Educational quality and inequality: The interplay between schools, families, and genes

Abstract

In many countries, the quality and equality of education are under pressure. Investigating the relationship between three key elements that shape pupils’ performance – schools, families, and genes – is essential to understand and reduce educational inequality. This dissertation studies these three elements simultaneously because they may be mistaken for each other otherwise and may interact in ways that increase or decrease educational inequality. Theory and methods from sociology and behavioral genetics are used to analyze educational performance data of twins enriched with information on the school environment. Differences in educational performance related to family socioeconomic status and genes are smaller in more advantageous school environments. This shows that schools have the potential to compensate for educational inequality. While the importance of school quality has been highly debated, the classroom environment and socioeconomic composition are more relevant for reducing educational inequality.