The empirical evidence examined

Four sets of data are examined here to give insights into the extent to which children and young people from different backgrounds have equal access to education in different EU Member States, and, therefore, into the extent of intergenerational social mobility that exists in each case.

The data in question come, first, from the Adult Education Survey in EU Member States. Unfortunately, questions on education and occupation of parents are not compulsory in the survey, and so country coverage is limited to 14 Member States in the case of educational mobility, and to 11 in the case of occupational mobility.

The second set of data examined comes from the PISA survey of the academic performance of young people at age 15-16 in different countries (conducted by the OECD at regular intervals) - specifically, from the study on Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World, carried out in 2006.

The third set comes from the special module on the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages, which was included as part of the EU-SILC survey in 2005.

The fourth set is taken from the EU-SILC survey for 2007 and, in particular, from the details relating to young people aged 16-29 who live with their parents. These are used to examine the link between young people's educational attainment (or the level of the programme of study they are pursuing if they are still in education or training) and that of their parents. This is intended as a check on the results of the 2005 ad hoc module, though that module focuses on people aged 25-64, rather than on young people under 30.