Completion of Upper Secondary Education: What Mechanisms are at Stake?

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to reveal explanations for completing upper secondary education. Focus is on the mechanisms that drive attainment of upper secondary education. I analyze the relative contributions of different factors measured by the relative increases in the log likelihood function. I also investigate the importance of characteristics other than the traditional variables, such as fathers' and mothers' occupations, their education, and household income, often applied in studies of educational attainment. I used a recent 1984 cohort database with information about educational completion and an informative set of measurements on noncognitive capacities, parental cultural capital, cultural capital, reading score, several school-related variables, and a rich set of family background variables. Attainment of upper secondary education was analyzed by a multinomial logit model, showing that characteristics other than the traditional variables all have significant importance. The analysis clearly depicted that the social position and educational levels of both parents remain important in determining whether the child embarks on completing an upper secondary education. Additionally, noncognitive dispositions

What Do Test Score Really Mean? A Latent Class Analysis of Danish Test Score Performance

“…As more research is done the list of variables which affect test scores continues to grow. Where it will end and exactly what role "fundamental cognitive ability" will play in their determination remains to be seen (see, e.g., Munk, 2013).…”

Resiliens mellem individ og livsform

“…I sociologien er studier af disse typer af karakteristika tillige undersøgt (fx Farkas, 2003), og viser sig at vaere en af de mekanismer, der forhøjer chancen for at fuldføre forskellige typer af ungdomsuddannelser taget højde for familiebaggrund og demografiske karakteristika (jf. Munk, 2013). Olsson, Jerneck, Thoren, Persson, og O'Byrne (2015), med rødder i økologisk videnskab og filosofi, har imidlertid påpeget en raekke problemer forbundet med at føre begrebet resiliens ind i samfundsvidenskaberne uden at operere med begreber som magt, struktur og sociale betingelser, idet begrebet har sine rødder i en slags funktionalistisk systemteori (jf.…”

“…beholdningen af social kapital (netvaerk og tillid), graden af lokal familiestabilitet og tilknytningen til kirkeforeninger er staerkere. Forhold som disse bidrager sandsynligvis til en større grad af vedholdenhed, ihaerdighed og resiliens, som under visse sociale betingelser er afgørende igennem hele livet (Heckman, 2008;Munk, 2013).…”

Field theory in cultural capital studies of educational attainment

“…It means that these are not primarily generators of isolated effects. At least one could specify whether books at home are read and discussed with the children of the household, and information about the types of books would probably enhance our understanding of the micro-processes in the families, always in comparison across groups (see also Munk 2013).…”