Lotta Lintunen

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that geographically bound institutional, political, environmental, and socioeconomic factors act a key role in the reproduction of inequalities and social class. Despite this, the geographical perspective of inequalities continues to be relatively understudied in the Nordic countries, where educational systems are built on equality of opportunity, but the countries are vast and sparsely populated. I utilize Finnish register data, sibling correlations, and meta-analytical tools to study how the association between family background and educational attainment varies by geographical area. In line with previous studies, I find smaller crude association of sibling correlations in the rural areas compared to urban areas. However, the variation between regions run from 0.21 up to 0.39, which is substantially larger than in other studies looking at regional differences in inequalities in the Nordic countries. Parental education and occupational status explain most of the regional variance in educational inequality, while regional segregation, income, education, and family demographics do not correlate with the remaining regional variation in educational attainment.

Keywords: Geography of inequalities; sibling correlations; educational inequalities

Abstract

How inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) evolves in the context of educational contraction? Using Finnish register data (StatFin), the study examines the transition to secondary school for complete birth cohorts born between 1975 and 1997 through nonlinear probability models and the KHB decomposition. It decomposes the upper secondary school transitions into primary and secondary effects by gender, cohort, and parental socioeconomic status (EGP). Overall, the results show increased horizontal stratification and stabilizing inequality after an initial decrease of total inequality and secondary effects for earlier cohorts. The trends are however opposite for males and females. While females continued to experience a constant increase in inequality driven by increased primary effects, males from the V-VII classes experienced a decrease in inequality. These results challenge traditional assumptions that IEO operates predominantly through secondary effects. The polarization between vocational and general secondary education and the stagnation of secondary effects may be one of the reasons behind educational contraction. The findings highlight the importance of re-examining the mechanisms behind IEO in societies facing educational contraction, suggesting that traditional stratification theories may only partially capture the dynamics at play.

Keywords: educational transitions; inequality of educational opportunity; primary and secondary effects; socioeconomic status; gender; school choice

(with Juho Härkönen and Outi Sirniö)

Abstract

This study employs Multiple Sequential Pathways Logit Models (Härkönen & Sirniö, 2020) to examine the role of timing of educational transitions and the phenomenon of educational contraction in Finland, a country known for its historically equitable educational opportunities. Cohorts born from the 1980s onwards are achieving lower education levels than previous cohorts and the association between parental and filial education has strenghtened. This trend contrasts with the broader European context and OECD countries, which have generally experienced an increase in tertiary education attainment since the 2000s. We decompose timing and cohort differences in completing transitions for full birth cohorts born between 1960 and 2000. The role of timing is important as it may result in stratified delays in educational completion and lifetime educational attainment; previous studies point out that the decline may be partially attributed to increased entry age to higher education. One possible reason behind this decline is increased selectivity in admission to higher education requiring multiple years of reapplication to enter university. To account for the delay in educational careers, we cover university attainment at the age of 35. The preliminary analysis shows a slight delay in both entering university and graduation. However, if we measure the final educational attainment at age 35 the level of highly educated working-age population has not contracted as drastically as suggested by previous studies. The most interesting finding seems to be that after the educational expansion stalled, academic secondary schools have become increasingly middle-classed resulting in increasingly stratified final educational attainment.

Keywords: Educational contraction; educational transitions; multiple pathways sequential logit model