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Welfare Regimes and Education Regimes: Equality of Opportunity and Expenditure in the EU (and US)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2013

ANNE WEST  and
RITA NIKOLAI
ANNE WEST
Affiliation:
Education Research Group, Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE email: a.west@lse.ac.uk
RITA NIKOLAI
Affiliation:
Institute for Education Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Geschwister Scholl-Straße 7, 10099 Berlin email: rita.nikolai@hu-berlin.de
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Abstract

Education is crucially important for later outcomes but has received limited attention in comparative research on welfare states. In light of this, we present an exploratory analysis of education systems across fourteen EU countries and the US. This builds on existing work on educational institutions, educational outcomes and welfare regimes. We focus on institutional features associated with inequality of educational opportunity, including academic selection, tracking and public/private provision; on educational outcomes; and on education expenditure. Our quantitative analysis identifies four clusters of countries: the Nordic, Continental, Mediterranean and English-speaking, which bear similarities to those identified in the welfare states literature. Each ‘education regime’ is associated with particular institutional features, educational outcomes and levels of public expenditure. Our analysis suggests that further comparative research on education, viewed as a key component of the welfare state, is warranted.

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Articles
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Journal of Social Policy , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , July 2013 , pp. 469 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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