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Projekt Druckansicht

Der Effekt elterlichen Vermögens auf die Bildungsentscheidungen ihrer Kinder

Antragstellerinnen / Antragsteller Dr. Nora Müller; Dr. Klaus Pforr
Fachliche Zuordnung Empirische Sozialforschung
Förderung Förderung von 2018 bis 2022
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 403547843
 
Erstellungsjahr 2022

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

In this project, we evaluated wealth gaps in children's educational achievement and attainment in Germany. Moreover, we evaluated at which points in the educational system wealth gaps emerge and which processes cause these gaps. We found substantial wealth gaps in educational achievement and attainment in Germany. These wealth gaps emerge net of gaps by parental education, occupation, or income. In other words, inequalities in education are even larger than shown in prior research. Wealth gaps in education emerge early in children's lives and increase with age. Children growing up in wealthy households already show higher achievements than children of less wealthy households before entering school. This wealth gap in achievement grows during primary school but only slightly. Wealthy children are about 20% more likely to transfer to a Gymnasium after primary school and about 40% less likely to transfer to Hauptschule. Track changes during secondary school are rare but wealthy children are more likely to transfer to higher tracks and less likely to downgrade. Making ambitious educational decisions pays off for high SES children because their resources can compensate for a lack of academic preparedness. As a consequence of this, wealthy children are much more likely to obtain an Abitur and are much less likely to leave secondary school without a certificate. Next, wealth gaps increase substantially at the transition after the completion of secondary school. Among the children with lower school leaving certificates, wealthy children are more likely to transfer to apprenticeships and are less likely to only find pre-vocational trainings. Among the children with Abitur, wealthy children are 40% more likely to enroll in university. Moreover, parental wealth determines for how long children stay inactive after graduating from secondary school before starting further education or entering the labor market. Particularly, children in households with very low or negative net worth have the worst educational prospects. In contrast, the differences between children in the middle of the wealth distribution and children at the top of the wealth distribution are less pronounced. About half of the wealth gap in educational attainment can be attributed to the higher competences of wealthy students. The other half can be attributed to wealthy families making more ambitious educational decisions, even when showing similar performance to less wealthy students. The higher competences of wealthy children can be attributed to higher parental investment in learning materials and activities and to the fact that wealthy children grow up in better neighborhoods.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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