DOCTORAL THESIS FAMILY-BASED ABILITY GAP. ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES.

In social stratification a common topic of investigation is the association between the social origin and the level of educational attainment. One of the main reasons is the endurance of social reproduction, meaning that Inequalities in Educational Opportunities (IEO) are maintained over generations. The empirical literature has demonstrated that in highly stratified educational systems (i.e. where children are divided into school tracks at relative early age) like the German one this association was observed to be strong on the first transition and diminish when children go further on the educational system. Hence, scholars have systematically investigated the transition from primary to lower secondary school and onwards leading aside that important factors associated with IEO are already present on preschool age. In addition, they have investigated mostly the pathways of transition on lower secondary school missing that adolescents have agent capacities able to affect their own educational success. Considering that, the main aim of this work research is to investigate how the different structure of opportunities provided by the family ending up on different educational outcomes on the period of childhood and adolescence. In doing that, this work attempt to fulfill that gap providing empirical evidence of important factors driven by age of students that are associated with the educational performance and educational choices. By adopting the life-course perspective three stages can be identified on the period of childhood and adolescence and systematically investigate, in each period, a specific age-related factor. Thus, in the period of preschool and primary school the parent-child interaction trough reading activities at home were investigated; in the transition from primary to lower secondary school the factor of subjective probability of success were explored as another pathway throughout parents affected the educational transition of students; in the period of lower secondary school I analyzed how the school deadlines as well as the social structures where children are embedded shape the student’s school engagement through academic interest. Using a German high quality data from the National Panel Education Study (NEPS) I found that differences in language performance are already presented in preschool age and extended to lower secondary school. Moreover, these differences are strongly associated to parental social origin. Firstly, the time parents dedicate to perform reading activities at home were associated with better levels of language abilities of children at the entrance of preschool as well as primary school. Secondly, the probability of success assessed by parents and children were strongly associated with the parental educational level and very slightly differences in the assessment of success between parents and children were found particularly at lower levels of ability. Moreover, the increasing probability of success was associated with increasing probabilities of being allocated on the academic school track gymnasium. Thirdly, over the lower secondary school the school engagement through academic interest was associated to better levels of reading performance, indeed the academic interest increase as student approach to deadlines imposed by the school system. In addition, the students’ social class background were associated with the increase in academic interest at the end of lower secondary school being lower class students those who increases the most their academic interest in order to successfully transitioned to upper secondary school. This investigation brings important implications for the German educational system. Firstly, unlike to other countries like US, the preschool in Germany are not intended to prepare students for primary school, instead is a place where children learn to interact with other children and adults besides their parents, thus they learn rather sociable abilities. In these conditions, the interactions between child-parents at home that enhance the children cognitive abilities become more relevant for the educational success. Secondly, in Germany, it is well accepted that the first educational transition (i.e. from primary to lower secondary) is very relevant because it shapes the whole educational pathway of students. The assessment of successful probability of success is another way by which parents affect the educational transition of their children. Thirdly, in Germany the lower secondary school plays a connecting role either with further education or with vocational training. The academic interest is an important factor affecting students’ reading performance, thus, students may regulate their academic interest when they approaching to the deadlines imposed by the school system in order to successfully transitioned to the next stage of education.