Education, Equality and Social Cohesion: A distributional approach

Abstract

Promoting social cohesion through education has re-emerged as an important policy objective in many countries during the past decade. But there is little clarity in policy discussions about what social cohesion means and how education may affect it. In this article we distinguish between social capital and societal cohesion and argue that education acts in differential ways on each. Using comparative, cross-country analysis, we develop a 'distributional model' which shows the relationship between equality of educational outcomes and various measures of social cohesion. In the final part of the article we discuss theories explaining the cross-country trends and variations in educational inequality and social inheritance in education, and argue that education system characteristics, such as degrees of 'comprehensiveness' in secondary schooling, may be an important factor in both. We conclude by arguing that policies to increase social cohesion through education must pay more attention to the reduction of educational equality than they currently do.

School Belonging of Adolescents: The Role of Teacher–Student Relationships, Peer Relationships and Family Involvement

“…More especially, it offers insights useful to teachers about providing an atmosphere of commonality for adolescents through effective classroom management strategies. In addition, it must be emphasized that the adolescent sense of school belonging is attained through supportive and integrative interpersonal relationships that transcend the set social boundaries, cultures or tradition; and that adolescents as individuals contribute to the well-being of that society, group, and community-especially by reducing prejudice in the present global era that engenders centrifugal forces capable of dislocating traditional bonds, fragmenting societies, and reinforcing conflict and division (Green, Preston, & Sabates, 2010;Tabane & Human-Vogel, 2010). Therefore, we propose that teachers should uphold an integrated manner in their classes and schools, in order to overcome the challenges of globalization, which include increasing social pluralism and lifestyle diversity.…”

Organisation and Context, Efficiency and Equity of Educational Systems: What PISA Tells Us

“…The question thus remains open for the present study. [7] The relationship between educational inequality and inequality of income remains to be studied more thoroughly; for a perspective taking into account educational inequality among adults (on IALS data), see Green et al (2003). [8] The fact that all comparative results are contingent on the population in question is clearly illustrated with regard to a central component of expenditure on education; namely, personnel as reflected in student-teacher ratios.…”

Education and social cohesion for economic growth

“…Thus, the notion of social cohesion and its constituent elements, social inclusion, social equality and social mobility are some of the concepts which are increasingly being addressed by stakeholders in education (Goldthorpe & Jackson, 2007). Academia often attempt to shed light on the link between education and economic development (Gradstein & Justman, 2002;Green, Preston, & Mark Anthony Camilleri is a resident academic within the Department of Corporate Communication at the University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, Malta. Email: mark.a.camilleri@um.edu.mt.…”