The role of future orientations and future life goals in achievement among secondary school students in Switzerland

Abstract

ABSTRACTFocusing on the agency feature of considering the future, we study the role of general future orientations and specific future life goals in educational achievement (Grade Point Average) and related educational inequalities. These factors are more remote from the outcome of educational attainment than are such frequently studied predictors as educational aspirations. Our research areas include: a) the link between future orientations and educational achievement; b) the link between certain future life goals (conceptualised along the lines of the values circumplex of Schwartz 1992) and achievement; and c) differences in future orientations and future life goals constituted by social origin and gender. Our analyses are based on a data set of Swiss eighth-graders (N = 772). While information on school marks is of an administrative nature (teachers' records) and related to the end of the term, all other variables were gathered during term time from the students. However, some of the findings are counterintuitive, such as anticipation of the future not being positively associated with achievement. Although the results indicate certain disparities in future goals, they only explain some part of the disparities in achievement.