Everyone has their own qualities”: tracking and academic self-appraisal in Flemish secondary education.

Abstract

Nederlands

Je onderwijsrichting op de middelbare school wordt geassocieerd met schools succes. In deze studie gaan de onderzoekers na op welke manieren middelbare scholieren omgaan met de hiërarchie van het Vlaamse onderwijsvormen (aso, bso, tso) en de betekenis die scholieren hieraan en aan hun eigen positie geven. Het betreft een etnografisch onderzoek in drie Vlaamse scholen, waarbij er in totaal 129 leerlingen werden geïnterviewd over de periode 2009-2011. De jongeren in het aso zagen zichzelf en hun onderwijsloopbaan automatisch als succesvol(ler), ongeacht hun prestaties in de vorm van punten. Naar verwachting zagen bsoen tso-leerlingen zichzelf als minder succesvol en hadden de neiging om zichzelf te positiever te positioneren ten opzichte van leerlingen in hun onderwijsvorm.

Engels

Track position has an impact on students’ perceptions of educational success. These perceptions matter as they relate to educational and professional aspirations and choices. In this ethnographic study, based on ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews in three secondary schools in Flanders (northern part of Belgium), we want to increase our understanding of the combination of within- and between track comparisons for students’ perceptions of their educational success. The hierarchical nature of the Flemish educational system is reflected in students’ comparison groups to evaluate their school success. In academic tracks, most students considered their educational career automatically as successful, regardless of their actual grades. Conversely, students in vocational tracks developed more contradictory feelings with respect to their personal school success and felt the need to distinguish themselves from their classmates. Thus, regardless the existence of different school cultures across tracks, students searched for strategies to define themselves as successful in school.