Educational careers at the end of secondary school from a sociological and a psychological perspective:Longitudinal analyses of the effects of social origin, interests, personality traits and competencies on educational decisions and educational outcomes

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Triggered by the results of the PISA 2000 study on social disparities in educational participation and the development of competencies, important research on educational decisions and attainment has been conducted in Germany over the last few years. Yet, studies predominantly focus on the early educational career and transitions from primary school up to the end of first stage secondary education. However, particularly with regard to the German educational system - characterized by high stratification after secondary education and at the transition to non-tertiary as well as tertiary education - it is assumed that different educational careers and decisions after secondary school are of major importance for subsequent occupational opportunities. According to Müller and Shavit (1998), Germany is one of the countries with the closest relation of educational/occupational qualification and the positioning on the labor market.This research gap shall be closed with the proposed interdisciplinary project studying educational trajectories at the end of secondary school from a sociological and psychological perspective: The central question is, how educational trajectories and decisions at the end of secondary school are shaped by social origin and other social characteristics (as sociological factors) as well as by individual interests and personality traits (as psychological factors) and, in turn, in what way these effects may be reciprocal across the educational career. Therefore, it is of special interest how preceding educational aspirations, decisions, interests, personality traits and competencies in the life course shape later educational outcomes and trajectories. The present research deficit in this regard is largely due to a lack of appropriate data, not only containing information about the educational transitions at the end of secondary schooling, but also about prior individual histories.Our project aims to continue the BiKS-8-14 panel study, which so far comprises students` educational trajectories from third grade primary school up to the end of ninth grade secondary school, for further three years. With the additional three years, educational trajectories of students in different secondary school types can be adequately reconstructed and analyzed based on rich, longitudinal data on the previous educational biographies up until the next central educational transition - the decision for tertiary and non-tertiary occupational education. Thus, the project will provide a unique scientific potential for German educational research.