SPAIN: Quality of more concern than equal access

Class and how this affects access to higher education is not a burning issue in Spain. It rarely makes the Spanish headlines and does not come in for the fierce debate that regularly grips the UK. Spanish academics believe that social class can affect a person's chances of getting a good education, but that this factor comes into play long before a student reaches university.

"The clearest process of selection occurs in obligatory secondary education or ESO when many working class students drop out," says Josep Rotger, Director of Sociological Theory at Barcelona University. "There is a really high rate of absenteeism, especially among 14-16 year-olds and, in the really poor areas, many pretty much stop going to school."

This means that most students who take university entrance exams come from a middle or upper class background. But data on the social origin of Spanish university students are not readily available.

After a pause of more than a decade, universities started collecting information on new students, including the profession and qualifications of parents in 2003, but they do not make it public.

Ángel Forner, a professor of educational diagnostics and research methodologies at Barcelona University, believes several factors influence who goes to university and who does not.

"How educated the parents are is a key factor," he says. "We have recently discovered that it is actually the level of education of the mother which is most influential, possibly because they are the ones who tend to be most involved in encouraging their children to study."

Whether siblings or friends go to university is also important, although the impact of this factor has come in for a lot less attention.

Gender is a third determinant: "Over the past 10-15 years, we have witnessed the feminisation of higher education in Spain and elsewhere," says Forner. "Female students get better marks than males before they go to university and more of them go on to university."
Finally, he says the prevailing economic climate affects the demand for higher education:

"You cannot separate access from the economic situation of a country. When the economy is expanding, fewer people go to university, especially young men, and when there are fewer job opportunities, more people study. But this is not related to social class."

The lack of public debate on the influence of social origins on access is partly a reflection of the fact that Spain is generally a less classist society than other countries such as Britain.

It is also a sign that it is not the most important challenge in Spanish education. "It is not that people are not interested in this issue," says Rotger. "But I would say that the education system is facing more serious problems and these are most acute in ESO."

Forner agrees: "There is no debate because people don't see this as a problem and, if there is a problem, it is a minor one. People are a lot more concerned about students' performance, the proportion of drop-outs and how useful degrees are," he says.

rebecca.warden@uw-news.com