Schooling inequalities in Italy: trends over time

In this paper three logit models of school continuation are presented. The Italian school system was divided into three separate school transitions: from primary education to lower secondary school, from lower to higher secondary school, and from higher secondary education to university. Data derive from the Italian Social Mobility Survey, carried out in 1985 on a sample of over 5,000 people, both male and female, employed and unemployed. They are used in this paper for a cohort analysis of trends over time of educational inequalities due to social origin and sex. The main conclusion of this study is that, apart from minor changes in the rapidly contracting sector of agriculture, there is no consistent sign of reduction of educational inequalities by social origin in Italy.