Factors Influencing the Transition of Pupils to "Maturita" Subjects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14712/23362189.2018.851Keywords:
transition to middle-school studies, educational aspiration, results of education, academic frustration, socio-economic status.Abstract
The purpose of this article is to contribute to research on educational inequalities in the Czech education system by analysing the aspirations of pupils at the end of compulsory education and the factors aff ecting their success or otherwise in transition to maturita studies. After completing the 9th year of basic school Czech pupils choose between three types of educational programme with very diff erent curricula: gymnasium (academic high school), middle vocational education with “maturita” (the school-leaving examinations essential for university entrance), and middle vocational education without maturita. The decision on choice of programme is a family matter and as a rule the school is minimally involved, The article aims to discover the extent to which aspirations to study for the maturita and success in getting into maturita-orientated programmes are aff ected by pupils’ level of knowledge, degree of success at school and socio-economic status. It also seeks to establish the extent to which lack of aspiration for maturita study is conditioned by a sense of academic frustration and attitude to the school. The analyses were based on data obtained in 2003 in the framework of the PISA-L survey from 5,182 pupils in the 9th grade, and data obtained as part of the CloSE (Czech Longitudinal Study of Education) study in 2016 from 4,489 pupils of the 9th grade. Logistical regression showed that family background is an important predictor of both aspiration to maturity studies and success of entry into maturity studies even when the study results of pupils are the same. For instance pupils coming from families with lower socio-economic status are disadvantaged in access to maturity studies even when they have the same study results and knowledge as their contemporaries from families with higher socio-economic status. It likewise showed that aspirations to study in “non-maturita” fi elds are not conditioned by negative attitudes to the school or feelings of academic frustration/failure.
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