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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SCHOOLPOL (The Transformation of Post-War Education: Causes and Effects)

Teaser

Summary

The educational context that children are born into dramatically shapes their life chances, affecting not only their future economic well-being but also their propensity to participate in civic and political life. That education matters is hardly a new insight; however, an increasing body of research points to the importance of varying educational institutions and contexts on a range of outcomes. Despite these insights, we have little systematic comparative data on the educational contexts in which most of the current adult population was actually educated, the political determinants of these contexts, or their long-term impact on a range of social and political outcomes. Moreover, we lack strong comparative theory as to why post-war education systems developed in diverging ways.

This project proposes to fill part of this gap, it will produce three major data outputs: an institutional database of education systems from 1945-present, a regional dataset of education outcomes from 1980-present, and a case book. These outputs cover wealthy democracies (since 1980) with a population above one million: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. For federal countries, it will sample sub-national units (representing the largest third of states/provinces).

First, the project looks to create a systematic institutional database of educational policy (Work Package 1). In order to develop this dataset, the project conceptualizes and measures educational system variation on four underlying dimensions - access, control, differentiation and content - looking at the question of how far and to whom different levels of education are extended; which actors structure educational regulation and the resulting standardization across the system; how much pupils are differentiated and the resulting stratification across social groups; and the extent to which the education system emphasizes academic skills or more traditional pedagogical approaches.

The institutional dataset involves a major data gathering exercise, developing systematic indicators on aspects of educational institutions and outcomes in each of the above four domains. The measurement of institutional variation in education systems will cover three levels of education, pre-primary, primary and secondary, and vocational and higher education; however, a greater level of detail is devoted to the compulsory stage (primary and lower-secondary) and upper secondary education (i.e. schooling for children ages 5-18). The result will be an open access dataset that combines qualitative descriptors, original source material, and summary quantitative indicators on each of the four dimensions as well as quantitative performance data.

Second, it will develop a regional educational dataset that covers a limited range of performance indicators at the sub-national level (Work Package 2). Given increasing regional variation in productivity within some countries, and evidence of highly heterogeneous geographic patterns of social mobility, the goal of this dataset is to measure core features of educational performance at regular intervals, allowing a more systematic linking of educational contexts to future economic and political outcomes.

Third, building on both the regional and institutional data set, the project will produce a handbook, with narrative case chapters aiming to systematically outline variation in core educational institutions, policy innovations and actors (combining Work Packages 1 and 2).

Using these data outputs, the project aims to produce a number of papers explaining varying choices in educational systems.

Finally, a third work package, turns from the nature and causes of variation in education systems to their long-run effects, examining how this variation shapes longer-term trajectories in terms of social mo

Work performed

This is our first reporting period. During the first 18 months of the project we focused on assembling the research team, and developing work packages 1 and 2. For work package 1, we constructed a codebook for measuring institutional reforms and have begun gathering the first tranche of data on France, Italy, Japan and Germany (and the German state of Bavaria). This work lays the ground work for the second tranche of the project, where we will complete the data gathering on political institutions and continue to draft casebook chapters.

We also constructed the first part of a regional dataset in work package 2 and a full dataset of local electoral outcomes. This work has involved cataloguing available regional data, and looking to harmonize regional units over time. It has also involved matching existing public surveys to existing regional units. The next task will be to develop more nuanced data at the local level for a longer period of time. In England and Sweden, we have additionally constructed two highly regionally disaggregated datasets of school level performance, matching individual schools over time.

In terms of outputs, there has been one publication in the Policy Studies Journal on schools and economic attitudes. This work uses regional data from England, combined with a panel study of attitudes among British youth cohorts and parent-children, to show the ways in which experiences of economic deprivation in the schooling years do - and do not - feedback into long-run political and economic behaviors.

In addition to this publication, preliminary results from the institutional and regional databases have led to multiple conference presentations, a working paper on educational quality, a working paper on regional educational variation and voting outcomes, and the first chapter of the case book.

We will continue to work on both work packages, as well as commence work package 3, in the next period.

Final results

We are currently collecting data for work packages 1 and 2, and will commence work package 3 in early 2020. We look forward to finishing the data collection, and beginning a series of scientific publications related to the core project aims, as well as providing the data in an open access database. We also anticipate fielding a series of attitudinal surveys on education.