The document discusses a study on parental influence on Icelandic upper secondary students' choice between academic and vocational tracks. The study found that students with low or medium academic interest were more likely to choose an academic track when their parents emphasized education more, possibly due to pressure. However, parental emphasis did not impact track choice for students with high academic interest. The conclusions suggest interventions are needed to help parents advise children, especially those with low interest, on the best educational path to reduce dropout risks.

1. Academic Before Vocational
Education?
Parental Influence on Upper
Secondary School Students’
Educational Trajectories
HÍ – Unconference, May 2019
Heiður Hrund Jónsdóttir
hhj@hi.is

2. The Icelandic
Setting
• Since 2000: over 90% of
each cohort enroll in upper
secondary school
• Graduation after 4 years?
• Pressure towards academic
studies regardless of
academic interest
• Reducing the risk of early
school leaving by choosing
the “right” educational track Source: Blondal, K. S., Jónasson, J. T., & Tannhäuser, A.-C. (2011). Dropout in a Small Society: Is the Icelandic Case Somehow
Different? In S. Lamb, E. Markussen, R. Teese, N. Sandberg, & J. Polesel (Eds.), School Dropout and Completion. International
comparative studies in theory and policy (pp. 233–251). London, UK: Springer.
Academic track?
Vocational track?

3. Parental Educational Emphasis  Students‘ educational choice
Focus and Methods
10th grade An academic or vocational track at
upper secondary school
Longitudinal Baseline study
data
(Autumn 2014)
National
Examination data
(Spring 2015)
Graduating
compulsory school
(Summer 2015)
Upper secondary
school registration
data (Autumn
2015)
Upper secondary
school registration
data (Autumn
2016)
1 2 3 4 5
Timepoints 4 and 5:
Educational trajectories
(Statistics Iceland)
Timepoint 2:
Academic achievement
(Directorate of Education)
Timepoint 1:
The baseline study
80% of cohort
responded
(N=1944)

4. Variables in
the model
Independent variables
• Parental educational emphasis
• Six items, alpha=.660
• Academic interest
• Four items, alpha=.796
• Previous academic achievement (10th grade)
• Three items, alpha=.836
• Gender
• Binary: Male (0) and Female (1)
• Parents‘ education
• Binary: No university degree (0) and University degree (1)
Dependent variable
• First track selection (upper secondary school)
• Binary: Vocational (0) and Academic (1)

5. Academic versus
vocational students
Autumn 2015
• 94% of 1999 cohort started upper
secondary school
First track selection
• Academic track: 88%
• Vocational track: 12%
83%
94%
17%
6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Boys Girls
Academic track Vocational track
χ2(1, N=1628) = 53.09, p < .001
Mean
Parental educational emphasis
Academic track (n=1452)
Vocational track (n=176)
Academic interest
Academic track (n=1452)
Vocational track (n=176)
Previous academic achievement
Academic track (n=1452)
Vocational track (n=176)
3.38
3.19
3.02
2.78
t(1628) = -5.177, p < .001
t(1628) = -5.323, p < .001
t(1628) = -13.376, p < .001
33.63
25.27
78%
94%
22%
6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Parents not with
university degree
Parent(s) with university
degree
Academic track Vocational track
χ2(1, N=1628) = 84.45, p < .001

6. Parental influence on first track selection
Variable β SE Exp(β) β SE Exp(β)
Parents' educational emphasis 0.79 0.21 2.21*** 0.34 0.39 1.40
Parents' education: university degree 1.19 0.22 3.30*** 1.10 0.36 3.00**
Females 1.49 0.23 4.42*** 1.19 0.36 3.29***
Previous academic achievement 0.14 0.02 1.15*** 0.13 0.03 1.14***
Constant -5.82 0.82 0.003*** -3.74 1.55 0.02*
Negelkerke R
2
0.34 0.25
*p <.05. ** p <.01. ***p <.001.
Model 2
b
Model 1
a
Low/Medium academic interest High academic interest
a
Model 1 (academic interest 3.25 or lower), likelihood ratio χ2
(4, N =1029) = 206.44, p < .001.
b
Model 2 (academic interest greater than 3.25), likelihood ratio χ2
(4, N =599) = 62.82, p < .001.

7. Discussion
The stronger the
educational
emphasis of parents
the likelier it is for
students with low or
medium academic
interest to choose
academic instead of
vocational track
• Students with low or medium academic interest
might be pressured into choosing academic tracks
despite their lack of interest
Not the case for students with high academic interest

8. Conclusions and implications
• Choosing the „right“ educational path
• Or risk dropping out
• Parent-focused interventions
• Important for students with low academic interest
• Programs that give parents advise on educational
pathways  help their children to make the
“right” choice
• Further research on the graduation rate