Cette thèse contribue à la littérature économique sur les compétences non cognitives essentielles pour la réussite de la vie, particulièrement pour la réussite scolaire. Elle comprend quatre essais basés sur des approches économiques comportementales et expérimentales, avec deux objectifs principaux. Le premier objectif est d’étudier deux compétences non cognitives, à savoir la confiance en soi et la créativité. Notre but est alors de comprendre les déterminants de la confiance en soi et l’impact de la créativité sur les résultats économiques. Le deuxième objectif est d’étudier comment le système scolaire influence les décisions éducatives, les résultats scolaires et la mobilité intergénérationnelle, secteurs où les compétences non cognitives peuvent jouer un rôle important, en particulier via leurs effets sur la confiance en soi et la motivation. Nous observons un impact important des capacités non cognitives sur le comportement et sur les résultats économiques, notamment en ce qui concerne les décisions éducatives. Tout nous montre à penser que fondamentalement les écoles s’inquiètent du développement de ces capacités non cognitives - et non pas seulement des capacités cognitives. Aider les élèves à avoir de meilleures estimations de leur confiance en soi, favoriser le développement du potentiel créatif, stimuler la motivation et l’effort devraient alors faire partie de l’éducation que les élèves reçoivent dans les écoles ; promouvant alors de meilleures décisions, de meilleurs résultats et une société plus équitable. / This thesis contributes to the growing economic literature on noncognitive skills that are critical for life success, specially for academic success. It comprises four essays based on behavioral and experimental economics approaches, with two main objectives. The first objective is to study two noncognitive skills, namely self-confidence and creativity. We aim at understanding the determinants of self-confidence, and the impact of creative potential on economic outcomes. The second objective is to study how school systems impact educational decisions, educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility, where noncognitive skills may play an important role, specially self-confidence and motivation. We observe an important impact of the noncognitive abilities on behavior and economic results, especially for the educational achievements. Taken all our evidences together, it seems fundamental that schools worry about the development of these noncognitive abilities - and not only of the cognitive abilities. Helping students to have better estimates of self-confidence, favoring the development of creative potential, and stimulating motivation and effort should be part of the education that pupils receive in schools ; promoting then better decisions, better outcomes and a more equitable society.

The main argument of this thesis is that research has to take the institutional character of education seriously. Educational institutions carry considerable weight for outcomes of education and their design is a matter of intense political debate. This work focuses in particular on the institution of tracking that has wide-reaching consequences for the structure of education. The thesis consists of an introductory essay, together with three empirical essays. The empirical essays all acknowledge the main argument but study different outcomes and relationships connected to education. Essay I studies how the institutions of political economy and education together affect equality of income and equality of educational opportunity. This essay contributes to the literature by distinguishing the effects of the different institutions of political economy and education, as well as how they interact to affect the two contrasting conceptions of equality. The results reveal that tracking hinders equality of educational opportunity but is also related to better incomes for vocational education graduates in certain institutional settings. Wage bargaining coordination reinforces the more equal educational opportunities of weakly tracked contexts and improves the relative income of vocational graduates in these contexts. Essay II explores how education and tracking affect social trust. It makes two contributions. First, the empirical approach provides strong support for causal inference. Second, it is the first study to consider how tracking affects social trust. The empirical evidence finds no general effect of educational attainment on social trust, but decreasing tracking has a positive effect on social trust for individuals who come from weakly educated backgrounds. Essay III aims to explain cross-country differences in tracking by focusing on the impact of government partisanship. The study contributes to the literature by being the first comparative study to explore how partisan politics may explain differences in tracking and being one of few comparative studies there are on the topic at all. The results show that tracking is strongly related to a dominance of Christian democratic governments, whereas detracking reforms have mainly been carried out by social democratic governments.

Au cours des dernières décennies, l'évolution du système éducatif québécois a été caractérisée par des logiques du marché. En accordant aux parents la liberté de choisir l’école pour leurs enfants et à l’établissement la possibilité de sélectionner ses élèves, les pouvoirs politiques ont ouvert la porte à la compétition intra et inter établissements (Kamanzi, 2018, 2019). Cette dynamique du marché accentue, entre autres, des inégalités scolaires et sociales où les élèves sont séparés selon leurs capacités et, de façon implicite, leur origine sociale (Desjardins, Lessard et Blais, 2011; Marcotte-Fournier, 2015; Marcotte-Fournier et al., 2016; Larose, 2016, Hurteau et Duclos, 2017). À partir des données de l’enquête Pisa 2015, nous étudions les effets des pratiques de marché sur la cohésion scolaire. Celle-ci est analysée à travers les sentiments d’appartenance, de confiance et de coopération chez les élèves du secondaire. Les analyses montrent que la stratification scolaire et la présence de compétition sont liées à la cohésion scolaire. D'une part, les élèves des écoles privées sont ceux qui maintiennent une forte cohésion dans leur environnement scolaire. D'autre part, plus il y a de concurrence au sein de l’établissement, plus le sentiment d'appartenance est élevé. À partir de ces constats, l’étude suggère quelques pistes d’interprétation pour mieux comprendre la nature de la compétition, mais aussi envisager les moyens d'établir une cohabitation saine entre la cohésion et les logiques du marché scolaire dans le contexte du système scolaire québécois. / Over the past few decades, market forces have characterized the evolution of Quebec’s education system. By giving parents the freedom to choose the school that their children attend and schools the opportunity to select their students, political leaders have opened the door to intra- and inter-school competition (Kamanzi, 2018, 2019). This results, among other things, in educational and social inequalities where students are separated according to their abilities and, implicitly, their social background (Desjardins, Lessard and Blais, 2011; Marcotte-Fournier, 2015; Marcotte-Fournier et al., 2016; Larose, 2016, Hurteau and Duclos, 2017). Using data from the Pisa 2015 survey, we study the effects of market practices on school cohesion. We analyze this phenomenon through the feelings of belonging, trust and cooperation among secondary school students. Our analyses show that school stratification and the presence of competition are linked to school cohesion. On the one hand, students in private schools are those who maintain a strong cohesion in their school environment. On the other hand, the more competition there is within the institution, the higher the sense of belonging. Based on these findings, the study suggests some possible interpretations to better understand the nature of competition, but also to consider ways to establish a healthy cohabitation between cohesion and the logic of school markets in the context of Quebec’s school system.

Schools, Families and Inequality. Choice of Secondary Education in Contemporary Czech Society The dissertation work is concerned with the choice of secondary education in families, the influence of family and school on the choice of pupils born in the 1st half of 90s. A special importance of this phase is in that high schools in the Czech Republic are highly differentiated so the choice belongs to the crucial points of the school carrier. The type of the studied high school significantly influences learning aspirations and chances of the graduates to be accepted to further education, structures the field of possibilities in the life way of young people. The analysis is based on data obtained from two qualitative studies: 1. Focus groups with mothers of children in the ninth year of the compulsory education: students of (selective) multi-year grammar schools; pupils from basic schools (the main education stream); 2. Case studies carried out in two Prague schools focused on two classes in the eight and ninth year (2008-2010). The aim of both the studies was to map subjective perspectives of the participating actors - parents, pupils and teachers, to show different interests, attributed meanings, values in upbringing, education, abilities to distinguish types of high schools due to prospects of the new...

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During 2010 and 2011, major earthquakes caused widespread damage and the deaths of 185 people in the city of Christchurch. Damaged school buildings resulted in state intervention which required amendment of the Education Act of 1989, and the development of ‘site sharing agreements’ in undamaged schools to cater for the needs of students whose schools had closed. An effective plan was also developed for student assessment through establishing an earthquake impaired derived grade process. Previous research into traditional explanations of educational inequalities in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and New Zealand were reviewed through various processes within three educational inputs: the student, the school and the state. Research into the impacts of urban natural disasters on education and education inequalities found literature on post disaster education systems but nothing could be found that included performance data. The impacts of the Canterbury earthquakes on educational inequalities and achievement were analysed over 2009-2012. The baseline year was 2009, the year before the first earthquake, while 2012 is seen as the recovery year as no schools closed due to seismic events and there was no state intervention into the education of the region. National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results levels 1-3 from thirty-four secondary schools in the greater Christchurch region were graphed and analysed. Regression analysis indicates; in 2009, educational inequalities existed with a strong positive relationship between a school’s decile rating and NCEA achievement. When schools were grouped into decile rankings (1-10) and their 2010 NCEA levels 1-3 results were compared with the previous year, the percentage of change indicates an overall lower NCEA achievement in 2010 across all deciles, but particularly in lower decile schools. By contrast, when 2011 NCEA results were compared with those of 2009, as a percentage of change, lower decile schools fared better. Non site sharing schools also achieved higher results than site sharing schools. State interventions, had however contributed towards student’s achieving national examinations and entry to university in 2011. When NCEA results for 2012 were compared to 2009 educational inequalities still exist, however in 2012 the positive relationship between decile rating and achievement is marginally weaker than in 2009. Human ethics approval was required to survey one Christchurch secondary school community of students (aged between 12 and 18), teachers and staff, parents and caregivers during October 2011. Participation was voluntary and without incentives, 154 completed questionnaires were received. The Canterbury earthquakes and aftershocks changed the lives of the research participants. This school community was displaced to another school due to the Christchurch earthquake on 22 February 2011. Research results are grouped under four geographical perspectives; spatial impacts, socio-economic impacts, displacement, and health and wellbeing. Further research possibilities include researching the lag effects from the Canterbury earthquakes on school age children.

Education plays an increasingly important role in achieving success in life and the social ladder, because every individual should have the same opportunity to study regardless of their origin, social characteristics, educational family history or other ascriptive factors. This thesis deals with an access to higher education for those who come from low-income families or families where a higher education has no family history. It describes and analyzes the current access to tertiary education in the Czech Republic in the context of the equalization of opportunities of students from families with no tradition of higher education or lower socio- economic status. The theoretical part presents information about the issue of access to higher education. It explains the concepts which are often mentioned in this thesis, describes the historical development of the right to education and the path to the right of equal access to tertiary education in a modern society. The following describes the sociological theories on educational inequality and they are applied to the specific factors influencing equity of access to tertiary education. Finally, it outlines the current development in the Czech Republic. The practical part describes the support system for the largest university in the Czech Republic. This...