A Tallinn University professor sets out to study how a 'good' school’s reputation and the selection of the 'right' school are shaped with the support of a million-euro grant

The search for a school is often a stressful and emotional time for parents, even in the early years. What is a good school and how do you get in? Will your child pass the entrance exams to an elite school or will they have to continue their education at a less prestigious institution? The tension is not alleviated by the knowledge that Estonian public education is proven to be good according to international benchmarks. This is thanks to the comprehensive school system, which has so far ensured equal education for all students. However, its value has begun to erode both in research results and in the experiences of parents, which show growing educational anxiety and a sense of injustice. A confirmed place in a school can be seen by a parent as a success or a failure that will determine the future of the child. What’s more, parents' experiences in finding a school place, especially their perception of success or failure in this regard, affect their sense of justice and trust in policymakers, thereby shaping their policy preferences.

Triin Lauri explains that a child's admission to or exclusion from a school affects a family's sense of justice from several angles. "Sociologically, educational choices are linked to the family’s background. This is not only because the definition of a good school differs from family to family, but also because families have different opportunities to make these choices. Added to this is the social media dimension, transforming individual experiences into collective stories, where the voices and evaluations of other parents add weight to the choice of school and shape different communities' perceptions of what constitutes a 'good' school and the 'right' choice. Psychologically, parents tend to attribute success to their own effort and failure to chance, bad luck or failed education policies. Personal experiences, preferences and issues of identity thus intertwine to shape both a sense of justice and trust in education and the state."

Welfare research shows that people's well-being depends, among other things, on context and experiences of inequality. But the role of parents' experiences with choosing a school on their overall well-being is not known. Lauri believes that education is an area that affects society through both real and perceived effects, which in turn influence people's choices in politics. “However, these feedback effects are difficult to detect because the chains of influence are long, the results are often symbolic, and the quality and objectives of education are constantly under debate,” says Lauri. “At the same time, we see that in many countries where there is great inequality in educational opportunities, there is a growing belief that the system is meritocratic, meaning that children receive a good education thanks to their abilities and efforts, not because of their parents’ wallets, connections or backgrounds.”

Lauri hopes that the project will lead to three major breakthroughs. Firstly, it could shift education policy research from the level of national policy design to the level of implementation. "It brings together regional practices of place allocation, the professionalism of officials and the experience of parents in both rural and urban schools," she explains. Secondly, the project will help to explore the mechanisms of how a sense of justice is formed. "A sense of justice is not just the result of policy, but is shaped by people's experiences and comparisons, and in turn begins to shape policy preferences and attitudes,” says Lauri. “When it comes to choosing a school, this means that parents' experiences – whether successful or unsuccessful, but also compared to other parents' experiences – influence their belief in the legitimacy and fairness of the education system, which education policies they support or reject, or their overall relationship with or trust in the state.” Thirdly, the project could help to better understand so-called 'forward-looking social mobility', as parents' sense of entitlement depends not only on their own experiences, but also to a large extent on the opportunities available to their children in their home communities.

The research will focus on the experiences of Estonia, Sweden and Poland, combining survey experiments and in-depth interviews with parents, school leaders and officials. "It is precisely this question – whether and how policy design and implementation shape parents' senses of justice and norms related to school choice (perceptions of a good school, the right choice, and 'good parenting') – that has influenced the selection of countries to be studied." An important stage of the analysis is monitoring social media and parent groups, as this is where perceptions of fairness and unfairness are often formed. Lauri explains that social media is a key place where parents share experiences and collectively shape perceptions of what constitutes a 'good school' and a 'fair choice'. There is often a lot of hot knowledge – rumours, personal stories and recommendations – which is considered more important than official statistics in school choices. Lauri explains that the debates express concerns and tensions that do not always come out in surveys or interviews. Therefore, social media analysis can help to understand how individual experiences intertwine to form collective perceptions that can either reinforce or divide solidarity. 

The European Research Council Starting Grant supports early-career researchers who are carrying out high-level research. Triin Lauri's research focuses on education policy and educational inequalities. She is a member of The Centre of Excellence for Well-Being Sciences EstWell and of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The five-year project has a budget of €1.5 million.