Educational Systems and Inequalities in Educational Attainment in Central and Eastern European Countries

摘要

"Before exploring the selectivity of educational attainment in detail, this article extensively describesthe contours of educational systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. These countriesprovide an interesting setting in view of their post-secondary education expansion and differentiation,as well as their variation in the degree of vocational orientation at the secondary level. Drawing on highquality, national micro data, we find that students from disadvantaged family backgrounds who manageto enter post-secondary education are ‘diverted’ to second-tier post-secondary institutions, while longtermuniversity programs are more likely to be dominated by students whose parents have an academicbackground. At the secondary level, we confirm the patterns of negative selection among studentsfrom lower social backgrounds into lower vocational programs. This diversion effect at the secondarylevel is especially pronounced in CEE countries that inherited a strong secondary vocational system andreinstalled early tracking." (author's abstract)