THE CONTRIBUTION OF TRANSFERS BETWEEN SCH OOL TYPES TO THE OPENNESS OF THE GENERAL EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM IN GERMANY

In the (West)German school system, people can transfer from one type o f secondary school to another under certain conditions. The paper prov ides analyses of such transitions based on the German Life History Stu dy. It contains information about the (West)German birth cohorts from 1919-21, 1929-31, 1939-41, 1949-51, 1954-56, and 1959-61. The number o f transfers between school types has risen considerably in the two you ngest cohorts. While upward moves between school types dominate in the older cohorts, upward and downward moves were almost equally likely i n the two youngest cohorts. In all the cohorts, transfers from the Vol ksschule, a general secondary school and from the academically oriente d Gymnasium to other school types have contributed to the transmission of educational inequality from one generation to the next. The effect s of social origin on changes from the Realschule, a ''middle'' type o f secondary school, to other types of school were weak. The influence of social origin on changes from the Volksschule to other school types has weakened over cohorts, while the effects of social origin on chan ges from the Gymnasium to other school types have not decreased over c ohorts.