Comparing key dimensions of schooling: towards a typology of European school systems

‘Institutional context’ has come to play an important role in the explanation of differences in ‘effectiveness’ between schools. But what is meant by such a concept differs from system to system. In this study we typify education systems based on indicators of institutional contexts such as: the financial base of public‐private education/schools, differences in their governance structure, locus of control, and the degrees of freedom of (parental) school choice available in countries. We develop configurations of education systems based on these institutional context characteristics and establish the relationships between quality and equity of West European education systems and certain institutional characteristics.