Reproducing Inequality: Family Background and Schooling in Peru Santiago Cueto, Alejandra Miranda, Juan León, and María Cristina Vásquez GRADE - Young Lives (Peru)

Introduction Over the last few decades, education has been proclaimed as a high policy priority or even the focus of work. Yet, while there have been interesting improvements on average results, there has also been high inequality. Peru is an interesting case study on how education indicators evolve in a context of stable democracy and economic growth (since 2000).

Background of the education system in the country (I) Net attendance rates in preschool, primary, secondary and higher education by sociodemographic characteristics (2013) Attendance in preschool Attendance in primary Attendance in secondary Attendance in tertiary education, technical or vocational Attendance in tertiary education, university Average 74.4%92.7%81.0%11.4%22.2% Gender Boys 74.1%92.2%80.3%10.6%20.3% Girls 74.8%93.2%81.8%12.3%24.2% Mother tongue Spanish 75.0%92.7%82.4%11.7%23.6% Indigenous 71.1%93.9%72.2%9.2%10.2% Poverty Not poor 78.9%92.7%85.3%12.2%27.0% Poor 66.8%92.8%74.7%9.4%4.3% Extreme poor 63.8%92.4%58.2%3.2%2.1% Area Urban 76.8%92.2%85.6%12.0%26.5% Rural 68.5%93.8%71.1%9.5%7.8% Maternal education Higher Education 83.0%93.3%92.1%9.8%53.6% Secondary incomplete or complete 75.1%91.5%87.5%14.3%24.9% Primary complete or incomplete 67.1%93.1%76.3%12.7%14.1% No education or preschool 56.5%92.9%63.2%7.9%8.0% Source: National Household Surveys (ENAHO) 2013; analysis conducted by the authors based on a question of whether or not children attended school. We used the ratio of live children attending school / existing children for ages 3 to 5 (preschool), 6 to 11 (primary), 12 to 16 (secondary) and 17 to 21 (tertiary).

Average Reading Scores in Student Census Evaluations (second grade) Background of the education system in the country (II) Average Mathematics Scores in Student Census Evaluations (second grade)

Methodology This study analysed data from the international study Young Lives (YL). This longitudinal study follows around 12,000 children over 15 years from India, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Peru. YL follows two cohorts of children, the younger cohort (born around 2001) and the older cohort (born around 1994). The study has information about the family and the child from four rounds of surveys carried out in 2002, 2006, 2009 and Additionally, in 2010, school survey data was collected from a subsample of 572 children from the younger cohort in order to have information about the school, peers, teachers and principals.

Early childhood education: Score in PPVT at age 5 years by type of preschool attended (younger cohort) PRONOEIPublic Jardin Private Jardin Did not attend Average17.2%23.9%36.9%15.9% Gender Boys18.0%24.7%37.1%15.5% Girls16.5%23.1%36.8%16.3% Gap (%)1.6% 0.3%-0.8% Indigenous home Spanish19.2%25.1%37.7%17.0% Indigenous language13.5%14.6%6.4%12.0% Gap (%)5.7%10.5%31.3%5.0% Maternal education Complete secondary or more25.6%31.0%39.4%27.6% Incomplete secondary or less 15.1%19.0%29.9%14.1% Gap (%)10.5%12.0%9.4%13.5% Baseline wealth index Top quintile36.3%35.7%40.1%27.8% Bottom quintile12.6%15.2%21.8%11.3% Gap (%)23.7%20.5%18.4%16.5% Source: Young Lives Study (2006, 2009) Note: Scores are presented as a percentage of correct answers over total possible score.

Primary education (6-12 years old): Overage at ages 8 and 12 years by cohort Younger cohortOlder cohort Overage at age 8 years (2009) Overage at age 12 years (2013) Overage at age 8 years (2002) Overage at age 12 years (2006) Average12.3%30.4%17.6%44.4% Gender Boys11.7%29.4%17.4%42.5% Girls12.9%31.4%17.8%46.5% Gap (%)-1.2%-2.0%-0.4%-4.0% Indigenous home Spanish9.4%23.9%15.1%39.7% Indigenous language21.4%56.6%23.5%55.7% Gap (%)-12.0%-32.7%-8.4%-16.0% Maternal education Complete secondary or more5.5%12.6%8.2%23.3% Incomplete secondary or less15.7%39.2%20.4%50.3% Gap (%)-10.2%-26.6%-12.2% Baseline wealth index Top quintile4.5%10.7%1.7%11.9% Bottom quintile20.7%48.1%21.0%52.0% Gap (%)-16.2%-37.4%-19.3%-40.1% Source: Young Lives Study (2002, 2006, 2009, 2013)

Primary education (6-12 years old): Teacher characteristics (2010) PrivatePublic urban Rural in Spanish Rural EIB Spanish mother tongue100.0%98.6%88.2%60.4% Attended university72.4%59.8%31.9%49.5% Years of experience Received educational support40.0%30.7%24.4%28.9% Pedagogical Content Knowledge score Missed school in the last month10.0%18.5%32.4%30.7% Note: Pedagogical Content Knowledge score has a maximum of 10 points Source: School survey (2010)

Primary education (6-12 years old): School characteristics (2010) Private Public urban Rural in Spanish Rural EIB Running water 100.0%93.3%38.7%45.0% Telephone 95.0%71.7%3.2%0.0% Auditorium 25.0%21.7%12.9%0.0% Laboratory 35.0% 6.5%0.0% Court for sports 40.0%66.7%29.0%30.0% Psychologist 60.0%11.7%3.2%0.0% Auxiliary personal 75.0%21.7%3.2%5.0% Source: School survey (2010)

Educational outcomes: gaps over time Source: Young Lives study (2006, 2009, 2013) Note: Scores are presented as a percentage of correct answers over the total possible score PPVT score by age for the younger cohort

Educational outcomes: gaps over time Source: Young Lives study (2006, 2009, 2013) Note: Scores are presented as a percentage of correct answers over total possible score. PPVT score at age 5 (divided in terciles) and achievement in reading and mathematics at older ages (younger cohort)

Achievements and challenges in education (I) Over the past two decades, several indicators in Peru´s education have improved: Progress is evident in enrolment, which is almost universal in primary education. Overage, as well as scores in standardized tests have also improved on average. We have found that in general the younger cohort of YL had higher educational indicators than the older cohort when they were the same age. However, there are important gaps in achievement between groups of students: students that were born in relatively poor homes, with mothers who had less than complete secondary, or came from an indigenous family had lower scores; the gap was in many cases larger when children presented more than one of these characteristics.

The gaps in achievement are evident by the age of five years, which reinforces the importance of investing in early childhood: while enrolment in preschool has increased, children who attend non-formal preschools (i.e. PRONOEI) show lower results than children who attend formal preschools (i.e. Jardines). This has important implications for equity, as in general poorer students attend PRONOEI (or do not go to preschool). Educational opportunities and investments in basic education are distributed in an unfair way: we have found that more vulnerable children attend schools that have lower resources (e.g. infrastructure), with teachers that have lower pedagogical skills and receive less support. Thus, the educational system may be reinforcing inequalities since it does not provide equal opportunities for all; ideally, it should prioritize the opportunities of children and young adults who we know are more likely to have poor educational outcomes. Achievements and challenges in education (II)

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