The role of school in the value development process of young adults in Switzerland

Abstract

School is regarded as a major socialization institution that influences the development of individual values in adolescence. Several studies have shown that levels of educational attainment are correlated with different value priorities. Little, though, is known about the causes of these correlations. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that school plays in the value development process of young adults in Switzerland. A sequential, mixed-methods design was employed to achieve the overall research aim. First, a quantitative study defined the different value configurations of young adults in Switzerland. This study comprised a survey of 28,000 19–21-year-old adults in Switzerland. In the second research phase, narrative interviews were conducted with a subsample of 20 young adults. The aim of this qualitative study was to reconstruct the participants' different educational biographies and detect the individual experiences in school key to adolescents' value development process.