Recent research has increasingly been studying the long-lasting effects of secondary education structures and processes on higher education (HE) outcomes. While the influence of socioeconomic composition on higher education enrolment is established, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We posit that the composition effect partially runs through the educational expectations of the students' peers at school. By considering shared post-secondary expectations among students within a schoolor, peer expectation culturewe transcend the dominant individual approach to expectations. Additionally, we go beyond the supposed positive (i.e., normative) effects of peers on HE enrolment, by considering the negative effects of having ambitious peers on HE enrolment resulting from comparative group processes.Logistic multilevel analyses of longitudinal data (2013-2019) from 1250 students across 30 Flemish high schools showed that SES composition effects on HE outcomes were mediated by expectation culture. Students attending schools with high expectation cultures were more likely to attend HE in general, and to attend university over other HE institutes compared to students in schools with low expectation cultures. The results suggest normative effects of peers on both outcomes, while comparative processes were only found for the choice of institution. This study underscores the long-term consequences of both individual and school-level expectations in secondary education and calls for including comparative reference group effects in studies on educational decision-making.

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This research focuses on the effects of the context of receptivity on the religiosity among Muslim immigrants in Europe. This paper fits within research concerning the destination effects. However, little attention has been directed towards the context of receptivity and its effects on religiosity, as part of the integration process. In literature, both attitudinal-based and institutional-based approaches are used, but they are never tested simultaneously. In this research I argue that combining both approaches offers a better understanding of the effects the context of receptivity have on immigrant religiosity. It is expected that negative (closed) contexts of receptivity will lead to higher levels of religiosity among Muslim immigrants in Europe. Perceived discrimination is used to measure to what extent Muslim immigrants experience the possible negative effects of the context of receptivity. Social integration theory offers us a theoretical framework to account for intergenerational differences in religiosity. Two aspects of religiosity are considered: (1) subjective religiosity and (2) praying. All 7 waves (2002-2014) of the European Social Survey (ESS) were used in a 3-level cross-classified multilevel model, enabling us to measure simultaneously cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. The three main conclusions are (1) negative contexts of receptivity result in greater subjective religiosity among Muslim immigrants, (2) immigrants living in a negative context of receptivity and simultaneously perceive discrimination have a stronger subjective religiosity than immigrants who do not perceive discrimination and (3) the context of receptivity does not change significantly over time.

This study investigates whether the ethnic and SES composition of the secondary school affect higher education enrollment and program choice (professional or academic bachelor). School-wide social capital is used as an underlying mechanism to explain how school composition affects higher education enrollment. Results of logistic multilevel analyses, carried out on the International Study of City Youth (ISCY) data of 943 Flemish students across 30 schools, showed that students enrolled in ethnic concentration schools showed lower rates of higher education attendance because these schools were associated with a low socio-economic composition. Attending ethnic concentration schools and/or high socio-economic composition schools was beneficial to attend academic bachelor programs. High quality peer relationships and teacher-student relationships mediated these composition effects.Additionally, the positive interaction effect of teacher-student relationships and the buffering effect of high quality peer relations at school render them interesting tools for educational policy and could thus be used to decrease social inequality in higher education enrollment and program choice.