RISE 8(3) Full Issue

Abstract

The article analyses the configuration and reconfiguration of the educational expectations of young people at the age of 15. The background is based on Bourdieu's culturalist contributions and the separation between Boudon's primary and secondary effects. Literature is contributed to the configuration of expectations, and specifically that which questions the relationship between academic achievements and expectations. In order to respond to the objective of analysing the expectations that are formed year after year among young people who move from compulsory to post-compulsory education, variables such as grades obtained, work aspirations and variables linked to social origin and sex are analysed. We use data obtained from our own panel-type survey of three years to 2056 students in the last year of compulsory education, and two subsequent years. Descriptive analyses and binary logistic regressions are carried out in each of the waves, including the variables mentioned. The results affirm that the grades obtained, expectations and previous choices have an impact on the configuration and reconfiguration of expectations. Finally, the family level of education, work aspirations and sex also influence the configuration of expectations, confirming the maintenance of educational inequalities.