Changes in educational opportunities in the brazilian secondary education

This article analyses the changes in the inequality of educational opportunity for young people aging between 18 to 25 years in the Brazilian secondary education during a period of more than 20 years (1986-2009), using national data (PNAD surveys). To assess the effects of social background on educational attainment, it is utilized the methodology proposed by Robert Mare, in which conditional logit regression models are estimated for each educational transition studied (entrance and conclusion of secondary school) and compared to previous transitions (conclusion of the first four years of primary education). Since primary education was universalized in Brazil in the beginning of the 90’s, the inequality of educational opportunities at that level is expected to show a diminishing rate during the period analyzed. On the other hand, the trends in inequality of educational opportunity related to entering and completing secondary education are expected to behave as predicted by the “Maximally Maintained Inequality” hypothesis, showing a persistency in the effects of social background variables during the period. Findings are consistent with those hypotheses and corroborate the results of previous studies. The article is divided in six sections. After the introduction, the main theories about predicted changes in education opportunities are presented, along with the key results concerning this issue in the Brazilian case. The third section describes the most important reforms of the Brazilian educational system and the associated descriptive statistics. The fourth presents data source, methodology and variables. Finally, the fifth section analyzes the results and the last one presents the conclusions.