The study examines the association of social background, academic-related and institution-related factors with indicators of higher education dropout risk, i.e. students' perceived probability of ...graduating and their consideration of leaving their studies. Bivariate analysis and multilevel logistic models were used to analyse data from 1533 students from 25 study programs of the University of Zagreb, Croatia. The results confirmed the assumption that higher education dropout risk may be associated with different factors (i.e. social background, academic and institution-related characteristics), but also that there may be differences regarding the two indicators of perceived dropout risk. Moreover, the analysis revealed that perceived dropout risk may be viewed as part of a process of self-selection in which a combination of different factors leads a student to withdraw from higher education. Accordingly, the impact of the covariates of dropout risk should not be viewed only relative to each other, but should be evaluated in the context of educational decision-making net of academic ability.
Using PISA 2009 data for Croatia, this paper addresses the relationship between socio-economic background, cultural capital and educational attainment. Following Bourdieu, we emphasized the ...importance of interpreting cultural capital effects as effects of family habitus. The results indicated that the material and the relational dimension of cultural capital had independent effects on science literacy results. Although there was no significant interaction effect between socio-economic status and cultural capital, the analysis suggested both a tendency for social reproduction as well as the possibility for social mobility of students with lower socio-economic status.
The model of ethnification posits that in post-socialist contexts ethnic identities are used as a source for political mobilization against ethnic outgroups. In Croatia, this is further amplified by ...collective war experiences. This paper investigates the association between identity-based variables, related to ethnification and war experiences, and anti-immigrant prejudice in Croatia. The study employed structural equation modelling of the data from a large youth sample (N = 1,034). Higher ethnic threat, lower cultural capital, more exclusive conception of nationhood and right-wing political orientation predicted stronger anti-immigrant prejudice. Ethnic threat moderated the effect of political orientation on prejudice: under high ethnic threat there was no difference between left-wing and right-wing individuals. As the results correspond to findings from Western countries, we argue that comparable explanations of anti-immigrant prejudice may be applied to non-Western and Western contexts.
This work supports the hypothesis that the "wholeness" of intercultural education can only be ensured if cultural (less prejudice against "the other & different") & structural aspects (educational, ...political & socioeconomic division) are closely related. In that sense, the two superior goals of intercultural education, one structural (equal chances for the minority students) & the other cultural (preparing all students for the multicultural society), cannot be examined separately. The author uses Bourdieu's concepts of habitus & cultural capital to explain the theory of closely related structural & cultural aspect of intercultural education. Bourdieu's theory of habitus as incorporated social structure is pointed out, namely the fact that ethno national identity is built on incorporated ethnic division in the society. On the other hand, the minority status which is the result of ethno cultural division of the society, presents the unacknowledged cultural capital & the school is a "symbolic market" where minority students show somewhat weaker education results. It is only possible to break this vicious circle by combining two strategies: one, which ensures equal chances & makes teachers aware of the specific position of their minority students & the other which, while acknowledging the equal value of minority identity, examines the symbolic structure of the existing majority/minority division. Adapted from the source document.
ABSTRACT IN CROATIAN: U radu se ispituje dvojna uloga matematickog obrazovanja u drustvu i to s jedne strane kao instrumenta tehnoloskog i ekonomskog razvoja, a s druge kao mehanizma za postizanje ...drustvenog statusa. U tu svrhu razmatra se uloga matematickog obrazovanja u povecanju ekonomske produktivnosti i kompetitivnosti, u (re)produkciji drustvenih nejednakosti, kao i njegova vaznost za aktivno gradanstvo. Polazeci od koncepata ljudskog kapitala i znanja visokog statusa, zastupa se teza da se ekonomski i statusni aspekt matematickog obrazovanja ne mogu razmatrati odvojeno buduci da aktualno (pre)naglasavanje ekonomskog aspekta pojacava tendenciju k obrazovnoj reprodukciji drustvenih nejednakosti, sto u konacnici moze biti ekonomski disfunkcionalno. Autori naglasavaju potrebu za odmakom od obrazovnih politika usmjerenih primarno na ekonomsku ucinkovitost pojedinca - shvacenog kao apstraktnog nositelja ljudskog kapitala - prema politikama koje pitanje razvoja ljudskih resursa povezuju sa smanjenjem strukturnih nejednakosti u (matematickom) obrazovanju i drustvu opcenito. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The paper examines the dual role of mathematics education in society, on the one hand as an instrument of technological and economic development, and on the other as a mechanism for status attainment. Therefore, the authors discuss the role of mathematics education in raising economic competitiveness and productivity, in the (re)production of social inequalities, and its relevance for active citizenship. Drawing on the concepts of human capital and high status knowledge, it is asserted that the economic and status attainment aspects of mathematics education cannot be separated, since the actual (over)accentuation of the economic aspect strengthens the tendency for educational reproduction of social inequalities, which in the end can be economically dysfunctional. The authors emphasise the need for retreat from educational policies focused primarily on individual economic effectiveness - conceptualised through abstract holders of human capital - towards policies that combine the issue of human resources development with the question of structural inequalities in (mathematics) education and the wider society.
ABSTRACT IN CROATIAN: U radu su prezentirani rezultati empirijskog istrazivanja koje, oslonom na Bourdiea (1977), ispituje povezanost rodnih, socioekonomskih i sociokulturnih karakteristika ...ucenika/ca s njihovim uspjehom iz matematike i izborom srednje skole. Istrazivanje je provedeno na uzorku od 693 ucenika/ca 8. razreda osnovnih skola u Gradu Zagrebu i Zagrebackoj zupaniji. Rezultati pokazuju da ucenice imaju bolje ocjene iz matematike od ucenika te da cesce nego ucenici namjeravaju upisati gimnazije, ali znatno rjede strukovne skole sa zastupljenijom matematikom (tehnicke skole). Ucenici/e viseg ekonomskog i kulturnog statusa postizu bolji uspjeh iz matematike i cesce biraju srednje skole sa zastupljenijom nastavom matematike. Bolji uspjeh iz matematike najsnaznije predvidaju rod, obrazovanje roditelja, posjedovanje klasicne literature te pristup Internetu. Pri analiziranom odabiru srednje skole, odabir gimnazije je prvenstveno objasnjen kulturnim resursima obitelji ucenika/ca, dok je odabir tehnicke skole vise objasnjen rodom ucenika/ce. Dobiveni nalazi o rodnoj i socijalnoj diferencijaciji u skladu su s nalazima istrazivanja u drugim zemljama. // ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: The article presents the research results on the effects that gender and socio-economic and socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics have on pupils' achievement in mathematics and secondary school choice. The research was conceptually connected to Bourdieu (1977) and carried out on a sample of 693 elementary school pupils from Zagreb and the surrounding Zagreb County. The results have shown that girls have higher school grades in mathematics than boys, and are more likely to choose grammar schools than vocational schools with a large number of math lessons (technical schools). Pupils from families with higher socio-economic and socio-cultural status achieve better grades and more often choose schools with a large number of math lessons. Gender, parents' higher level of education, owning classical literature and the Internet access in one's home proved to be the strongest predictors of higher mathematics achievement. As for the choice of schools, the choice of grammar school was primarily explained by cultural resources of the family, while the choice of technical school was explained by pupils' gender. These findings are consistent with the results of similar research studies in other countries.
This article provides a panoramic view of research findings on social inequalities in access to higher education in Croatia since the 1960s, guided by the question of what has changed in the ...findings. Our review shows that there is stark continuity over the last five decades: students from better educated family backgrounds tend to be overrepresented in higher education; students from better educated and white-collar family backgrounds are more likely to enrol in academic as opposed to professional study courses; students at one Croatian university in particular stand out in terms of their more privileged social background; and medicine seems to be the prime academic field for observing social reproduction. We note that these persistent findings run parallel to a dramatically changing political, economic and social context in Croatia, including transformations in the 1990s resulting from social ownership of the means of production to widespread private ownership, as well as transformations from a one-party political system to the establishment of a multi-party political system. The article maps possible theoretical explanations for the resilience of social inequalities in access to higher education in the context of dynamic times. It also questions the role of educational policies in this process.
U radu su prezentirani rezultati empirijskog istraživanja koje, oslonom na Bourdiea (1977.), ispituje povezanost rodnih, socioekonomskih i sociokulturnih karakteristika učenika/ca s njihovim uspjehom ...iz matematike i izborom srednje škole. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 693 učenika/ca 8. razreda osnovnih škola u Gradu Zagrebu i Zagrebačkoj županiji.
Rezultati pokazuju da učenice imaju bolje ocjene iz matematike od učenika te da češće nego učenici namjeravaju upisati gimnazije, ali znatno rjeđe strukovne škole sa zastupljenijom matematikom (tehničke škole). Učenici/e višeg ekonomskog i kulturnog statusa postižu bolji uspjeh iz matematike i češće biraju srednje škole sa zastupljenijom nastavom matematike. Bolji uspjeh iz matematike najsnažnije predviđaju rod, obrazovanje roditelja, posjedovanje klasične literature te pristup Internetu. Pri analiziranom odabiru srednje škole, odabir gimnazije je prvenstveno objašnjen kulturnim resursima obitelji učenika/ca, dok je odabir tehničke škole više objašnjen rodom učenika/ce. Dobiveni nalazi o rodnoj i socijalnoj diferencijaciji u skladu su s nalazima istraživanja u drugim zemljama.
The article presents the research results on the effects that gender and socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics have on pupils' achievement in mathematics and secondary school choice. The ...research was conceptually connected to Bourdieu (1977) and carried out on a sample of693 elementary school pupils from Zagreb and the surrounding Zagreb County. The results have shown that girls have higher school grades in mathematics than boys, and are more likely to choose grammar schools than vocational schools with a large number of math lessons (technical schools). Pupils from families with higher socio-economic and socio-cultural status achieve better grades and more often choose schools with a large number of math lessons. Gender, parents' higher level of education, owning classical literature and the Internet access in one's home proved to be the strongest predictors of higher mathematics achievement. As for the choice of schools, the choice of grammar school was primarily explained by cultural resources of the family, while the choice of technical school was explained by pupils ' gender. These findings are consistent with the results of similar research studies in other countries. Key words: socio-economic status, socio-cultural status, eighth grade pupils, achievement in mathematics, secondary school choice. U radu su prezentirani rezultati empirijskog istrazivanja koje, oslonom na Bourdiea (1977.), ispituje povezanost rodnih, socioekonomskih i sociokulturnih karakteristika ucenika/ca s njihovim uspjehom iz matematike i izborom srednje skole. Istrazivanje je provedeno na uzorku od 693 ucenika/ca 8. razreda osnovnih skola u Gradu Zagrebu i Zagrebackoj zupaniji. Rezultati pokazuju da ucenice imaju bolje ocjene iz matematike od ucenika te da cesce nego ucenici namjeravaju upisati gimnazije, ali znatno rjede strukovne skole sa zastupljenijom matematikom (tehnicke skole). Ucenici/e viseg ekonomskog i kulturnog statusa postizu bolji uspjeh iz matematike i cesce biraju srednje skole sa zastupljenijom nastavom matematike. Bolji uspjeh iz matematike najsnaznije predvidaju rod, obrazovanje roditelja, posjedovanje klasicne literature te pristup Internetu. Pri analiziranom odabiru srednje skole, odabir gimnazije je prvenstveno objasnjen kulturnim resursima obitelji ucenika/ca, dok je odabir tehnicke skole vise objasnjen rodom ucenika/ce. Dobiveni nalazi o rodnoj i socijalnoj diferencijaciji u skladu su s nalazima istrazivanja u drugim zemljama. Kljucne rijeci: socioekonomski status, sociokulturni status, ucenici osmih razreda, uspjeh iz matematike, izbor srednje skole.
The aim of the article was to address the relevance of cultural capitaland relative risk aversion theories for educational outcomes and aspirations of uppersecondary school students in Croatia, and ...to examine whether these approaches arecompatible in explaining educational inequalities. Linear and logistic regressionswere used to analyze data from 2106 students in their last year of upper secondaryschool (16–18 years old). Both constructs, cultural capital and relative risk aversion,had positive effects on school performance, enrolment of gymnasium instead ofvocational school and aspirations for higher education. The analyses indicatedthat cultural factors frequently associated with school performance should not beseparated from more direct status concerns shaping educational decisions. Ratherthan seeing them as unrelated, these mechanisms may both be seen as constitutiveof students’ educational dispositions.
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