Academic Second-Chance Education: Correction or Consolidation of Early Selection?

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical approach by arguing that success in academic secondchance education leading to the eligibility to study is (besides academic achievement) influenced by normative orientations relevant to success acquired during compulsory secondary education. More precisely, we argue that in the highly stratified German school system at secondary level I (years 5 to 10), school-type specific socialization contexts lead to the development of school-type specific normative orientations relevant to success. This contributes to creating unequal starting points for academic second-chance education. Based on this assumption, we develop a theoretical grid using the contrastive analysis of ten interviews with students in their first semester of second-chance education. The results show that existing normative orientations are only partially related to the school type that was previously attended. This raises questions concerning the extent to which there is a normative school socialization effect. However, this study is a first step in using a classic approach of the sociology of education to empirically explore the effects of stratification, which has not been done before.