The aim of the article was to address the relevance of cultural capital and relative risk aversion theories for educational outcomes and aspirations of upper secondary school students in Croatia, and to examine whether these approaches are compatible in explaining educational inequalities. Linear and logistic regressions were used to analyze data from 2106 students in their last year of upper secondary school (16-18 years old). Both constructs, cultural capital and relative risk aversion, had positive effects on school performance, enrolment of gymnasium instead of vocational school and aspirations for higher education. The analyses indicated that cultural factors frequently associated with school performance should not be separated from more direct status concerns shaping educational decisions. Rather than seeing them as unrelated, these mechanisms may both be seen as constitutive of students' educational dispositions. KEYWORDS: cultural capital; relative risk aversion; educational inequality; upper secondary education; aspirations for higher education APSTRAKT: Cilj ove studije bio je da se sagleda značaj teorija kulturnog kapitala i izbegavanja relativnog rizika za obrazovne ishode i aspiracije učenika srednjih škola u Hrvatskoj, te da se ispita da li su ovi pristupi kompatibilni u objašnjavanju nejednakosti u obrazovanju. Podaci 2106 učenika u njihovoj poslednjoj godini srednje škole (starost od 16-18 godina) analizirani su linearnom i logističkom regresijom. Oba konstrukta, kulturni kapital i izbegavanje relativnog rizika,

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of programmes aimed at developing students’ social, emotional and intercultural competencies. This has coincided with growing recognition of the role that schools have to play in fostering not only the cognitive, but also the social and emotional development of their students. Despite targeting separate competencies, there seem to be many similarities in approaches to students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) as well as developing intercultural skills, presenting a rationale for their integration and conceptualisation on the social, emotional and intercultural (SEI) level. The myriad of different SEI programmes provides an arsenal of useful tools for school-based SEI learning. However, choosing which programme to use, considering how to implement it and determining whether it will be effective can be quite overwhelming. Existing approaches aimed at teaching SEI competencies vary greatly depending on the programme, as does the content of the programme and its design. In this article, we seek to tackle the question of how SEI competencies are taught, with particular emphasis on the content and theoretical or conceptual background of existing interventions, together with their methodological and organisational aspects. We also explore whether and how the evaluation of existing programmes has been conducted, the most important results and the aspects of implementation which are key to fostering the development of SEI competencies in educational contexts. This article presents an overview of relevant aspects worth acknowledging while developing and implementing SEI programmes, and which might prove especially useful when programmes are conceptualised within the overall SEI (instead of the more often used SEL) learning framework. Given the importance of SEI competencies for the overall well-being of students (and hence their parents and school staff), we encourage researchers and practitioners to build upon these insights while developing and implementing comprehensive SEI programmes.

U radu se ispituju aspiracije hrvatskih srednjoškolaca kad je riječ o mjestu studiranja (inozemstvo, Zagreb, drugi grad u Hrvatskoj). Teorijsko polazište rada čini teorija racionalnog izbora, koja se koristi pri objašnjenju obrazovnih odluka u periodu obrazovnih tranzicija. Provedena je višerazinska multinomijalna regresijska analiza na nacionalno reprezentativnom uzorku učenika četverogodišnjih srednjih škola (N=10 829). Podatci su prikupljeni tijekom školske godine 2017./2018. Rezultati pokazuju da su aspiracije prema mjestu studiranja povezane s društvenim podrijetlom učenika: veće aspiracije prema studiranju u Zagrebu povezane su s visokoškolskim obrazovanjem barem jednog roditelja te s aktivnim radnim statusom majke i oca, dok su veće aspiracije za studiranjem u inozemstvu povezane s visokoškolskim obrazovanjem obaju roditelja i višim mjesečnim prihodima kućanstva. Učeničke aspiracije prema studiranju u inozemstvu povezane su i s čimbenicima racionalnog izbora: većom brigom za izbjegavanjem silazne društvene mobilnosti, višom samoprocjenom vjerojatnosti uspješnog upisa i završetka studija, nižom procjenom vrijednosti obrazovanja u hrvatskom društvu te višom procjenom nepoštovanja meritokratskih principa u hrvatskom visokom obrazovanju. S druge strane, aspiracije prema studiranju u Zagrebu od navedenih su čimbenika povezane samo s višom procjenom društvene vrijednosti obrazovanja. Svi su učinci bili neovisni o školskom uspjehu učenika. Dobiveni nalazi tumače se u kontekstu horizontalnih nejednakosti u visokom obrazovanju te se upućuje na moguće implikacije nalaza za obrazovnu politiku.

This study examines the association between vocational school students' aspirations for higher education and different factors that may be related to their social background. Using cultural reproduction and relative risk aversion (RRA) theories, the study draws on data from 7060 students of four-year vocational upper secondary school programmes in Croatia. A multinomial logistic model with a random intercept was applied, in which students' aspirations for pursuing higher education served as the outcome variable. Apart from indicators of socio-economic status (SES), vocational school students' characteristics related to cultural habits and behaviours, as well as their concerns with downward mobility, were used as regressor variables in the analysis. All three constructs showed independent effects on aspirations for higher education, controlling for vocational sector, gender, school achievement, and school year. Further, a moderation effect was identified, indicating that the association between cultural capital and aspirations for higher education was stronger among students with more educated parents. In contrast to previous studies, the findings point to the potential complementarity of cultural capital and RRA concerning educational aspirations. We discuss the implications of the study and directions for future research.