Title:
The educational choices made by adolescents of Turin after compulsory schooling

Abstract:
The educational choices of adolescents between family constraints and context effects by Giulia Maria Cavaletto This paper presents the initial results of research on the educational choices made by adolescents in Turin after compulsory schooling, realized in 2007 on a sample of over one thousand families with children at secondary school. The project involved a quantitative stage, entailing a questionnaire distributed using the CATI method and a subsequent qualitative analysis through interviews with a sub-sample of families, the aim of the latter being to probe deeper into the decision making processes within families. At present, are available the results of the quantitative part with the relative explanatory model, while the analysis of the qualitative interviews is underway. For the research has been selected a sample of urban working class families (COU, Schizzerotto, 2002; Pisati, 2000), and a control group composed of middle class families of white collar employees (CMI) and of independent middle class (CMA), each of which with at least one child aged between 15 and 18. The aim of the research was not only to explore differences between classes but also differences within classes and to observe the effect of the presence/absence of phratries in decisions regarding education and the family’s investment in human capital. The literature of the past ten years on inequalities in educational opportunities has confirmed the role that several ascribed characteristics continue to play in the choices of educational paths after compulsory schooling (Schizzerotto, 2002; Pisati, 2000, 2002; Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993). Back in the 70’s, Boudon emphasised how inequalities in opportunities to acquire education were the most impervious to change within advanced industrial societies (Boudon, 1973). This trend, although not as marked, is still present today in highly developed countries such as Italy, where there is a general tendency to continue education after compulsory schooling (Checchi, 1999, 2000), but in different ways depending on the family of origin (Checchi and Ballarino, 2006; Schizzerotto and Barone, 2006) If, therefore the first bifurcation (Gambetta 1990) between continuing to study or stopping and entering in the labour market regards an increasingly small number of individuals, the array of choices that direct some towards one path of study and others towards a completely different one is still highly diversified. These trends then show further developments with relation to the more recent attempts to reform the education system, particularly those regarding upper secondary school, first with the Moratti law and then with the Fioroni decree. This research looks at the theory of rational choice considered in its more recent forms (Elster, 1986; Boudon, 2000; Goldthorpe, 2000). In particular, an approach of analytical sociology was adopted, therefore defining scholastic choices as phenomena to be explained by means of “individual (and family) decision making processes that may (or may not) sustain reproductive forces (of class)” (Gambetta, 1987). What are the mechanisms that act without the knowledge of the actors involved in educational choices (“necessarily”, Gambetta, 1996), with respect to intentional ones (“for love”, Gambetta, 1996) and how important are they? In the theoretical model, elements that influences differences in the quantity and quality of education acquired in a reference population have been defined as factors. The economic and financial situation of the family, the social and cultural capital possessed by the family and school performance (talent in Checchi and Ballarino, 2006; Checchi, 2000) of the children are considered endogenous factors. On the other hand, the supply of institutional education in the area and the situation of the labour market, in terms of positions and professional skills requested, as well as sectors in expansion at local level, are considered exogenous factors. Preference systems, opportunities (Gambetta, 1996) the educational styles of the family of origin towards their children (Kellerhals and Montandon, 1996), strategies for the allocation material and symbolic resources to family members and the past schooling experience of parents were then defined as generative mechanisms. The sample selected for the research was obtained from the records of the Studio Longitudinale Torinese (SLT), which contains individual and ecological records of the resident population of Turin, cross-referencing censor data updated as of 2001 with records of the registry office of the city of Turin. The SLT is composed of a system of longitudinal records, both retrospective and prospective, which integrate databases of registry, censor and national health information. At present, the Study involves, to varying degrees of coverage, depending on the records, the entire population of the city of Turin, from 1st January 1971 to 31 December 2005. The tool used to gather information was a closed-answer telephone questionnaire, divided into sections: personal details on the household, previous and current school career of the children, jobs and income, housing and district and health of children. A total of 1127 interviews were conducted, of which 750 COU cases, 273 CMI and the remainder CMA. The data gathered in this way were first analysed through the construction of two versions of a multinomial logit model: the school attended at the time of the interview was used as a dependent variable in the first; the scholastic performance of children attending secondary school at the time of the interview was used as a dependent variable in the second. Evaluations were then made of the effects of context, through a comparison with secondary data from the past ten years, particularly concentrating on periods in which elements of change, such as the Moratti reform, were introduced to the Italian secondary school system. The model was constructed starting from the assumption of the continuing influence of social class on educational choices, but with a growing attenuation of the influence exercised by variables such as the level of economic stability of the family of origin and the sex of the children. Other micro variables observed, such as scholastic performance/achievement and the past educational curriculum, the willingness of the adults to invest in human capital and the presence of the influence of peers within a phratry may have an explanatory importance when choosing secondary school. Lastly, it was shown how the “social class” variable is more important the more one highlights on one side its internal heterogeneousness by position in the labour market, whether referring to the urban working class (no longer comprised of blue collar workers alone but also by white collars) or to the middle class (freelance or employed); on the other hand, its internal organisation based on the position of the family members (cross class families, dual-income families in which the parents belong to the same social class but hold very diverse position in the labour market).