Panel D.03 — Drivers of education inequalities in student performances and choices
Convenors Isabella Sulis (Università di Cagliari, Italy); Valentina Tocchioni (Università di Firenze, Italy); Maria Prosperina Vitale (Università di Salerno, italy)
Keywords performance indicators; INVALSI; ANS; peers; school environment
The quality of an educational institution is strictly related to its capability to enhance students’ performances and to reduce the inequalities related to their initial conditions (e.g. disadvantaged background). Many researchers report the persistence of differences in key educational performance indicators (e.g. students’ competences in all grades of education assessed by national tests; transition rates from secondary schools to university; regularity of students’ careers at the university) across institutions and geographical areas. The family the school environment and the peers have also an important influence on educational choices and learning outcomes, as well as in the transmission of inequalities.
This panel is addressed to researchers who analyse with quantitative approaches educational inequalities and their mechanisms of reproduction in secondary school and in tertiary education.
The use of statistical models, such as hierarchical and network statistical models, and solid empirical data are strongly encouraged in this framework.
Particular attention will be given on the role played by schools and universities in shaping positive interactions among peers and on the other contextual factors acting at school level which affect the reproduction of these education inequalities.
The call is open to studies that aim to define how and which contextual effects, such as the family, the school environment (e.g. defined in terms of school climate, educational and teaching practices, management and organizational processes) and the peers, interact in the process of reproduction of the education inequalities in high schools, in the transition from high school to university and at the university. Empirical applications will be also solicited by using open data as well as ad hoc surveys.