THE EFFECT OF RELATIVE AGE AND EDUCATIONAL STRATIFICATION ON EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES AND EQUITY

Abstract

PISA 2012 data are used to investigate and quantify the influence of the relative age effect, educational stratification, socio-economic status, and their interactions on educational outcomes, and, specifically, the equity of outcomes. This empirical study uses a comparative approach to address the question of whether educational stratification in different education systems is associated with equity of outcomes. The results of the multiple regression support the findings from previous research with regard to the effect of relative age, educational stratification, and socio-economic status on educational outcomes: older students perform better than younger students in the same cohort, greater stratification is associated with poorer outcomes than more comprehensive systems, and students from wealthier backgrounds perform better than students from poorer families. This paper contributes to the existing body of literature by showing that while different levels of educational stratification do not mediate the influence of relative age, they are associated with changes in the strength of influence of social status on outcomes. Furthermore, the influence of the relative age effect is found to be significantly increased with increasing social status. The findings are discussed in the light of improving equity and outcomes. Although some interesting interactions are found which might support changing levels of stratification for the purposes of improving equity, the biggest single factor contributing to inequity of outcomes of those examined in this paper, is social status. Addressing the inequities resulting from social status therefore remains the biggest challenge facing educators seeking equity of outcomes.