by: a) Teacher traits and instruction: Less performance-orientated teachers are able to encourage parents of social disadvantaged pupils to choose higher school level for their well-performing children. The social inequality should decrease. b) Class-composition: In classes with higher average social status there is a higher teacher performance expectation to get a recommendation for higher educational level. It may be stronger for lower social class students to achieve high level of education and believe in their own ability, especially if there are only a few of them in school class. The social inequality should increase.

References

Arnold, K.-H., Bos, W., Richert, P., Stubbe, T. C. (2007). Schullaufbahnpräferenzen am Ende der vierten Klassenstufe. In W. Bos, S. Horberg, K.-H. Arnold, G. Faust, L. Fried, E.-M. Lankes, K. Schwippert & R. Valtin (Hrsg.), IGLU 2006. Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich (S. 271 -298). Münster/NewYork: Waxmann. Becker, R. & Lauterbach, W. (2007). Bildung als Privileg. Erklärungen und Befunde zu den Ursachen der Bildungsungleichheit. Wiesbaden: VS. Bos, W., Hornberg, S., Arnold, K.-H., Faust, G., Fried, L., Lankes, E.-M., Schwippert, K. & Valtin, R. (2007). IGLU 2006. Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich. Münster: Waxmann. Bos, W. & Pietsch, M. (2005). KESS4. Kompetenzen und Einstellungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern. Jahrgangsstufe 4. Hamburg: Bergmann & Sohn. Boudon, R. (1974). Education, Opportunity, and Social Inequality. Changing Prospects in Western Society. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Bourdieu, P. (1983). Ökonomisches Kapital, kulturelles Kapital, soziales Kapital. In R. Kreckel (Hrsg.), Zur Theorie sozialer Ungleichheiten. Sonderband 2 der sozialen Welt (S. 183 – 198). Göttingen: Schwarz. Bromme, R., Rheinberg, F., Minsel, B., Winteler, A., Weidenmann, B. (2006). Die Erziehenden und Lehrenden. In A. Krapp & B. Weidenmann (Hrsg.), Pädagogische Psychologie, (5. Aufl., S. 271–355). Weinheim: Basel – Beltz. Bronfenbrenner (1978). Ansätze zu einer experimentellen Ökologie menschlicher Entwicklung. In R. Oerter (Hrsg.), Entwicklung als lebenslanger Prozess. Aspekte und Perspektiven. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe Verlag. Bronfenbrenner (1981). Die Ökologie der menschlichen Entwicklung. Natürliche und geplante Experimente. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Ditton, H. (2007). Der Beitrag von Schule und Lehrern zur Reproduktion von Bildungsungleichheit. In R. Becker & W. Lauterbach (Hrsg.), Bildung als Privileg. Wiesbaden: VS. Ditton, H. & Krüsken, J. (2006). Der Übergang von der Grundschule in die Sekundarstufe I. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 9 (3), 348-372. Dravenau, D. & Groh-Samberg, O. (2005). Bildungsbenachteiligung als Institutionseffekt. Zur Verschränkung kultureller und institutioneller Diskriminierung. In P.A. Berger & H. Kahlert (Hrsg.), Institutionalisierte Ungleichheiten. Wie das Bildungswesen Chancen blockt (S. 103 – 129). Weinheim: Juventa. Grundmann, M., Bittlingmayer, U. H., Dravenau D. & Groh-Samberg, O. (2007). Bildung als Privileg und Fluch – zum Zusammenhang zwischen lebensweltlichen und institutionalisierten Bildungsprozessen. In R. Becker & W. Lauterbach (Hrsg.), Bildung als Privileg. Wiesbaden: VS. Lankes, E.-M. & Carstensen, C.H. (2007). Der Leseunterricht aus der Sicht der Lehrkräfte. In W. Bos, S. Hornberg, , K.-H. Arnold, G. Faust, L. Fried, E.-M. Lankes, K. Schwippert & R. Valtin (Hrsg.), IGLU 2006. Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich (S. 161-193). Münster: Waxmann. Maaz, K. (2006). Soziale Herkunft und Hochschulzugang. Effekte institutioneller Öffnung im Bildungssystem. Wiesbaden: VS. Maaz, K., Hausen, C., McElvany, N. & Baumert, J. (2006). Stichwort: Übergänge im Bildungssystem. Theoretische Konzepte und ihre Anwendung in der empirischen Forschung beim Übergang in die Sekundarstufe. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 9 (3), 299 – 327. Pietsch, M. & Stubbe, T. (2007). Inequality in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School: school choices and educational disparities in Germany. European Educational Research Journal, 6 (4), 424 – 444. Watermann, R. & Baumert, J. (2006). Entwicklung eines Strukturmodells zum Zusammenhang zwischen sozialer Herkunft und fachlichen und überfachlichen Kompetenzen: Befunde national und international vergleichender Analysen. In J. Baumert, P. Stanat & R. Watermann (Hrsg.), Herkunftsbedingte Disparitäten im Bildungswesen. Vertiefende Analysen im Rahmen von PISA 2000. Wiesbaden: VS.

Author Information

Agnes Stancel

University of Hamburg

Department of education

Hamburg

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