Educational Quality and Egalitarian Educational Structures: A Multi-nation Multi-variate Analysis

Abstract

  The degree of equality in the delivery of education is an important dimension of variation. Some nations believe that the provision of a highly stratified system enhances quality, at least for the minority who are able to gain entry to the elite academic stream. In contrast, other nations prefer a more egalitarian approach to education where all students attend a common school devoid of ability streams until well into their secondary level studies (Levin, 1978); the egalitarian approach is believed to be just and fair. But does it enhance quality?
 While there are a number of studies that explore the academic consequences of tracking and/or streaming within particular national systems, there are relatively few studies that explore this question across several national systems. The recent OECD supported PISA studies (2010 a and b) enable a cross-national analysis; but the official reports from OECD primarily provide bivariate analyses of these relations whereas a multivariate approach taking into account several system level variables is preferred.
 In this paper we define egalitarian education, examine its historical origins, specify its contemporary correlates, and drawing on multinational data seek to determine if the single nation findings are replicated in a wider group of countries. Additionally we will focus on the position of Japan and the sub-group of rapidly developing Asian economies relative to other countries.