Educational Tracks and Educational Choice after 9th Grade
Project coordinator: Svetlana Savelieva
In 2007 - 2010 the Laboratory was conducting a survey to study educational choice of the 9th graders basing upon the case of a district in Leningrad oblast. At first, the interviews with the graduates and their parents were collected and after that all the graduates in one of the schools were surveyed. Original research instrument was created basing upon this data. In 2009 all the graduates and their parents in that district were surveyed.
The analysis of qualitative data gave us an opportunity not only to develop a reliable research instrument, but also to reveal the norms and values which the informants are guided by while making decisions about education. Moreover, we were able to describe the way they see the social reality and percept existing opportunities and risks. We applied frame selection model for these objectives (it is a contemporary analytical approach elaborated by our German colleagues H. Esser and K. Kroneberg).
The analysis of statistical data was conducted in order to reveal the structure of the factors which shape the educational choice after the 9th grade and estimate their effect. In addition to factors traditional in educational research such as family’s socio-economic status, cultural and social capital, socio-psychological factors proposed by Wisconsin school were included into the model. As a result, a range of characteristics which might affect the educational choice was studied, including families’, pupils’ and their social environment’s characteristics. Educational and professional claims together with the significant others’ influence mediate the effect of objective factors (such as SES) on the respondent’s educational choice.
A monograph based on the research results is being prepared at the moment.
