Education systems and the dynamics of educational inequalities in low educational attainment: a closer look at England (UK), Finland, Luxembourg, and German-speaking Switzerland

For decades, reforms aiming at educational expansion attempted to boost
economic growth and to reduce inequalities. This study sheds light on the
link between institutional settings of the education system and educational
inequalities in the course of educational expansion along two axes of
inequality: social origin and gender. Looking at the educational attainment of
cohorts born between 1925 and 1982 in the European Social Survey data,
changing patterns of inequalities are analysed regarding four distinct
education systems – England (UK), Finland, Luxembourg, and (Germanspeaking)
Switzerland. Employing a comparative perspective, characteristics of
the educational system that influence the societal change of educational
levels and educational inequalities are considered. Our results show that
although the patterns of educational inequalities were comparable in all four
countries, Finland seems to have been the most successful in reducing
educational inequalities if looking at both inequalities related to social origins
and gender at the same time. However, in regard to social inequalities
Switzerland also performs well.