Search

This article reports a study that investigated secondary school students’ higher education aspirations (towards university studies, ISCED 6 and above) and how these differ between student groups as well as how these are impacted by values of education. Panel data of more than 300 secondary school students in two countries, Luxembourg and Switzerland (the Swiss Canton of Bern) was analysed. Schools are structured differently in the education systems of Luxembourg and the Swiss Canton of Bern. The results of our analysis show that students in the Luxembourgish sample more often aspire to higher education than in the Swiss sample. Disparities in higher education aspirations were also more pronounced in the Luxembourgish sample, boys and students from families of low socio-economic status (SES) were less likely to aspire to higher education. While the effects of values of education are generally scarce, stimulation in terms of anticipated enjoyment and interest derived from participation in higher education seems to have a positive effect on higher education aspirations.

What students think about school has a major impact on learning and academic achievement. The multi-domain concept of school alienation distinguishes between alienation from learning, from teachers and from classmates. We aim to study a) alienation patterns among secondary school students, b) how school alienation profiles change from year 7 to year 9 and how secondary school students transition between profiles, and c) the role of teaching style for transitions between school alienation profiles. We draw on panel data of secondary school students from Luxembourg and Switzerland. Results of latent profile/latent transition analyses reveal distinct school alienation profiles, country differences and support for the idea that student-oriented, supportive teaching styles might prevent students from transitioning towards more-highly alienated profiles.

Starting out from the frequent empirical finding that immigrants exhibit higher educational aspirations than non-immigrants, we analyse the role of immigrants’ value of education, i.e. the subjective belief that education is beneficial for one’s life, in idealistic and realistic educational aspirations in four distinct institutional settings, comparing Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and England. While the first part of the analyses relates to how immigrants differ from non-immigrants in the value they assign to education, the second part centres on country differences considering immigrant integration policies and education systems as crucial factors. A third part relates to the links between the value of education and educational aspirations to gain some insight into how the value of education may contribute to educational decisions. Analyses are based on longitudinal data of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). While results show that immigrants assign a higher value to education, the value of education does play a minor role in idealistic and realistic educational aspirations. The results of the country comparison are rather ambivalent, including very weak support for the argument that immigrants strive for education to a higher extent in countries with less favourable conditions.

What is the role of students’ language background in school success within the multilingual and highly stratified education system in Luxembourg? Considering achievement differences in terms of the primary effects of social and ethnic origin, we assume that students of a disadvantaged social origin (e.g. working class), with an immigrant background, who speak languages at home other than Luxembourg’s official languages show lower school achievements and are placed into lower school tracks. Analyses are based on the data of Luxembourgish primary (grades 4/5) and secondary students (grades 7/8) from two consecutive survey waves in 2016/2017 (for the international project SASAL – School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg). The results indicate language background has only marginal effects, but social and immigrant origin has stronger effects.

Many approaches to explaining educational inequalities relate explicitly and implicitly to benefits of education, and rational choice theories in particular consider monetary benefits. We specify a concept of the value of education that allows for an empirical analysis of educational benefits, considering both monetary and non-monetary dimensions (instrumental goals) outlined in social production function theory. Our objectives include introducing a sound theoretical framework, the validation of an empirical measurement instrument and an analysis of the differences between certain dimensions of educational values structured by social origin, gender and immigrant background. Analyses are based on a two-wave panel study (SASAL-School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg) carried out in secondary schools in Luxembourg and Switzerland. We distinguish four dimensions within the concept of values of education: stimulation, comfort/status, behavioural confirmation and affection. The different dimensions of the value of education are influenced by gender and immigrant backgrounds in both national settings.

Values and attitudes towards schooling – as the core concepts of this research – are increasingly recognized as important factors affecting educational achievement and attainment. Values of Education (VoE) are conceptualised along the five instrumental goals outlined in the social production function theory by Lindenberg (1991; Ormel et al., 1999). School alienation (SAL) is defined as negative attitudes towards academic domains of schooling, namely teachers and learning (Hascher & Hadjar, 2018: 179). Based on the assumption that SAL depicts a process intensified over the course of secondary education (Finn, 1989), this dissertation finds evidence for developmental trends between grade seven and grade eight comparatively across country settings and to show how educational contexts and the perceived VoE affect SAL. This sociological study provides an in-depth comparison of the stratified school systems of Luxembourg and of the Canton of Berne (Switzerland) based upon newly-collected panel data of the international research project School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg (SASAL) (N = 465/508). Following the distinction of primary and secondary effects of social origin by Boudon (1974), these core concepts are discussed in the frames of Bourdieu’s (1982 [1979], 1992) habitus theory, emphasizing the transmission of cultural capital in families, and of rational choice approaches (e.g. Esser, 1999). Moreover, theoretical approaches on disparities structured by gender (e.g. Breen et al., 2010) and migration background (Kristen & Dollmann, 2010) as well as further axes of educational inequalities are considered to explain found differences in students’ educational values and attitudes towards schooling. The validation of the measurement instrument of VoE by means of factor analysis indicates four dimensions of VoE among school students in these contexts: stimulation as an intrinsic value, comfort and status related to standards of living and future career goals, beh

Early identification of school alienation is of great importance for students’ educational outcomes and successful participation in society. This study examined the psychometric characteristics of a newly developed assessment instrument, the School Alienation Scale (SALS), to measure school alienation among primary and secondary school students. The SALS consists of three school-related domains, namely, classmates, teachers, and learning. Based on the responses of Swiss (1) and Luxembourgish (2) students from two schoolspecific cohorts — primary (grade 4; n1=486, n2=503) and secondary schools (grade 7; n1=550, n2=534), we assessed instrument reliability, validity, and cross-cultural equivalence. The scale showed evidence of reliability and internal validity across two samples, confirming that the hypothesized first-order three-factor model fits the data better than several alternative models. The results of measurement invariance tests revealed that the measurement model operated equally well for primary and secondary school students in both countries. The construct validity of the SALS was additionally supported by demonstrated criterion-related validity. Specifically, school alienation domains were negatively associated with positive attitudes to and enjoyment in school; social problems in school were positively related to alienation from classmates and teachers. Our key contributions to the measurement of school alienation are the disclosure of the core domains of school alienation, development of a reliable and valid instrument, and justification for its use. Therefore, the results of this study have important implications for further theoretical work in alienation research and contribute to comparative research by examining the construct of school alienation in different educational settings.