Parental Education and Educational Aspirations of Children: Cases of Serbia and Slovenia

Abstract

The paper is focused on the asumption from contemporary studies showing that students whose parents have lower levels of education are underrepresented in student populations in Serbia and Slovenia, as well as Bourdieu's claims that in capitalist societies subjective expectations are affiliated with objective chances. We investigated if educational expectations are in correlation with parental education in this post socialist countries. Bearing in mind different paths of post socialist transformations in these two examined countries, we also tested if this correlation of parental education and educational expectations is different in two countries, or this correlation is stronger in slovenian society. In order to achieve this, we conducted survey among final year high school students in Serbia (n=1973) and Slovenia (n=867). Results are showing that in both, Serbia and Slovenia, higher educational level of parent is correlated with higher educational aspirations of child, as well as with their previous educational choices (type of high school attended). Also, it is remarked that the correlation is stronger in Slovenia, which can be explained by different dynamics of post socialist transformation.