The impact of tracking in a stratified education system on idealistic educational aspirations in migrant and native families

Abstract

In this study, we analyse the extent to which educational tracking impacts idealistic educational aspirations in Switzerland and how different second generation groups by countries of origin differ from Swiss natives in this respect. In fact, research has repeatedly confirmed that students with a migration background aspire more for general education, specifically for university degrees. However, little is known within strong tracking educational systems, such as Switzerland. Using AES2016-data, we find that when parental educational aspirations are controlled for and when we account for constraints due to tracking, children of immigrants have higher idealistic educational aspirations than their native counterparts. This points towards some immigrant optimism. Track attendance has a different impact on the aspirations of different groups but does not inhibit high aspirations even when these seem unattainable. © 2025 The Authors

Keywords

Author Keywords

Educational stratification Educational tracking system Ethnic choice effect Idealistic educational aspirations Immigrant optimism Second generation immigrant

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Sociology, University of Bern, Bern, BE, Switzerland, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

Department of Sociology, University of Bern, Bern, BE, Switzerland

Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS), Lausanne, VD, Switzerland

University of Teacher Education PHBern, Bern, Switzerland

Funding & Acknowledgements

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, SNF

Grant: 100019_184906, 184906

Funding text 1: The authors thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding the Parental Investment in Children's Education project (PICE; https://www.pice.unibe.ch ; grant number 100019_184906) in which this article is embedded.; Funding text 2: This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under Grant 184906.

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, SNF

Funding text 1: The authors thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding the Parental Investment in Children's Education project (PICE; https://www.pice.unibe.ch ; grant number 100019_184906) in which this article is embedded.; Funding text 2: This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under Grant 184906.

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The impact of tracking in a stratified education system on idealistic educational aspirations in migrant and native families

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