Primary and secondary effects of social origin in the transition to post-compulsory education in Spain

Abstract

The inequality observed in educational decision-making may be broken down into the effect of social origin on academic performance (primary effect) and the educational decision-making process itself (secondary effect). Prior studies on enrollment decisions regarding post-secondary education in Spain have suggested that the relative importance of secondary effects may reach three-quarters of all inequality. However, the performance measure used may have led to an overestimation of these secondary effects. This work examines the potential overestimation using the Survey of Social Classes and Social Structure and the PISA study. It concludes that, while secondary effects explain a significant part of the inequality observed in the transition to post-compulsory education, they do not account for three-quarters of said inequality.