Onderwijs en sociale ongelijkheid

Samenvatting

The sociology of education has recently expended great effort on researching social inequality in education. The development of universal education in the last century was part of the massive social change which took place at the time. However, the spread of universal education did not decrease the social inequality among classes as had been expected, and may have strengthened it. Differing theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. Unequal capabilities, as measured by intelligence tests, were once felt to be responsible for different educational performances by different classes. This idea has been abandoned; it has been found that intelligence tests are culturally biased. There has also been research on the cultural determinants of the choice of a particular type of secondary school-factors such as finances and the influence of the teacher. Little is known about this area, and most research has been concerned with the sociocultural determinants of success in school and choice of a particular type of school. Investigations have been largely limited to the domain of the family, and not inclusive of the influence of peer groups and the structure of the school. Research has suffered from being student-oriented, rather than school-oriented. Little in the sociology of education has helped to solve the problem of inequalities in education. It may not be possible to improve the situation measurably with the mc's as a frame of reference. 1 table. P. Tiersma