SOCIAL-CLASS OR ETHNIC-BACKGROUND - DETERMINANTS OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL CAREERS OF ETHNIC-MINORITY PUPILS

This article focuses on the differences in the secondary school career s of various groups of ethnic minority pupils. Special attention is de voted to socio-economic, and migration characteristics; 2,024 ethnic m inority pupils from a national representative secondary school cohort were monitored during the period 1989-1992. The first part of this stu dy describes the effects of family background factors (parents' educat ional and occupational level and ethnic origin) on educational careers . The analyses show that the educational level of parents exerted a po sitive effect on the educational careers of their children. The second part of the study analyzes a model in which the effects of family bac kground factors are intermediated by the variables number of children, length of stay in the Netherlands and use of the Dutch language at ho me. It shows that these migration characteristics hardly have any impa ct. Family background factors are the most important predictors when i t comes to the educational careers of ethnic minority pupils. This art icle finally concludes that some of the variables studied exerted diff erent effects on the various ethnic groups.