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An International Comparison of Equity in Education Systems


File number :
CS-ISC-07e

Bibliographic reference :
Gorard, S., & Smith, E. (2004). An International Comparison of Equity in Education Systems. Comparative Education, 40(1), 15-28.

Abstract :

Study Purpose
Based on data obtained from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, the authors try to establish various educational segregation indexes for fifteen European Union countries and explain the pattern obtained for each country based on the characteristics of their respective educational systems. The segregation indicators used were based on parental occupation, family wealth, student country of origin, reading performance and gender.

Effect of Choice Policies of Educational Institutions
This study mainly consists of assessing the effect of implementing choice policies of educational institutions, i.e. increase in school autonomy and diversity, the degree of school segregation and success. Nowadays, it seems that school systems tend to be more focused on supply diversity rather than supply uniformity. Following their review, Gorard and Smith conclude that less stratified, centralized national school systems lead to lower social differentiation among schools and consequently, fewer achievement inequalities among these schools.



Links :
This journal is also available in electronic format.

Key Words :
Educational Segregation, International Comparisons, PISA, Centralization, Decentralization, School Supply, School Population Composition, School Systems, School environment

Monitored Countries :
European Union