Socio-spatial differentiation of educational results in middle and primary schools

Abstract

The article verifies the positions taken in the last dozen or so years in relation to the intensity and direction of changes in socio-spatial selection in Polish education. This verification is carried out on the basis of the results of external exams (sixth grade test and middle school exit exam) conducted for almost twenty years on full, nationwide populations of primary and middle school students. In the measurement of these selections, data on the quality of education achieved by children learning in several socio-spatial categories, distinguished by the size of the place in which education is provided, were used. The analyses presented here show that the numerous recent statements about the decreasing and low diversity of educational results achieved by students from different backgrounds are erroneous. Detailed data are only partially consistent with the already classic ways of explaining these differences, referring to the role of cultural capital in the processes of sociocultural reproduction. The large difference in the level of acquired knowledge and skills between learners in a dozen or so of the largest cities and learners in small towns also shines a new light on the importance of the principle of equal access to education in the functioning of the Polish educational system.