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Educational systems differ in at least three dimensions: the timing and form of tracking students, the extent to which a system provides vocationally specific skills, and the extent to which an educational system is standardised nationwide. Existing conceptualisations of these three dimensions are rather fragmented, and in this chapter we develop new indicators for a large number of countries, based on various sources of data (OECD, UNESCO, TIMSS, PISA and Eurydice). With our new indicators we examine how educational systems affect four core functions of schooling: equality of opportunity, the optimisation of student skills, the allocation of students to the labour market, and the preparation for active participation in society at large.

We presenteren resultaten van een quasi-experimentele case study naar de gevolgen van de verkorting van de brugperiode op schoolprestaties, burgerschapsvaardigheden en motivatie van leerlingen op een school voor havo/vwo. Aan de hand van een difference-in-difference analyse vergelijken we het laatste cohort leerlingen dat de tweejarige brugperiode doorliep met het daaropvolgende cohort dat de eenjarige brugperiode heeft doorlopen. We vonden geen effecten van de verkorting van de brugperiode op rekenvaardigheden, een licht positief effect op taalvaardigheid en een negatief effect op de taakoriëntatie van leerlingen. Zowel leerlingen met een hogere als lagere sociaaleconomische achtergrond scoren lager op democratische en sociale attitudes in het geval van de eenjarige brugperiode. De leerprestaties van leerlingen met een havo-advies lijken eerder baat te hebben bij verkorting dan leerlingen met een vwo-advies. Leerlingen die in het tweede leerjaar in een vwo-klas zitten, presteren na controle voor initiële niveauverschillen iets sterker dan gelijksoortige leerlingen in een heterogene niveauklas, maar het verschil is niet significant. We bediscussiëren onze bevindingen in het licht van een bredere trend van verkorting en versmalling van de brugperiode in het Nederlands voortgezet onderwijs, waarbij we wijzen op het belang van een afweging tussen beoogde en niet-beoogde effecten van deze trend.

In the field of stratification sociology, one of the most important developments of the past two decades has been an improved understanding of cross-national variations with regard to the role of education in society. The structure of educational systems differs in important respects between countries, affecting patterns of inequality. The central issue that will be addressed in this essay is to what extent educational institutional characteristics are related to the level of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) in a country. IEO refers to the association between background variables, most notably social class origin and race/ethnicity, and schooling outcomes of children. These outcomes include the highest attained educational level, school continuation decisions during the educational career, and student test scores. Institutional characteristics that are discussed include early tracking, forms of standardization, the vocational orientation, and private schooling.

We use data from the 2009/10 Wave of the Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study to analyze the employment participation and occupational status of Moroccan and Turkish Second Generation Migrants (SGM) in the Netherlands. By considering measures of family background (i.e. parental education, cultural capital) and skills (i.e. linguistic proficiency, numeracy abilities) we provide a more refined analyses of ethnic differences in the labor market than previous studies on SGM. Results show important ethnic differences in how family background and human capital affect labor market outcomes. We find that men’s employment participation is unevenly low amongst Moroccan and Turkish SGM, even after controlling for family background, education, and skills. For women, the low levels of employment participation of Moroccan and Turkish SGM are largely explained by family background, whereas linguistic proficiency also reduces substantially their low employment participation, especially amongst Turkish SGM. For occupational status, men from Turkish origins are the only disadvantaged group, yet this is entirely explained by their social origins. Finally, women from Moroccan and Turkish origins are not disadvantaged in their occupational status, and clearly achieve higher occupational positions than their counterparts with Dutch-born parents coming from similar family backgrounds.

Political and cultural impacts of economic inequalities

This article explores the role of national institutional factors - more specifically, the level of skill transparency of the education system and labour market coordination - in accounting for cross-national differences in the relationship between education and occupational status. Consistent with previous research, our findings suggest that skill transparency is the primary moderator. Countries with a highly transparent educational system (i.e., extensive tracking, strong vocational orientation, limited tertiary enrolment) tend to be characterized by a strong relationship between education and occupational status. These findings hold even after controlling for the level of labour market coordination. Nevertheless, we also find that labour market coordination plays an independent role by dampening the effect of education on occupational status. Taken together, these results suggest two quite different policy implications: (1) strengthening the skill transparency of the education system by increasing secondary and tertiary-level differentiation may strengthen the relationship between education and occupation, regardless of the level of coordination, and (2) increasing labour market coordination could lead to improved social inclusion and a reduction in inequalities related to educational attainment.

In this essay I analyze the problems that differentiated educational systems, like the Dutch, face in preparing youth for contemporary society. I discuss the implications of three broad societal trends for education: a changing labour market, an increasing call for selection and excellence, and increasing diversity and individualization. The implications of these trends are examined for what I see as the four central tasks of education: to prepare for the labour market, to select and sort students efficiently on the basis of their capacities and interests, to promote equality of opportunity, and to prepare for active citizenship. I conclude with a description of the cheers and challenges of the Dutch educational system, leading to recommendations for Dutch educational policy.

Educational systems should provide students with job-relevant skills as well as prepare students for active citizenship. These two core functions of schools may be in conflict with each other, as diversified and vocationally specific educational systems usually do well in terms of labor market preparation (e.g. reduce youth unemployment) but may be detrimental to (commonality in) citizenship education. Yet, there has been no cross-national research that examines the relationship between educational track (vocational or general) and citizenship behavior. This paper investigates whether track placement affects political interest and participation in voluntary organizations for 17 countries, using IALS data and employing multilevel models. It was shown that people educated in vocational programmes were less active citizens than people educated in general education. Moreover, these differences were stronger in strongly stratified educational systems relative to comprehensive systems, indicating that vocationally oriented schooling systems prepare less well for active citizenship than for the labor market.

To account for differences between systems of education of highly educated societies, we argue that the impact of academic discipline (field of study) on labor market outcomes should be central. Three modifications of earlier typologies are needed to account for cross-national differences in the transparency of skills provided by educational specialization. We should observe (1) the system of tertiary vocational programs; (2) whether a system has a bachelor's-master's structure; and (3) whether students choose minor and major subjects in college. Our analysis of Norway, Australia, and the Netherlands shows that these modifications seem useful. In the Netherlands, the impact of fields of study on wages and occupational status is much higher than in the other countries. The relatively high value of Australian qualifications compared to the Norwegian may be explained by the welfare state regulations of both countries, but this explanation is a tentative one. In Australia, eligibility to social benefits depends much more on previous work experience than in Norway, making fields of study a better indicator of labor market commitment.

This paper analyses trends in the effects of education on occupational outcome in Great Britain. I aim to show that the direction and strength of the trend in the effects of education varies between measures of occupational outcome, and between periods within the observed time span. The trend in the effect of education on social class is unequivocally downward. With regard to earnings the trend in the effect of education depends on how we operationalise earnings. When we use a categorical measure of earnings sestiles, we observe a downward trend in the effects of schooling. However, when linear models using logged hourly earnings are employed, we find the expected U-shaped trend in the effect of schooling. Left-wing policies have increased schooling levels up to the early 1980s, which led to a downward trend in the schooling effect on earnings. From the 1980s onwards, rapid technological developments and the abandonment of left-wing politics caused an increase in the demands for qualifications, which led to increased effects of schooling on earnings. Much of this trend runs indirectly through trends in social class differences in earnings, suggesting that the social classes have further differentiated their employment relations.

This paper analyses the effects of individual investments in four field-specific educational resources on wages in the Netherlands. Based on a survey on the Dutch population, scales are developed that measure the amount of cultural, economic, communicative and technical resources that fields of study supply to students. It was hypothesized, first, that having invested in any of these four types of resources should enhance entry possibilities into jobs that require related skills and knowledge. Second, economic resources are expected to affect wages positively. Third, people whose educational resources match the type of job held are presumed to have a wage benefit from this match. Empirical analyses on two Dutch datasets (N=6,373) generally support the hypotheses, be it that matches increase wages in three out of four branches: economic, communicative and technical types of jobs. People who invested in cultural field-specific resources did not have a wage benefit in corresponding types of work, which can be explained by the generic character of the skills obtained.

Item does not contain fulltext Dit artikel analyseert de effecten van richtingsspecifieke opleidingshulpbronnen op het vinden van een baan die aansluit op de verworven kennis en vaardigheden en of een goede aansluiting voordelig is voor het inkomen dat men verdient. Vier typen richtingshulpbronnen werden onderscheiden: culturele, economische, communicatieve en technische hulpbronnen. We veronderstellen ten eerste dat men relatief vaak werkzaam is in beroepen die aansluiten op het type hulpbron dat men heeft opgedaan. Ten tweede, omdat specialistische kennis en vaardigheden moeilijk vervangbaar zijn, zullen werkgevers vooral hoge lonen willen betalen aan werknemers van wie de richtingshulpbronnen aansluiten bij het type beroep. Empirische analyses van twee databestanden van het AVO (N=6322) tonen aan dat men vaak werkzaam is in een baan die aansluit op het type richtingshulpbron dat men heeft vergaard. Economische richtingshulpbronnen leveren over het algemeen veel salaris op, terwijl culturele hulpbronnen nadelig uitpakken. Voor drie van de vier branches geldt dat aansluitende richtingshulpbronnen het hoogste inkomen opleveren; alleen culturele hulpbronnen leveren geen bonus op in aansluitende beroepen. 17 p.