The Choice of Secondary School as a Decision Process between Parents and Children

Wohlkinger, Florian (2019): The Choice of Secondary School as a Decision Process between Parents and Children. In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie der Erziehung und Sozialisation, Vol. 39, No. 3: pp. 229-246

Abstract

When analyzing educational decisions such as the choice of secondary school, scholars tend to focus on parents as decision makers, while the children's perspective is largely ignored. In contrast, this article aims to shed greater light on the decision-making process within the family and the interaction dynamics between parents and children. I examine the relationship between both actors' educational aspirations in classes 3 and 4 in primary school. Several education-related factors are utilized in a series of logistic regression analyses with the aim to analyze the formation of both actors' educational aspirations and their mutual influences. In predicting the parental aspirations, probability of success is an important factor, along with academic performance and the child's aspirations. For the aspirations of the children, parental aspirations and performance also play an important role, while RC measures indicate no significant effect after controlling for parental aspirations. Based on these results, the appropriateness of RC models for analyzing the perspective of children is discussed.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Psychology and Education Science > Department Education and Rehabilitation
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 150 Psychology
• ISSN: 1436-1957
• Language: English