Report

Gender Differences in Educational Attainment: Evidence on the Role of the Tracking Age from a Finnish Quasi-Experiment

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Pekkarinen, Tuomas

Abstract / Description

This paper studies the relationship between the timing of tracking of pupils into vocational and academic secondary education and gender differences in educational attainment and income. We argue that in a system that streams students into vocational and academic tracks relatively late (age 15-16), girls are more likely to choose the academic track than boys because of gender differences in the timing of puberty. We exploit the Finnish comprehensive school reform of the 1970's to analyze this hypothesis. This reform postponed the tracking of students from the age of 10-11 to 15-16 and was adopted gradually by municipalities so that we can observe members of the same cohorts in both systems. We find that the postponement of the tracking age increased gender differences in the probability of choosing the academic secondary education and in the probability of continuing into academic tertiary education. The reform had particularily negative effects on boys from non-academic family backgrounds. Finally, the reform decreased the gender wage gap in adult income by four percentage points.

Keyword(s)

Erziehung Gehalt Geschlecht Erfolg Alter Erziehung Gehalt Geschlecht Erfolg Alter education tracking gender wage gap

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2005

Is part of series

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;1897

Citation

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Pekkarinen, Tuomas
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-11-17T11:02:55Z
  • Made available on
    2008-06-09
  • Made available on
    2015-12-01T10:32:13Z
  • Made available on
    2022-11-17T11:02:55Z
  • Date of first publication
    2005
  • Abstract / Description
    This paper studies the relationship between the timing of tracking of pupils into vocational and academic secondary education and gender differences in educational attainment and income. We argue that in a system that streams students into vocational and academic tracks relatively late (age 15-16), girls are more likely to choose the academic track than boys because of gender differences in the timing of puberty. We exploit the Finnish comprehensive school reform of the 1970's to analyze this hypothesis. This reform postponed the tracking of students from the age of 10-11 to 15-16 and was adopted gradually by municipalities so that we can observe members of the same cohorts in both systems. We find that the postponement of the tracking age increased gender differences in the probability of choosing the academic secondary education and in the probability of continuing into academic tertiary education. The reform had particularily negative effects on boys from non-academic family backgrounds. Finally, the reform decreased the gender wage gap in adult income by four percentage points.
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16583
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1115
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8968
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Is part of
    IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 1897
  • Is part of series
    Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;1897
  • Keyword(s)
    Erziehung
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Gehalt
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Geschlecht
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Erfolg
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Alter
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Erziehung
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Gehalt
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Geschlecht
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Erfolg
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Alter
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    education
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    tracking
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    gender wage gap
    en
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Gender Differences in Educational Attainment: Evidence on the Role of the Tracking Age from a Finnish Quasi-Experiment
    en
  • DRO type
    report
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsyDok