Same Paths, Different Destinations. Exploring the Effect of Educational Trajectories and Social Background on Transitions to Post-compulsory Education

Abstract

Transitions to post-compulsory education are a key element in understanding educational and social inequalities. The choice of post-compulsory education is mediated by patterns of social inequality, as well as by school trajectories and previous educational experiences. Based on this framework, this article aims at understanding how school trajectories of young people in the compulsory education help to explain their choices about post-compulsory itinerary. Beyond an analysis that incorporates the descriptive factors of school trajectories – such as grade retention or youngsters’ academic performance – the analysis also incorporates the experiences of young people at school. In doing so, we used the data from a questionnaire carried out during the 2018-2019 academic year to N= 1,318 young people in their first post-compulsory education course. We carried out a factorial analysis and a subsequent cluster analysis, which resulted in the construction of four types of school trajectories: the «good students», the «hard-working», the «misbehaved» and the «displaced». Results show how these school trajectories, mediated by social origin, influence post-compulsory choices. The article highlights the importance of the school career and provides new evidence for the demystification of the existing rhetoric about “free choice” in the transition to post-compulsory studies.