Private Schools in Germany: Attendance up, but Not Among the Children of Less Educated Parents

Henning Lohmann, Katharina Spiess () and Christoph Feldhaus

Weekly Report, 2009, vol. 5, issue 29, 203-208

Abstract: The percentage of children attending private school in Germany has increased sharply in recent years. According to data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), 7% of all students now attend private school. The SOEP, which contains a range of household data, shows that the children of parents with a university entry degree ("Abitur") are more likely to attend private school than those with less educated parents. This trend has become more pronounced in recent years: between 1997 and 2007, the percentage of students with better-educated parents attending private school increased by 77%. By contrast, the corresponding increase for students with less-educated parents was only 12%. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that increasing selection in favor of better-educated groups is particularly evident at the secondary school level. At the primary school level, full-time employment of the mother and regional factors significantly increase the chances of private school attendance. Educational policy should focus on preventing children from better-educated groups from leaving the public school system. If competition among schools is to be encouraged as a matter of policy, efforts should also be made to ensure less educated families consider sending their children to private schools.

Keywords: Private schools; Selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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