Beliefs in Equality of Educational Opportunities: A Comparative Study of 20 European Countries

The belief in the equality of educational opportunities forms the ideological fundament of meritocratic societies by providing a theoretically convincing and commonly accepted narrative for the justification and perpetuation of socio-economic inequalities in society. This study explores whether Europeans blindly follow an ideologically informed narrative when assessing the fairness of their own educational opportunities and those of others in society – or whether individuals are reasonable when forming their judgements accounting for socio-structural factors that thwart equal educational opportunities. The empirical analysis is based on data from the European Social Survey and applies multi-level modelling techniques to study the impact of institutional barriers – most famously the level of educational tracking enshrined in European school systems – and personal factors affecting the chances for educational success on respondents´ assessments of educational opportunities across 20 European countries. Results show that fairness assessments of educational opportunities vary systematically between societies and social groups within society. (1) Respondents seem well aware of their personal advantages and disadvantages and assess their own experienced educational opportunities accordingly. Educational opportunities are also assessed as less fair when respondents grew up in educational systems with strong tracking. (2) Assessments of personal opportunities are strongly interconnected with and reflected in societal judgments and the perceived educational opportunities of others in society. In fact, assessments of personal experiences function as an important mediator between socio-structural forces and assessments of societal conditions more generally – next to informational and ideological cues. Overall, our findings suggest that individuals do not follow ideological narratives blindly. Instead, public assessments of educational opportunities align with sociological findings on structural inequalities observed in education - based on experienced and informational knowledge. This sparks confidence that educational reforms that aim for equal opportunities can be considered reasonable and find support also amongst socially advantaged groups.