Equality of educational opportunity: A socio-economic study of students attaining Anatolian high schools and vocational high schools

In this study, it is aimed to examine the academic success of children and the socioeconomic level of families, one of the factors that may cause inequality of opportunity in education in Turkey. The study is a quantitative study and has been conducted basing on the analysis of data received from 1354 students in Zeytinburnu/Istanbul. In the research, a data collection tool has been used, which includes questions to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants and the factors that could lead to inequality of opportunity in education. The universe of the study consists of tree vocational high schools with low LGS scores , taking students with diploma scores, and three Anatolian High Schools, which take students with high LGS scores, in İstanbul, in the 2021-2022 academic year. The findings obtained indicate that the main factor causing inequality of opportunity in education is the socioeconomic status of the family. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the children of families with good socioeconomic status are more successful in the LGS exam and go to better schools. On the contrary, it has been determined that the socioeconomic status of the families of those who go to vocational high schools with low academic profile and which do not require any LGS score is low.