From Differentiation to Diversifi cation: Testing MMI and EMI in the Czech Secondary School System in the First Decade of the 21st Century Cover Image

Od diferenciace k diverzifikaci: test MMI a EMI v českém středním vzdělávání v první dekádě 21. století
From Differentiation to Diversifi cation: Testing MMI and EMI in the Czech Secondary School System in the First Decade of the 21st Century

Author(s): Laura Fónadová, Tomáš Katrňák, Natálie Simonová
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: AV ČR - Akademie věd České republiky - Sociologický ústav
Keywords: education; inequality; social stratifi cation; unequal chances; Czech secondary school system

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with secondary education in the Czech Republic between 2000 and 2010. The authors analyse the consequences of educational expansion on unequal chances by social origin of attaining a secondary education with a school-leaving certificate (‘maturita’). This certificate is a prerequisite for the transition to tertiary education in the Czech educational system. The article is based on the theories of maximally maintained inequality (MMI) and effectively maintained inequality (EMI). The authors analyse data from PISA 2000 and 2009 (Programme for International Student Assessment) in the Czech Republic. They support the theory of EMI over MMI. Vertical differentiation by social origin decreased between 2000 and 2009. Contrary to the assumptions of MMI, the chances of attaining a school-leaving certificate are increasing for children from the lower social classes, but only in one type of secondary education (in secondary technical schools). This is occurring because there has been an increasing horizontal diversification of schools offering a school-leaving certificate (on the basis of the assumptions of EMI). Socioeconomic variables have a stronger effect on attendance at grammar schools with a school-leaving certificate. The social and economic exclusivity of this branch of secondary education increased between 2000 and 2009.

  • Issue Year: 49/2013
  • Issue No: 04
  • Page Range: 491-520
  • Page Count: 30
  • Language: Czech