Kinds of educational inequalities, welfare regimes and institutions in Latin America: an approach based on pisa 2009

The article focuses on educational inequalities in Latin America based on a conceptual and a methodological articulation of the main dimensions of sociological tradition. We approach the analysis of educational inequalities by observing the impact of social structures based on class and gender, along with the segmentation effects that come from the socio-cultural differences of local environments of schools and the institutions of government and management. We compared the inequality patterns in Mathematics cognitive achievements for eight Latin American countries that participated in pisa 2009 and four other contrasting cases outside the region. Inequalities in cognitive achievements are expressed in at least three different empirical and analytical levels: individual, school organization, and local and institutional context.