engleski

Socio-demographic and academic predictors of educational aspirations of elementary school students

Research efforts in various contexts have indicated that young persons’ educational aspirations are strong determinants of their educational and more general life choices and outcomes. Students with higher educational aspirations have greater motivation and higher educational attainment, as do those for whom parents and teachers hold higher educational expectations and aspirations. The proposed research aims to examine some determinants of pupils’ educational aspirations at the transitional period of Croatian elementary education, when pupils decide about their future educational trajectory into secondary education. The first set of variables examined are gender and parental education followed by a set of relevant academic variables such as achievement, self-concept and learning strategies. This research was carried out on a sample of 231 eight-graders from 36 schools. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing educational level of their parents, school achievement, academic self-concept, learning strategies and their aspirations for secondary school. Two-step binomial logistic regression was performed to determine the effects of the selected variables on the likelihood of students’ aim to enrol in a grammar or vocational school. The model with both sets of predictors correctly classified 84.8% of students according to their aim to enrol in a grammar school. The only significant predictors were school achievement and academic self-concept, indicating that students with better school grades who consider themselves as more academically able aim to enrol grammar school.

Educational attainment ; Educational Psychology ; Motivation ; Primary education

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