Analysing Diversion Processes in German Secondary Education: School-Track Effects on Educational Aspirations

Abstract

Educational aspirations can be regarded as a predictor of final educational attainment, rendering this construct highly relevant for analysing the development of educational inequalities in panel data settings. In the context of the German tracked secondary school system, we analysed school-track effects on the development of educational aspirations. Using data from five consecutive waves of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we selected a sample of high-performing students with initially high aspirations. Our results indicate that pupils in the nonacademic track or with a low social origin tend to lower their aspirations significantly more often than pupils in the academic track or pupils with a high social origin. With mediation analyses, we demonstrate that these differences can be attributed to learning environments at the school level. We also show that the downward adjustment of aspirations in the nonacademic track is less pronounced for students from highly educated families than for students from low-education family backgrounds.

What Drives Regional Disparities in Educational Expansion: School Reform, Modernization, or Social Structure?

“…Accordingly, modernized school structures are marked by higher social inequalities in the transition to Gymnasium. This suggests a diversion of the intermediate education groups from the Gymnasium in favor of higher enrollment at comprehensive schools, thus supporting the diversion hypothesis by Schindler and Bittmann [61,62]. According to this hypothesis, lower and intermediate educational groups are diverted from the (direct) academic track because they rely on alternative educational pathways to the general university entrance qualification (Abitur) in modernized school structures.…”

“…Regarding the second research gap described above (i.e., differentiated inclusion of educational reform processes in analyses of educational expansion), the studies by Böhner-Taute [18], Becker and Mayer [1], and Schindler and Bittman [61,62] are exemplary. In her study, which adapts the school system typology of Helbig and Nikolai [12], and others, Böhner-Taute [18] shows that both a loose or modern school structure (e.g., six years of elementary school, 10 years of compulsory schooling) and open or de-standardized access to educational tracks (e.g., non-binding elementary school recommendation, no fixed grades for the transition to upper secondary school (Gymnasium) in grades 7-9) have a positive impact on students' transition to an academic track.…”

“…Although they do find a decline in educational inequality in the context of educational reforms for the birth cohorts from 1919 to 1986, their operationalization of reforms in the school system only includes the (increasing) number of upper secondary schools (Gymnasien) for the entire (West German) territory. Further evidence is provided in the thoughts and findings of Schindler and Bittmann [61] and Bittmann and Schindler [62], which are based on analyses of individual educational trajectories over time for (West) Germany. These studies point out that unintended side effects may occur in the course of educational reforms designed to increase the enrollment of children from lower and intermediate social and educational backgrounds in higher-level secondary.…”

Is what they aspire what they get? The role of cultural heterogeneity in the classroom for the realization of Abitur aspirations

“…Depending on the school track individuals attend, they have different opportunities to realize the same educational aspiration. Moreover, there is evidence for a school track-effect on the development of educational goals (Karlson 2015;Bittmann and Schindler 2021). To capture those differences, I control for school track, distinguishing between Haupt-, Real-and Gesamtschulen.…”

Educational and Occupational Aspirations: A Longitudinal Study of Vienna Youth

“…In the European context, the formation of aspirations, as well as trajectories after leaving compulsory education, have become less linear and more complex in recent years compared with the past (Hegna, 2014). So far, studies have looked at the development of and changes in either educational aspirations (e.g., Alexander et al, 2008;Bittmann & Schindler, 2021;Gutman & Schoon, 2018) or occupational aspirations (e.g., Basler & Kriesi, 2019;Miyamoto & Wicht, 2020), but not both jointly. The limited number of studies that consider both occupational and educational aspirations examine the relationship at only a single point in time (Widlund et al, 2020).…”