This is a study on how a group of ten pupils choose their upper secondary schools (gymnasium). All pupils are ninth graders in a middle school in Husby which is a suburb of Stockholm. Like the big majority of Husby citizens, they all have immigrant backgrounds and their time in Sweden varies; some are born here while others are born abroad and migrated later with their parents. My aim was to understand their upper secondary school choices through own and their parents’ "cultural capital". I based my study on Bourdieu’s theory on social reproduction and I used his terminology and definitions of cultural capital, interest, field, habitus and strategies. I investigated if and in what way these children follow the tracks of their parents in terms of future educational and working plans but even in terms of common cultural and leisure activities and the way they affect their upper secondary school choice. The Swedish upper secondary school is divided in 18 different specializations, 12 technical and 6 theoretical, respectively. In the first, the pupils are prepared for a technical profession and in the second, they prepare for further academic studies. I was interested in finding out the pupils’ strategies in fulfilling their educational and professional dreams in connection with their choice of upper secondary specialization and their parents’ educational and cultural interests and backgrounds. I used a qualitative method, specifically interviews. I transcribed the interviews and I tried to relate what was said to Bourdieu’s theory. I was mostly inspired by the phenomenological approach where the interviewer avoids taking position and focuses on the message the person being interviewed tries to communicate. Most families in my study have a relatively law cultural capital and even though some have had academic studies and high status professions in their home countries they have had jobs that did not match their education level in Sweden. Most children aim high in the educational rank and especially those who come from high educated parents seem to have a better knowledge of the Swedish educational system and how to better move into it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-5651 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Goulas, Stylianos |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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