Access to higher education and social inequalities: social characteristics of the students of the school of educational sciences

Abstract

The article investigates social inequalities in access to higher education. This issue became of particular concern both in Greece and at the international level. The aim of this study was to investigate the socio-demographic characteristics of students of the School of Educational Sciences and their changes during 2001-2009 on such criteria as: a) the father's profession; b) the mother's profession; c) the level of education of the mother and d) the gender of students. Students of Schools of Educational Sciences constituted the reference population of this research. It was established that students of Schools of Educational Sciences сame from a social environment with low economic, educational and social capital. The representation of female students in that type of institution was five times higher than that of male students, reflecting societal stereotypes of children's education as a female profession. In the last years of the period under the review these peculiarities of the students' contingent have become less pronounced due to the increase in the number of students from families with high educational level of parents and an increase in male students. However, Schools of Educational Sciences still remain one of the "social elevators" for people from the lower social classes of society.