Late Entry in Swedish Tertiary Education: Can the Opportunity of Lifelong Learning Promote Equality Over the Life Course?
| Date | 01 September 2011 |
| Published date | 01 September 2011 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00784.x |
| Author | Martin Hällsten |
Late Entry in Swedish Tertiary Education:
Can the Opportunity of Lifelong Learning
Promote Equality Over the Life Course?bjir_784537..559
Martin Hällsten
Abstract
In this article, I investigate the relation between economic inequality and the
decision to take up studies at the tertiary level late in life. Who exactly decides
to enrol? Is it advantaged or disadvantaged groups in terms of current earnings
rank, occupation, unemployment experience and social origin? Using unique
register data of university applications and discrete time hazard regression
models, the results show the likelihood of a late entry to be especially high for
individuals who are disadvantaged to a moderate extent in terms of current
earnings rank and also with some unemployment experience. Class differences
in the transition to tertiary education decline with age. This suggests, with a
moderate amount of simplification, that lifelong learning tends to promote both
intra- and intergenerational equality.
1. Introduction
‘Lifelong learning’ is a broad concept that covers both education and training
in various contexts and institutional settings and is at the core of recent policy
propositions (Commission of the European Union 1995; OECD 1996, 2004).
At the heart of these policies are beliefs that further training improves
employability and skill levels of the workforce. Lifelong learning is also
mentioned as a way of reducing social inequality. Important types of lifelong
learning are labour market programmes for the unemployed, on-the-job
training, continuing vocational education, adult elementary and secondary
education, and tertiary education. This article examines lifelong learning in
the tertiary education system, defined as enrolment after the age of 30.
The purpose of the article is to test whether further education at the
tertiary level increases or decreases social inequality over the life course. The
Martin Hällsten is at The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) and the Department of
Sociology, Stockholm University.
British Journal of Industrial Relations doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00784.x
49:3 September 2011 0007–1080 pp. 537–559
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2010. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Swedish legislation and tertiary education system are well adapted to the
concept of lifelong learning and provide an interesting experiment site. Spe-
cifically, this article asks whether position in previous earnings rank distri-
butions, unemployment experience and social origin affect the decision to
apply. The article utilizes high-quality register data where it is possible
to trace individuals’ previous labour market experience over time with
high accuracy and link this information to data on individuals’ university
applications.
2. Education and inequality
Education is a key determinant of an individual’s opportunities in later life.
It is the main vehicle for labour market establishment and class position
(Müller and Gangl 2003; Shavit and Müller 1998), level of economic rewards
(Mincer 1974), employment stability (Mincer 1991), health (Lundborg 2008)
and also appears beneficial for various other non-market outcomes (Gross-
man 2005; Wolfe and Haveman 2002). Hence, education and inequality
between individuals have a close relationship. Lifelong learning involves
atypical educational transitions off the main track and cannot be the main
driving force behind educational or other inequality on a larger scale. Life-
long learning, however, may provide a possibility to ‘catch up’ for the unem-
ployed, for individuals in marginalized positions in the labour market and for
individuals with initial educational failures. It is therefore important to study
the relationship between lifelong learning and social inequality.
Even if lifelong learning is believed by the political discourse of the OECD
and the Commission of the European Union to be a means for individuals to
repair deficiencies or improve their living conditions, it is not clear whether
lifelong learning actually decreases social inequality over the life cycle. A
contrasting perspective is that social stratification processes often follow a
logic of cumulative advantage, in which initial inequality grows over time.
For example, a standard result in the training literature is that skill begets
skill: it is the well-educated that receive most of the training (Arulampalam
et al. 2004; Brunello 2001). Ideas of cumulative advantage have a long history
in the sociology corpus, for example the Matthew effect (Merton 1968), but
have recently received a revitalized interest (DiPrete and Eirich 2006). The
logic is essentially that an individual’s life history is path-dependent and
those initially endowed with strategic resources will see them grow at a faster
absolute rate (although relative growth rates can be identical), and hence, will
make initial differences grow over time.
In sum, two contrasting scenarios are relevant for lifelong learning.
According to the equalization scenario, which is based on the policy
suggestions of the OECD and the European Commission, it should mainly be
marginalized individuals in terms of earnings levels, employment stability or
social origin who choose to upgrade their education. In the competing and
less optimistic exacerbation scenario, motivated by sociological theory and
538 British Journal of Industrial Relations
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2010.
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