Overview
The main goal of the research was to study the general public’s opinion regarding the role of education in securing the opportunities for social mobility in Estonia. This research grant was applied to support the inclusion of additional questions to the survey, designed as part of the research project "Education-Based Meritocracy: Public Opinion On Social Mobility Opportunities In Estonia" (supported by Estonian Science Foundation – project ETF6891). The ETF6891 project was aimed to study the perceived opportunities for social mobility as well as legitimation of social mobility regime in Estonia.
Funding
Results
Compared to ETF project, this project was expected to explore perceptions of general public related:
(a) to the role of education in social mobility opportunities in terms of both ‘what it is’ and ‘what it ought to be’;
(b) to social mobility in terms of not only allocation into high positions, but mobility between unemployment and employment as well,
(c) to the role of education in terms of not only enabling the hierarchical carrier advancement, but also providing of employment security;
(d) to the role of not only initial, but also life-long education. In this way project was expected to contribute to the better understanding of public expectations regarding educational policy.
Because of difficulties with coverage of survey costs (the support both from Estonian Science Foundation and CERGE-EI Foundation for the implementation of the basic survey had turned up to be substantially less than it was applied), the focus of the research had been narrowed and perception of (in)equality of educational opportunity had been approached in the survey questionnaire. Survey was conducted in late 2007.