Gimnazija ili četverogodišnja strukovna škola? Osobne i socijalne odrednice odabira vrste srednjoškolskog obrazovanja
A Grammar School or a Four-Year Vocational School? Personal and Social Determinants of the Choice of Secondary Education

Summary/Abstract: Integrative theoretical models, such as the social cognitive theory of career and academic choices, recognise the complexity of determinants of students’ decisions about the choice of secondary education. However, few studies have simultaneously examined the contribution of several determinants of this choice. This paper aims to examine the contribution of different personal and social determinants of students’ choices of grammar school or four-year vocational secondary education ─ educational programs that allow direct access to higher education. Personal determinants are gender, school achievement, academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and factors related to the choice of secondary education, while social determinants are students' reports of their parents' work status, educational status, and secondary school aspirations for the child. The data were collected by questionnaires administered on 7th- and 8th-grade students in 23 elementary schools in Zagreb (N = 784). A binary logistic model was tested, examining the relative contribution of the determinants in explaining the choice of the type of secondary education. Among the personal determinants, gender, school achievement, and self-efficacy play a role in student choices. Four-year vocational education is more often chosen by male students and students with lower school achievement and lower self-efficacy. Significant social determinants are the mother's work status and the parents' secondary school aspirations for their child. Four-year vocational education is more often chosen by students whose mothers do not work, whose parents prefer their enrolment at four-year vocational education, and who are unfamiliar with their fathers' aspirations for them. The results confirm previous findings on the relationship between personal determinants, such as school achievement and self-efficacy, and students’ intentions related to enrolment at grammar school or four-year vocational education. Among the social determinants, parental aspirations have proven to be more important for their child’s intentions of enrolling at a certain type of secondary education than their socioeconomic status.

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