The aim of the project is to analyze measures that reduce social inequality on the level of school organization. Only by generating informed knowledge about concrete measures it can be examined which measures actually work. The work contributes to the ultimate justification of which ‘direction of impact’ (Solga & Dombrowski 2009) science, practice and politics should pursue in order to reduce social inequality demonstrably in this context.

Pertinence:

Unequal opportunities in the education system have been recognized as a problem in Germany since the 1960s. Despite the improvement in educational background and the educational participation of children in recent years, Germany’s educational report in 2017 states that it has still not been possible to sustainably break the close link between social background and educational success (BAMS 2017). Schools as public institutions are required to fulfill their social and educational task to give people with diverse social backgrounds access to higher education (Möller 2015).

Research of the last decades has mostly been focused on individual educational decisions and institutional barriers, such as transitions on the educational system. In summary, we can speak of theoretical and methodical tendencies. Processes within the school usually remain hidden: The strong focus on the development of inequality at the transitions of the school system has led to the fact that school as an organizational context as well as the processes taking place here have rarely been studied so far (Berkemeyer & Meißner 2017). School-type or school-specific offers of individual support as well as targeted measures to reduce educational disadvantage, or rather a lack of those, are also relevant (Ditton 2016).

Theoretical framework:

On the one hand, the extent to which concrete measures should be designed to reduce social inequality has been theoretically conceived. In addition to historical analysis, the project considers knowledge of socialization and school effectiveness research, discusses the fundamental terminology and wants to find out, how such measures can be distinguished from others.

On the other hand, social background is examined as a determinant of social inequality. The Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS), used as a global index of the OECD, maps the construct of social origin onto the following characteristics: socioeconomic status, highest parental education and domestic possessions (Ehmke/Jude 2010).

In addition, the level of school organization processes in schools are examined more closely. According to Fend, it describes the school as an ‘educational unit of action’ (Fend 2008) in which the school administration acts as a central actor. Based on this, the organizational structure of the school includes (infrastructural) areas, conceptual devices as well as other contextual framework conditions. Measures to reduce social inequality can therefore be designed in very different ways, such as: a language learning curriculum or financial support. From a different perspective, these measures may target the language, habitual patterns and practices, as well as capital-oriented resources of individual students.

Research questions:

In summary desiderata are present especially in the study and analysis of these concrete measures, which aim to reduce social inequality on the level of school organization. In addition, it is currently unclear what measures will be taken in practice alongside those already discussed in science. The questions of the research project are:

Which school-organizational measures for the reduction of origin-related inequality are being discussed in German Education Science?

1)      What scientifically generated knowledge about measures for the reduction of socially induced inequality on the school organizational level is known in German educational science? (Analysis of scientific publications)

2)      How can the knowledge be explained? How do we get such results? (Expert interviews with key players)

Methods/methodology (up to 400 words): For the first question the EPPI-Reviewer from the EPPI Centre is used to create a comprehensive literature research in one of the largest German-language databases. This tool is designed to help those conducting systematic reviews on educational topics and identify, extract and code information about a particular research study that is to be included in a systematic review. The search strategy follows the guidelines of the Campell Collaboration and includes the three following concepts: measures, social inequality and school. The results from the year 2000 to 2018 are displayed. With this quantitative and then qualitative-interpretive procedure for the analysis and evaluation of already existing data, it is possible to take a closer look at documents of (educational) literature and create a systematic map about the topic. Based on this material and the related findings from quantitative and qualitative document- and content analysis, expert interviews with key players in educational science will be conducted in order to generate further insights from a scientific perspective. So, to answer the second question, the results of the systematic map are used to select the key players and to develop the interview guide. The expert interviews are based on the qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2016) and are structured and evaluated on the basis of deductive and inductive categories.

The review of 3396 titles and abstracts yielded 544 articles that focused on measures to reduce social inequality at school. The quantitative results of the review showed that most of the measures involve the reduction of inequalities of immigrant students, where a large part consists of measures as language support and nothing else. Only a few measures that relate to the reduction of social inequality on the socioeconomic background can be found. For the further evaluation of the texts the selection was reduced, leaving only 42 articles, which were then evaluated qualitatively. Most of the texts were published in rather small and practical journals. Overall, we are lacking empirical knowledge about these measures. They are hardly grounded or evidence-based and evaluations of these measures are scarce. In summary there are only isolated, selective strategies and no in-depth knowledge or any repetition that identifies systematically researching the topic. In addition, various theses on the few articles and their approach can be set up, which should be presented along with the detailed information from the interviews on the poster.

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