The Opportunity Monitor by ifo and “A Heart for Children”
Project period: September 2022 - May 2024
Research Areas:
Tasks and aims of the project
To what extent do the educational opportunities of children in Germany depend on their family background? This project, which the ifo Center for the Economics of Education conducts on behalf of the charity “A Heart for Children”, aims to document the extent of equality of educational opportunity in Germany. To this end, the Opportunity Monitor measures to what extent the probability that a child attends an academic-track school depends on various dimensions of socioeconomic background.
Results
The results of the Opportunity Monitor show a strong inequality of educational opportunities in Germany: For example, the probability of attending an academic-track school is 21.5% for a child growing up with a single parent without a university entrance qualification who is in the lowest income quartile and has a migration background. By contrast, it is 80.3% for a child growing up with two parents with a university entrance qualification who are in the highest income quartile and do not have a migration background. The educational background of the parents, but also income and single-parent status are especially relevant for the probability of attending an academic-track school. By contrast, the migration background has less of an effect after taking the other characteristics into account.
Data and other Sources
The data basis of the Opportunity Monitor is the current survey wave (2019) of the German Microcensus. It provides information on school track attendance and family background for a sample of more than 50,000 children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years.
Media Coverage
Forscher fordern mehr Bildungsgerechtigkeit, www.br.de, 28. April 2023
Tagesthemen, 18. April 2023 (starting minute 22:40)
Bildungschancen: "Ungerecht verteilt", ZDF Morgenmagazin, 19. Apil 2023
Chancenmonitor 2023: Herkunft entscheidet über Entwicklungs-Chancen, Bild.de, 19. April 2023
Wann Kinder kaum eine Chance haben, spiegel.de, 18. April 2023
Mit gezielter Förderung ins Gymnasium, FAZ online, 18. April 2023
Chancenmonitor 2023: So ungerecht ist Deutschlands Bildungswesen, Tagesspiegel online, 18. April 2023
Bestürzung über Bildungsstudie: Esken fordert nationale Kraftanstrengung für die Bildung, Tagesspiegel online, 18. April 2023
Studie bestätigt Einfluss von Klasse auf Bildungschancen, Zeit online, 18. April 2023
Das desaströse Ausmaß der Chancenungleichheit im Bildungssystem, Welt online, 20. April 2023
Reiche Eltern, gute Chancen – das deutsche Bildungsdilemma in Zahlen, Handelsblatt online, 18. April 2023
Gymnasium oder nicht? Diese Faktoren entscheiden darüber, Bild.de, 20. April 2023
Press Conference
The results were presented at a press conference in the presence of Federal Minister for Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
Publication
Der ifo-„Ein Herz für Kinder“- Chancenmonitor: Wie (un-)gerecht sind die Bildungschancen von Kindern aus verschiedenen Familien in Deutschland verteilt?
ifo Institut, München, 2023
ifo Schnelldienst, 2023, 76, Nr. 04, 29-47