Agency and the school-to-work transition of care leavers: A retrospective study of Luxembourgish young people

in Children and Youth Services Review (2021), early online

This article presents empirical results from a study (2015–2018) on young people leaving care in Luxembourg. A special focus deals with the processes of transitioning from care to work. Education appears ... [more ▼]

This article presents empirical results from a study (2015–2018) on young people leaving care in Luxembourg. A special focus deals with the processes of transitioning from care to work. Education appears to be crucial for a successful transition, as it determines life chances, such as labour market chances, but so far inequality studies have neither researched transitions from care nor have the theoretical concepts developed in inequality research been used to understand the situation of care leavers. They might help to explain the different mechanisms behind the disadvantages of students in foster and residential care and their educational attainment. This paper thus attempts to theorise leaving care from an inequality perspective and the interdependencies with concepts of relational agency, taking into account the heterogeneity among care leavers, their trajectories and achievements (see also Göbel, Hadjar, Karl, Peters, & Jäger, 2020). The main objective of our analysis is to investigate how agency is achieved in the transition from school to work among care leavers, taking into consideration institutional pathways (continuities and discontinuities) in the care and the educational system. [less ▲]

Schule und soziale Ungleichheit

in Hascher, Tina; Idel, Till-Sebastian; Helsper, Werner (Eds.) Handbuch Schulforschung (2021)

Die Bedeutung der Schule als Bildungsinstitution nahm mit der Einführung der Schulpflicht im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert in vielen Regionen Europas zu. Aus der Industrialisierung in den europäischen Ländern ... [more ▼]

Die Bedeutung der Schule als Bildungsinstitution nahm mit der Einführung der Schulpflicht im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert in vielen Regionen Europas zu. Aus der Industrialisierung in den europäischen Ländern ergab sich einerseits die Notwendigkeit der Alphabetisierung der breiten Bevölkerung und andererseits – im Zuge der zunehmenden Arbeitsteilung sowie Trennung von Erwerbs- und Reproduktionssphäre – die Kinder während der Arbeitszeit der Eltern zu betreuen. Infolgedessen entwickelte sich seit dem ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert mit etlichen Vorläufern ein differenziertes staatlich geregeltes Bildungs- und Betreuungssystem. Bildung begann somit als Alphabetisierungs- und Betreuungsnotwendigkeit und höhere Bildung blieb bis in die Weimarer Republik (und teilweise bis in die Anfänge der Bundesrepublik im westlichen Teil Deutschlands) meist nur Jungen und Männern aus bürgerlichen und wohlhabenden Familien vorbehalten. Erst im Zuge der Modernisierungsprozesse des 20. Jahrhunderts wandelte sich Schulbildung zu einem Allgemeingut. Im Zuge der „Bildungsexpansion“, dem Ausbau von Bildungseinrichtungen und einer zunehmenden Bildungsnachfrage, die auch mit einer differenzierten Ausbildung und Qualifikation von Personal einherging, ist Schulbildung notwendige Voraussetzung für alle folgenden Qualifikationen in der Berufs- ebenso wie der Hochschulbildung geworden. Seitdem hat sich die Schule als wichtiges gesellschaftliches Subsystem etabliert und neben den eingangs erwähnten anfänglichen Aufgaben übernimmt Schule bedeutsame Funktionen für den Fortbestand der Gesellschaft. Schule hat sich nicht nur zu einer Bildungsanstalt, sondern auch zu einem Berechtigungswesen entwickelt, das Bildungschancen zuweist, die zentrale Voraussetzungen für den späteren Berufserwerb, Status, Einkommen sind. Letztere Aspekte sind wiederum mit weiteren Lebenschancen eng verknüpft, zum Beispiel politischer Partizipation, Gesundheit und Lebenserwartung. Im Folgenden wird der Beitrag nach begrifflich-theoretischen Bestimmungen von sozialer Ungleichheit und Bildungsungleichheit auf historische Meilensteine der Schulforschung eingehen. Anschließend werden zentrale Themen und Befunde der aktuellen Schulforschung zur sozialen Ungleichheit – von Merkmalen von Schüler*innen auf der individuellen Ebene über Lehrpersonen und Elternhaus hin zu Schulkulturen, Schüler*innenkomposition und Bildungssystem auf höheren Analyseebenen – in sechs Abschnitten näher ausgeführt. Zum Schluss geben wir einen Ausblick auf Trends und Desiderate. [less ▲]

How Migration Policy Shapes the Subjective Well-Being of the Non-immigrant Population in European Countries

in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (2021), early online

Existing studies show that there is a positive association between pro-migrant integration policies and the subjective well-being of immigrants. However, there is a lack of research elucidating the ... [more ▼]

Existing studies show that there is a positive association between pro-migrant integration policies and the subjective well-being of immigrants. However, there is a lack of research elucidating the relations between migrant integration policies and the subjective well-being of the host (i.e., non-migrant) population. This study is based on European data and uses multilevel analysis to clarify the relations between migrant integration policy (both as a whole and its eight separate components such as: Labor market mobility and Family reunion) and the subjective well-being of the non-immigrant population in European countries. We examined relations between the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) for 22 countries in Europe and subjective well-being, as assessed by the European Social Survey (ESS) data. The results demonstrated that there is a positive relation between the MIPEX and subjective well-being for non-immigrants. Considering different components of the MIPEX separately, we found most of them being positively related to the subjective well-being of non-immigrants. As no negative relationship was identified between any of the eight MIPEX components and subjective well-being, policies in favor of immigrant integration also seem to benefit the non-immigrant population. [less ▲]

Changes in school alienation profiles among secondary school students and the role of teaching style: Results from a longitudinal study in Luxembourg and Switzerland

in International Journal of Educational Research (2020), early online

What students think about school has a major impact on learning and academic achievement. The multi-domain concept of school alienation distinguishes between alienation from learning, from teachers and ... [more ▼]

What students think about school has a major impact on learning and academic achievement. The multi-domain concept of school alienation distinguishes between alienation from learning, from teachers and from classmates. We aim to study a) alienation patterns among secondary school students, b) how school alienation profiles change from year 7 to year 9 and how secondary school students transition between profiles, and c) the role of teaching style for transitions between school alienation profiles. We draw on panel data of secondary school students from Luxembourg and Switzerland. Results of latent profile/latent transition analyses reveal distinct school alienation profiles, country differences and support for the idea that student-oriented, supportive teaching styles might prevent students from transitioning towards more-highly alienated profiles. [less ▲]

School alienation and academic achievement in Switzerland and Luxembourg: a longitudinal perspective

in Social Psychology of Education (2020), 23

Early adolescence represents a particularly sensitive period in the life of young learners, which is accompanied by an increase in school alienation. Due to its harmful nature (Hascher and Hadjar in Educ ... [more ▼]

Early adolescence represents a particularly sensitive period in the life of young learners, which is accompanied by an increase in school alienation. Due to its harmful nature (Hascher and Hadjar in Educ Res 60:171–188, 2018. https ://doi.org/10.1080/00131 881.2018.14430 21), school alienation may lead to unfavorable consequences such as low academic achievement (Johnson in J Educ Technol Soc8:179–189, 2005; Reinke and Herman in Psychol Schools 39:549–559, 2002). This study investigates the longitudinal relationship between school alienation domains, namely alienation from learning, from teachers, and from classmates, and academic achievement among secondary school students of grade 7 to grade 9 in Switzerland and Luxembourg. Data were collected from 403 students in the Swiss canton of Bern and 387 students in Luxembourg who participated in three waves of the “School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg (SASAL)” research project. Cross-lagged modeling was applied to examine the correlations between school alienation domains and academic achievement at each of the three time points, the temporal stability of school alienation domains and academic achievement, and their cross-lagged effects across time, controlling for students’ gender, school track, parental occupational status, and migration background. Results show that the pattern of relationships is defined by the school alienation domain and the cultural context, pointing to the complex interplay between the multidimensional construct of school alienation and academic outcomes of secondary school students. [less ▲]

Soziale Mobilität

in Bonvin, Jean-Michel; Maeder, Pascal; Knöpfel, Carlo (Eds.) et al Wörterbuch der Schweizer Sozialpolitik (2020)

The role of future orientations and future life goals in achievement among secondary school students in Switzerland

in Journal of Youth Studies (2019), 22(9), 1184-1201

Focusing on the agency feature of considering the future, we study the role of general future orientations and specific future life goals in educational achievement (Grade Point Average) and related ... [more ▼]

Focusing on the agency feature of considering the future, we study the role of general future orientations and specific future life goals in educational achievement (Grade Point Average) and related educational inequalities. These factors are more remote from the outcome of educational attainment than are such frequently studied predictors as educational aspirations. Our research areas include: a) the link between future orientations and educational achievement; b) the link between certain future life goals (conceptualised along the lines of the values circumplex of Schwartz 1992) and achievement; and c) differences in future orientations and future life goals constituted by social origin and gender. Our analyses are based on a data set of Swiss eighthgraders (N = 772). While information on school marks is of an administrative nature (teachers’ records) and related to the end of the term, all other variables were gathered during term time from the students. However, some of the findings are counter-intuitive, such as anticipation of the future not being positively associated with achievement. Although the results indicate certain disparities in future goals, they only explain some part of the disparities in achievement. [less ▲]

Bildungsverläufe und Agency von Care-Leaver_innen in Luxemburg

in Göbel, Sabrina; Karl, Ute; Lunz, Marei (Eds.) et al Wege junger Menschen aus Heimen und Pflegefamilien. Agency in schwierigen Übergängen (2019)

Teachers’ images of the ideal student as a marker for school culture and its role in school alienation during the transition from primary to secondary education in Luxembourg

in Studia Paedagogica (2019), 24(2), 85-108

Particularly in highly stratified educational systems, the transition from primary to secondary school involves a substantial alteration of school culture as students leave their familiar environment of ... [more ▼]

Particularly in highly stratified educational systems, the transition from primary to secondary school involves a substantial alteration of school culture as students leave their familiar environment of primary school and encounter a fundamentally different, initially strange school context. The transition to a new secondary school culture is presumably one cause of students’ increasing school alienation as the students face specific expectations from their secondary teachers. The main aim of this paper is to shed light on the association between the change in school culture represented by the teachers’ image of the ideal student and school alienation in the educational context of Luxembourg. The methodolog y follows a qualitative approach: in-depth interviews and group discussions with teachers from primary and secondary schools were analysed applying a qualitative reconstructive approach. The results confirmed the importance of the transition for students’ educational trajectories and indicated its challenges concerning the changes in demands and values students are expected to meet. Various risk and protective factors concerning the development of school alienation over the course of the transition were identified according to the specific demands of a single school’s cultures. [less ▲]

Schulische Kontexte, Schulentfremdung und Bildungsarmut

in Quenzel, Gudrun; Hurrelmann, Klaus (Eds.) Handbuch Bildungsarmut (2019)