This article investigates the parental role in educational decisions of young adults in Poland. The country-context is vital due to the profound impact of the 1989 transition on educational aspirations and subsequent 'degree boom' in the younger cohorts. Using data from two qualitative studies, we adopt an intergenerational lens to examine how…

The goal of this study is to examine the distinctive features of International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes in Poland, and the role of IB programmes in the Polish education system. To address this aim, a review of the relevant legislation has been carried out, accompanied by interviews with teachers and students in 9 IB schools in Poland. Results…

'One day a poster announcing the preparatory course at the university appeared in a village. Pokusa [surname, "desire" in Polish] was among the first to enrol. He was accepted after passing an exam. Now he is one of the best students! -- All you need is a good will -- he explains.' That is how a local newspaper in 1953 encouraged peasant…

The present paper discusses the potential of the capability approach in conceptualizing and understanding lifelong learning as an agency process, and explores its capacity to guide empirical studies on lifelong learning. It uses data for 20 countries from the Adult Education Survey (2007; 2011) and focuses on aspirations for lifelong learning. The…

This study inquired into the structure and predictors of out-of-school learning assistance among adolescents. It used longitudinal data gathered from up to 4936 Polish lower-secondary school students. The analysis of the assistance structure, performed with latent class analysis, showed that about 50% of students belonged to the latent class with…

This article focuses on the parents of secondary school Polish boys and their capacity to realise their educational and professional aspirations for their children. Our primary finding is that although many Polish parents face considerable challenges in manoeuvring through the educational system, some Polish parents display a level of agency…

This article takes a 'vertical' comparative case study approach to the study of the human rights logic of the International Baccalaureate. It explores how the global human rights logic is experienced and adhered to by students taking the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in one state school in Poland. As part of a larger study the…

Early School Leaving in the European Union provides an analysis of early school leaving (ESL) in nine European Union countries, with a particular focus on young people who were previously enrolled in educational institutions inside and outside mainstream secondary education. The comparative approach employed by this volume adds to the existing…

In this article institutional and structural factors relating to access to education are assessed. First, the macro frameworks of institutional regulation that exert influence on the educational trajectories of young Europeans are demonstrated. Based on different aspects of these frameworks and drawing from extant research, the article presents a…

This article explores parental involvement in the educational trajectories of children in Europe. The analysis is embedded in the framework of the three dominant contemporary social processes that have been acknowledged as crucial factors for the educational and life trajectories of young people today, i.e. familialization, institutionalization,…

This paper reports on the qualitative part of a project investigating parental educational aspirations as manifested by enrolling their children (aged 3-6) into very early L2 instruction. The concept of educational aspirations is widely studied in educational psychology as well as in sociology and pedagogy. In SLA, these aspirations can fit in the…

The article presents the essential concept of reforms, implemented in Poland's education system since the early 1990s and some of their outcomes. Special attention is paid to one particular aspect of the reforms, i.e. structural diversification of the system, leading to diversification of education levels and corresponding diplomas. The article…

The problem of overqualification is related to the educational aspirations in a comparative cross-national study using data collected in opinion surveys in four European countries (Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, and Poland) and the United States. (JMF)

Polish and Finnish high school students (n=352) from academic and vocational tracks reported on the future planning they did in different contexts and completed measures of self-esteem and control over the future. Findings suggest that future planning reflects general developmental patterns in both countries, while self-evaluation reflects…