Selectivity and Flexibility in the German Secondary School System

A Configurational Analysis of Recent Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel

Bibliographic Data

ID2235463
AuthorsJudith Glaesser (0000-0002-6173-3596, Durham University), Barry Cooper (0000-0003-4745-431X, Durham University)
Year2011
Volume27
Issue5
Pages570-585
Publication date2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/esr/jcq026
OpenAlexW2022538730
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited14

Debate continues in many European countries about both equality of opportunity and the continuing wastage of talent, and the ways in which differing systems of secondary schooling contribute to these. Drawing on Turner’s concepts of sponsored and contest mobility and on Allmendinger’s classification along the dimensions of stratification and selection, we describe the amount of flexibility currently in the German secondary school system which, despite ongoing reforms, is still stratified and selective. Earlier research suggests that the sorting process is socially, not just academically, selective. Building on this, we analyse factors influencing whether individuals make use of the available opportunities for changing track. We find that, rather than alleviating the early social inequality, these opportunities reinforce it since young people from more privileged backgrounds are more likely to benefit from flexibility, whereas disadvantaged individuals are more likely to drop out of the academic track. Most earlier relevant work has used regression-based methods, but we use an alternative configurational method, Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Using this set theoretic approach allows us, when exploring what conjunctions of factors are sufficient conditions for the types of mobility we focus upon, to move beyond the limitations of a ‘net effects’ approach.

CONTEST · Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Flexibility (engineering) · Geography · German · Inequality · Management · Political science · Qualitative comparative analysis · Social inequality · Sociology · Computer Science · Mathematics · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research

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