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This project studies what part of the strong correlation between parental and child education is due to parental education and what part is due to preexisting differences between these parents, for example in terms their abilities and psychological characteristics. We aim at providing more credible estimates of the effects of parental education on child education by using an instrumental variables approach. We use the number of siblings of the parent as an instrumental variable for whether a parent obtains a university degree. Among other things we hold constant grandparental occupational status and education. We also study the role of mediators between parental and child education, such as the role of family income, cultural capital or parental involvement in the child’s education.

Education is a double-edged sword in the stratification process. On the one hand, it is an instrument of social mobility, since through competence development individuals can enhance their social position. On the other hand, it contributes to the reproduction of social inequalities; in particular, through the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and skills, individuals of privileged background can maintain their dominant position in the class structure. Comparative studies have shown that whether one aspect prevails over the other depends to a large extent on the organizational structure of educational systems.

In this project, we develop an interdisciplinary reflection on the normative implications of empirical research on educational inequality. Which theories of justice underlie the empirical work on international comparative education carried out in sociology, educational science, economics and political science? The definitional and operationalization choices imply a distinction between some instances of educational inequalities that are considered as legitimate and some that, on the contrary, are “unfair” and call for a compensatory intervention from policy-making. To what extent are researchers explicit – or even conscious – of the normative implications of their analytical choices?

This project focuses on analytical approaches in order to use repeated international school assessments longitudinally. We examine the challenges connected to linking large scale assessment surveys on cognitive skills (e.g. PISA, PIRLS, TIMSS, PIAAC…), with the goal of identifying possible solutions.
Among the challenges are: issues related to comparing achievement measures over time (linking error), issues related to including missing levels of the education process (matching), issues related to missing measures of previous achievement (pooling, pseudo-panel) and others.

Im Rahmen des vom BMBF und ESF geförderten Projekts „Gemeinsam Karriere machen – Realisierungsbedingungen von Doppelkarrieren in Akademikerpartnerschaften“ (GKm) wurde eine standardisierte Befragung mit WissenschaftlerInnen und ihren PartnerInnen durchgeführt. Im Projekt „Being a Couple“ soll zum einen der Einfluss partnerschaftlicher Merkmale (wie z.B. zeitlicher Beginn der Partnerschaft, biologisches und institutionelles Alter, nationale und soziale Herkunft der beiden Partner) untersucht werden und zum anderen detailliert zwischen Berufsfeld- und Fächerkonstellationen unterschieden werden.

Im letzten Jahrzehnt standen vor allem die fachlichen Leistungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern im Vordergrund von wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen und öffentlichen Debatten. Ihrem Auftrag nach sollen Schulen jedoch nicht allein kognitive Fähigkeiten und Fertigkeiten vermitteln, sondern Heranwachsende vielmehr in einem umfassenderen Bildungsverständnis dazu befähigen, selbstverantwortliche Mitglieder der Gesellschaft zu werden. Mit dem voranschreitenden Ausbau der Ganztagsschulen in Deutschland stehen öffentliche Schulen gegenwärtig vor der Herausforderung, ihr pädagogisches Angebot so zu erweitern, dass es einem umfassenderen Bildungs-, Betreuungs- und Erziehungsauftrag gerecht wird.