The inequality of opportunity in Russian school education: measuring on PISA database

The paper deals with assessing the inequality of opportunities in the educational achievements of Russian pupils as well as with identifying the contribution of each circumstance to the overall level of opportunity inequality. The equal opportunity theory is based on the idea that it is important to distinguish between two sources of inequality: the inequality caused by factors outside an individual’s control (inequality of opportunity) and the inequality generated by factors within an individual’s control (inequality of effort). The inequality caused by circumstances is unjust and should be eliminated, on the contrary, the inequality caused by efforts, is acceptable and should be left untouched. The study is based on the data of the seventh wave of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The following circumstances are taken into account: the gender of the pupil, the education and social status of his parents, home possessions, cultural possessions at home, home educational and ICT-resources, the type of community where the pupil live, shortage of educational material and staff at school. According to the calculations, the highest level of inequality in educational achievements is observed in reading skills. The most significant circumstances are the factors of the parental base and the type of community where the pupil lives.