The educational inheritance of New Zealand Publications
Publication Details
Profile & Trends 2007 contains a number of short articles covering a wide range of topics of interest to the sector’s stakeholders and those who are involved in the provision of tertiary education.
Author(s): Tertiary Sector Performance Analysis, Ministry of Education.
Date Published: November 2008
Short Article
How much does parents' education level influence that of their children? How has that influence changed over time as the population of New Zealand has become better qualified? Do children of those with a lower level of education have less likelihood of undertaking tertiary education?
Have our literacy skills risen due to the increase in the level of study of parents? The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey gives insights into these questions.
Key findings of the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
- Among adults who have undertaken tertiary study, just under half were likely to have a father with a tertiary education. In contrast, among adults with only lower secondary education, only 20 percent had a father with a tertiary education.
- Compared with 10 years earlier, in 2006, adults whose parents had only lower secondary education were more likely to undertake tertiary education. (At the same time, census data showed that the proportion of New Zealanders with a tertiary qualification increased from 25 percent to 40 percent.)
- The proportion of New Zealand adults with fathers with a tertiary education increased from 23 percent in 1996 to 38 percent in 2006. One-third of New Zealand adults had fathers with only lower secondary schooling in 2006 and 29 percent of New Zealand adults had fathers with only upper secondary schooling
- The proportion of New Zealand adults with mothers with a tertiary education increased from 16 percent in 1996 to 26 percent in 2006. Thirty-nine percent of New Zealand adults had mothers with only upper secondary schooling in 2006 and 35 percent had mothers with only lower secondary schooling
- Looking at the younger generation, almost two-thirds of under-25-year-olds with a tertiary education had fathers with a tertiary education and half of them had mothers with a tertiary education. As would be expected, in the older age groups a smaller proportion had parents with a tertiary education. About one-third of New Zealand adults aged 55 to 65 years with a tertiary education had fathers with a tertiary education.
- People whose parents had higher levels of education had slightly higher skills. The difference was somewhat greater when the mother's skill level was higher. However, people's skills increased substantially with their own level of education.
About the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
The 2006 survey was conducted with a representative sample of New Zealand adults aged between 16 and 65 years living in private households. The survey was conducted over the period starting in May 2006 through to March 2007.
The survey measures literacy and life skills in the adult population at national and international levels. It measures prose literacy (which covers continuous text found, for example, in books and newspapers), document literacy (which covers discontinuous text such as graphs, charts and tables), numeracy (which covers mathematical and numerical information) and problem-solving (which covers analytical thinking, reasoning and logic).
Note: An article on the skills levels of the New Zealand population is provided in chapter 5.
The intergenerational influence
In 1996, approximately half of New Zealand adults whose parents had undertaken tertiary education were likely to have a tertiary education. The proportion in 2006 was very similar.
People whose parents only had lower secondary education were, however, more likely to get a tertiary education in 2006, compared with 10 years earlier. In 2006, two-thirds of New Zealand adults with parents with only lower secondary education were likely to have a tertiary education. This compares to one-quarter in 1996.
New Zealand is one of a number of countries where the proportion of tertiary educated people in the population has risen, increasing the chance of people whose parents had only lower secondary education to get a tertiary education. In 2006, three out of four people in the United States of America and three out of five people in Canada were likely to have a tertiary education if their parents had only lower secondary education. These findings show that there is a reasonable level of educational mobility in the United States, New Zealand and Canada. That is, in these countries, having parents with a lower level of education does not restrict people to low education.
One way of measuring the changes in the influence of a parent's education level on the education level of their children is to calculate the ratio of the likelihood of undertaking tertiary study if at least one parent has a tertiary education to the likelihood of undertaking tertiary study if neither parent completed secondary school. This measure is known as the 'intergenerational education gap' (Foley, 2005). This measure was estimated at 0.64 for New Zealand in 2006, suggesting that there was a relatively high probability that someone with parents with only lower secondary education would undertake tertiary education. Ten years earlier, New Zealand's intergenerational education gap was larger at 1.89. This means that people with parents with a tertiary education were almost twice as likely to get a tertiary education in 1996 than people with parents with only lower secondary education.
This change in the indicator is largely due to the higher participation rate of New Zealanders in tertiary education in the last decade. Also the proportion of the adult population with a tertiary education whose fathers have only lower secondary education is diminishing. In 1996, 15 percent of adults with a tertiary education had father with only lower secondary education and in 2006 this proportion had decreased to 12 percent.
Levels of educational participation measured in the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey
Upper secondary education refers to individuals who have completed form 6 or 7 (year 12 or 13). Upper secondary education also includes study of level 1 to 3 certificates, including trade certificates.
Tertiary education referred to here covers study of level 4 certificates, level 5 to 7 certificates and diplomas and bachelors or higher-level study.
Note also that lower-secondary education refers to basic programmes at level 2 of the International Standard Classification of Education.
The educational inheritance of New Zealand adults
The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey found that in 2006 an estimated 46 percent of New Zealand adults participated in tertiary education, 46 percent in only upper secondary education and 8.3 percent in only lower secondary education. The differences in participation between men and women were small: 48 percent of men had studied at tertiary level compared to 45 percent of women; 47 percent of women and 44 percent of men had studied only at upper secondary level.
Figure 4.10 New Zealand adults by level of study of their parents
The data from the survey also provides insight into the level of study of our parents. It showed that the proportion of New Zealand adults with fathers who had participated in tertiary education had increased to 38 percent in 2006, compared to 23 percent in 1996. Over the same period, New Zealand adults with fathers whose highest education was upper secondary school had increased by 15 percentage points to 30 percent. Consequently, the proportion with fathers whose education was limited to only lower secondary school fell between 1996 and 2006 by 30 percentage points to 32 percent.
In 2006, only 26 percent of New Zealand adults had mothers with a tertiary education. While the proportion who had mothers with only upper secondary school education was considerably larger at 39 percent, there were still 35 percent of New Zealand adults who had mothers with only lower secondary education. This finding reflects women's low participation in tertiary education in previous generations.
Comparing the New Zealand adults who had studied at tertiary level with those who had participated only in lower secondary education shows that there were significant differences in the level of study of their parents (see Figures 4.11 and 4.12). This supports the findings of many studies on education inheritance.
Nearly half of New Zealand adults with a tertiary education had fathers with a tertiary education. In contrast, looking at New Zealand adults with only lower secondary education only 20 percent had fathers with a tertiary education while the proportion of their fathers with only lower secondary education was as high as 60 percent. In keeping with this pattern, less than 30 percent of New Zealand adults with a tertiary education had parents with only lower secondary schooling. These relationships between the educational attainment of parents and children suggest that New Zealand adults with a parent with a tertiary education are more likely to undertake tertiary education themselves than those whose parents have a lower level of education. A similar result was found in the Competent Children study completed by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research which found that mothers' education was influential in predicting their children's school performance.
While those whose parents had a higher level of education had a greater propensity to undertake higher-level study, the results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey also suggest that New Zealand adults move quite readily into tertiary education even when their parents do not have education at this level.
Figure 4.11: New Zealand adults with a tertiary education by level of study of their parents
The pattern of educational inheritance was less strong for New Zealand adults with only upper secondary education. In this group, the fathers were virtually split equally across the three levels of education. This more uniform distribution, especially of fathers, at every education level suggests that the education level of parents did not create a barrier to moving from lower to upper secondary education. On the other hand, there was also a substantial proportion of New Zealand adults (15 percent) with upper secondary education who did not undertake tertiary education even though their parents did.
Figure 4.12 New Zealand adults with only lower secondary education by level of study of their parents
Different educational inheritance for different age groups
Comparing the youngest New Zealand adults who participated in the survey – those aged 16 to 24 years – with those aged 55 to 65 years shows that there were significant differences in the education levels of their parents. As would be expected, young New Zealand adults had the higher proportion of fathers and mothers who had participated in tertiary education. This was because their parents were younger and the participation rate of New Zealanders in tertiary education has risen over time. Of those with a tertiary education in this age group, 63 percent had fathers with a tertiary education. Of those with only upper secondary education, 45 percent had fathers with a tertiary education. Of the remaining 8 percent of young New Zealand adults who had only lower secondary schooling, almost one-third of their parents were, in fact, tertiary educated. Approximately one-third of the young New Zealanders with only lower secondary education would be under the age of 18 and probably still attending secondary school. These young adults are in the early stage of their educational development.
Figure 4.13: New Zealand adults aged 16-24 years with a tertiary education by level of study of their parents
The parents of New Zealand adults aged 55 to 65 years were of a generation when tertiary education was less common. Of those with tertiary education in this age group, 37 percent had fathers with tertiary education while in the case of mothers the proportion was lower at 20 percent. Of New Zealand adults aged 55 to 65 years with only upper or lower secondary education, only 18 percent and 10 percent, respectively, had fathers with a tertiary education and the proportions with mothers with tertiary education were lower still at around 5 percent (see Figure 4.14).
Figure 4.14: New Zealand adults aged 55-65 years with only lower secondary education by level of study of their parents
Parents' education level and their children's skills
The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey showed that people's skills were slightly higher where the levels of education of their parents were higher. However, people's skills were considerably higher when their own level of education was higher.
In 2006, the average prose literacy score of New Zealand adults was slightly higher where the levels of education of their parents were higher. For example, New Zealanders with a mother with tertiary education achieved an average prose literacy score of 290 and this compared to an average score of 267 for those with mothers with lower secondary schooling. There was, however, less than 6 points difference in the average scores of New Zealand adults whose parents had a tertiary education and adults whose parents had only upper secondary-level education. This difference was smallest in the case of the mothers and not statistically significant. For fathers this difference was slightly greater and was statistically significant.
Figure 4.15: Average prose literacy scores of New Zealand adults by level of study of their parents
Improved educational mobility in New Zealand
Summing up, educational mobility has improved in New Zealand since 1996 – having parents with a lower level of education does not restrict people to low participation in education. The likelihood of New Zealand adults with parents with only lower secondary education getting a tertiary education has improved; and there are now fewer people with parents with only lower secondary education. The likelihood of people with parents with a tertiary education getting a tertiary education has remained stable. Strong educational relationships continue to exist – those with a tertiary education are twice as likely to have a father with a tertiary education than a father with only lower secondary schooling.
The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey shows that there was also a significant group of New Zealand adults with a tertiary education whose parents had only upper secondary schooling. This suggests that New Zealand adults move reasonably readily into tertiary education even when their parents do not have education at this level.
The survey also shows that there is a strong relationship between adults' skills and their level of education. People with a tertiary education scored higher, on average, than those with only a lower secondary school education in all the competencies measured by the survey. Even the differences between those with a tertiary education and those with only upper secondary schooling were statistically significant although these differences were much smaller. These findings confirm that investing in people's tertiary education leads not just to a more educated workforce but also to a more skilled workforce. Parents with a tertiary education are more likely to have children with a tertiary education and, in turn, these children will, on average, have higher skills.
A recent study by Foley (2005), entitled Culture and intergenerational mobility in education found that certain cultures valued education differently. The study also found that certain cultures may encourage parents to sacrifice relatively more for their children's education. However, the study predicted that an increase in the value a society places on education and an increase in income inequality in the parents' generation would decrease intergenerational educational mobility. The influence of culture on the cost-benefit ratio of education had unpredictable effects because high income parents may consume less than low income parents. Interestingly, the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey shows that the intergenerational educational mobility remained very similar for New Zealand adults whose parents had undertaken tertiary education, while the participation rate of New Zealanders in tertiary education increased. Also, intergenerational educational mobility improved for New Zealand adults whose parents only had lower secondary education.
The Foley study also found that the effect of policy changes or changes in the returns to education had an ambiguous effect because, at very low levels of consumption, a change in the value of education had a large effect on the education cost-benefit ratio of individuals.
The 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey provides evidence of the existence of relationships between parents' education and the education of their children. Differences in people's educational opportunity have persisted despite increases in the returns from education and the considerable expansion in educational participation in New Zealand.
References:
- Foley, K.E. (2005) Culture and intergenerational mobility in education, Vancouver: Department of Economics, University of British Columbia.
- Maani, S.A. (2006) Parental income and the choice of participation in university, polytechnic or employment at age 18: a longitudinal study, Research in Economic Inequality, Vol. 13, pp. 217-248.
- Smyth, E. (2003 ) Gender, education and labour market outcomes, Comparative analyses of intergenerational 'inheritance', Report 5, Dublin: Economic and Social Research Institute.
- Van de Werfhorst, H.G., de Graaf, N.D. & Kraaykamp, G (1999) Intergenerational resemblance in field of study in the Netherlands, European Sociological Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 275-293.
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