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ERIC Number: EJ1290166
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Mar
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1745-4999
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
"I Am Not a Guinea Pig": Parental Opportunity Hoarding and Tracking Reform in Germany
Apple, Lana; Debs, Mira
Research in Comparative and International Education, v16 n1 p64-82 Mar 2021
PISA test data from 2000 to today have shown Germany's education system is one of the most inequitable within the OECD, with high correlations between student background and achievement outcomes. Scholars have identified the highly differentiated school structure, which tracks students as young as 10 years old, as a central cause. This scholarship has not evaluated why German tracking has proved difficult to reform over the last 20 years, despite evidence of negative outcomes. Using a case study of parents' actions in Hamburg, this paper employs a discourse analysis of debates surrounding a tracking reform to argue that opportunity hoarding--that is, parents with more social capital maintaining certain advantages through ingrained systems that are theoretically open to all--may contribute to why Germany's early tracking system persists despite evidence showing that it increases educational inequality. The findings presented have implications for an international discussion of tracking reform and opportunity hoarding.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Program for International Student Assessment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A