Inequality of Opportunity in Education: the Visegrad Countries Case

Abstract

In the run-up to launching the «Next Generation EU» large-scale recovery plan aimed at overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic consequences it becomes important to analyse the pre-Covid development problems, including those in the field of education. The purpose of this work is to study the dynamics of inequality in educational achievements and opportunities in the Visegrad Group countries based on the PISA data from 2003–2018 period. The results obtained by our research team suggest that Hungary has the highest level of inequality of opportunity among the Visegrad Group countries, followed by Slovakia. Meanwhile, individual factors contributing to the overall level of inequality of opportunity have both features common to all countries and unique features.