Less Choice, Less Inequality? A Natural Experiment on Social and Ethnic Differences in Educational Decision-Making

Dollmann, Jörg

doi:10.1093/esr/jcv082

Cited by 40 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Luyten & Bosker, ). These studies, conducted in different institutional contexts, have demonstrated repeatedly that teacher recommendations are biased by pupils’ social background (France: Duru‐Bellat, ; Barg, ; Flanders, Belgium: Boone & Van Houtte, ; Germany: Ditton et al ., ; Dollman, ). In fact, pupils from higher socio‐economic backgrounds are more likely to get the advice to enrol in the more demanding, academic tracks than pupils from lower socio‐economic backgrounds, irrespective of achievement.…”

Section: Teacher Recommendations and Pupils’ Social Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent decades there has been growing interest within the sociology of education in the different ways in which education systems allocate pupils to tracks. The reason for this rise in interest is the finding that these allocation procedures can influence the extent to which pupils' assignment to tracks is merit-based rather than determined by their social background (Driessen et al, 2008;Dollman, 2015). We can roughly distinguish between two allocation models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teacher recommendations and pupils' social background 2002; Barg, 2013;Flanders, Belgium: Boone & Van Houtte, 2013b;Germany: Ditton et al, 2005;Dollman, 2015). In fact, pupils from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to get the advice to enrol in the more demanding, academic tracks than pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds, irrespective of achievement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Class composition as a frame of reference for teachers? The influence of class context on teacher recommendations

Boone

Thys

Avermaet

et al. 2018

British Educational Res J

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Teacher recommendations are an important factor in the process of track placement, but research has shown that they are biased by pupils’ social background. Pupils from higher socio‐economic backgrounds are more likely to get the advice to enrol in an academic track than pupils from lower socio‐economic backgrounds, irrespective of prior achievement. Previous studies looked primarily at individual pupil or parent characteristics and their influence on teacher recommendations. However, in this article, the authors argue that the class context forms the frame of reference within which a teacher forms his/her recommendation for pupils. Therefore, this article investigates class composition effects on teacher recommendations at the transition between primary and secondary education in Flanders. More specifically, we look at the socio‐economic, ethnic and ability composition of a class. Multilevel logistic models were tested on data collected in 36 primary schools in the cities of Ghent and Antwerp in May 2015. The results show that only the ability composition of the classroom exerts a frame‐of‐reference effect on teacher recommendations for academically versus practically oriented tracks. A pupil with a low individual ability in a low‐ability class was more likely to get the advice to enrol in an academically oriented track than an equally able pupil in a high‐ability class. This study demonstrated the limited importance of class composition in teacher recommendations, but calls for more research on teacher bias in the process of track assignment.

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Section: Teacher Recommendations and Pupils’ Social Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Class composition as a frame of reference for teachers? The influence of class context on teacher recommendations

Boone

Thys

Avermaet

et al. 2018

British Educational Res J

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“…Dollmann (2016) finds that social inequalities in school track choices are less significant in German states where teacher recommendations are binding than those where they are non-binding and parents make the final decision. This illustrates that higherclass students benefit from educational systems that offer choices.…”

Section: Education Policymentioning

confidence: 97%

Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences

Klein¹,

Barg²,

Kühhirt³

2018

Preprint

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Diversity in education systems, and broader political and economic conditions, are commonly credited with international variations in inequality of educational opportunity (IEO). Comparing East and West Germany before reunification allows us to investigate whether vastly different political, economic and educational systems led to differences in IEO. Postreunification, East Germany adopted the West's systems and experienced an economic recession. IEO had been smaller in East than in West Germany but was on an upward trajectory before reunification. After 1990, IEO in East Germany converged to the West German level as a result of decreased IEO in the West and increasing levels in the East. Postreunification convergence suggests differences in political context and education policy are crucial for IEO.

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“…One example of accountability of teachers is the extent to which track recommendations are binding. For instance, in some German federal states and in parts of Belgium (Flanders), parents can decide whether they comply with the teacher's recommendation or deviate from it (Boone et al 2018, Dollmann 2016. These non-binding settings reduce the liability of the teacher.…”

Section: Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of classroom, school, neighborhood, and institutional factors on teachers’ expectations

Becker

Katarina²

2020

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Teachers represent a crucial dimension of social stratification in the school system. Their assessments of students matter by exerting short-term effects on students' motivation and achievement, but also by influencing students' educational prospects. Research shows that teachers' assessments are reasonably accurate. However, there is a residual component of inaccuracy emerging from individual -level factors (e.g., students' social or immigrant origin) as well as from classroom and school composition. In the present contribution, we add to this literature by providing a dual-process explanation on how contextual conditions on several levels, i.e., classroom, school, neighborhood and institution simultaneously frame teachers' expectations of their students. We test our theoretical model by using data comprising information on teachers, students, parents, and contextual settings of German elementary schools. We exploit institutional variations that influence the extent to which teachers perceive their expectations as relevant (i.e., binding versus non-binding recommendations for secondary school tracks). Results show that teachers' expectations are positively framed by a high share of students with immigrant background in the classroom. Yet, this effect is only valid for native students. Furthermore, we observe mutually reinforcing framing effects of the classroom's and the neighborhood's social composition on teachers' expectations. Finally, context influences are attenuated when teachers perceive their expectations as more relevant (i.e. track recommendations are binding).

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Less Choice, Less Inequality? A Natural Experiment on Social and Ethnic Differences in Educational Decision-Making

Cited by 40 publications

References 23 publications

Class composition as a frame of reference for teachers? The influence of class context on teacher recommendations

Class composition as a frame of reference for teachers? The influence of class context on teacher recommendations

Inequality of Educational Opportunity in East and West Germany: Convergence or Continued Differences

The impact of classroom, school, neighborhood, and institutional factors on teachers’ expectations

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