Marjatta Vanhalakka-Ruoho

The study analyses how the educational pathways of ninth graders are constructed by practices of adolescents and their parents in families with different educational statuses. The importance of contextualising the educational transition as it occurs in daily life and socially structured family cultures is emphasised. The research question is: How is the choice of educational route of ninth graders constructed by the practices of the adolescents and the parents in vocational and academic families? What does characterise different pathways and what kinds of distinctions, differences and contrasts of transition practices do exist between them? The interview sample consisted of 16 Finnish families. The interviews were carried out in three forms: a family discussion interview, a thematic interview of the adolescents, and a life-history interview of the parents. The results introduce the main characteristics and distinctions of transition practices of the vocational and academic families.