Characterization of educational inequalities with public data: Challenges for conceptualization and empirical operationalization

Abstract

This paper discusses the importance of public data in the field of Sociology of Education. Inequalities in access to formal education, educational trajectories and outcomes by social background, racial groups, gender, and school conditions, for example, could not be measured in the population without large-scale data produced by public agencies. In Brazil, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research "Anisio Teixeira" (Inep) are key state agencies for the production of scientific knowledge in the field. Some findings of research conducted with data from Inep are presented: The first describes the inequalities of school outcomes of Brazilian public schools according to social groups from 2007 to 2017; the second shows evidence about the educational opportunities in public schools and the relationship with the school effects.