Research findings indicate that the 20th century was marked by the persistence of educational inequality (Shavit and Blossfeld 1993; Wheelan and Layte 2002; Hout and Dohan 1996), while more recently some studies illustrate support for a decrease in inequality (among others, Breen, Luijks, Müller and Pollak 2009; Ballarino, Bernardi, Requena and Schadee 2009).