Vol. 5 No. 1 (2023): Resilience and Social Mobility in Education
Today’s contemporary society is characterized by the most rapid and continuous transformation ever seen, but there are also essential elements that change more slowly and, in some countries, persist despite the changes. Such an element is the stability of social inequalities. Social mobility, one of the most researched phenomena in the sociology of education, is thus a phenomenon of never-ending relevance.
Resilience is an emerging field of research that has many links to the context of schools. In psychological terms, to be resilient as a teacher or student means to resist the challenges of professional, social and individual life, as well as to develop and advance through them. Even more recent is the incorporation of resilience into the discourse on social inequalities, with a particular focus on the role of schools. Researchers have begun to analyze individual life paths, teachers, teaching staff, organizations or education systems that blunt the social regularity that a less favorable family background is associated with a worse school career.
Social mobility and resilience are topics which have caught the attention of many voices in academia, with many different perspectives on what these phrases mean. The current special issue’s aim is to create an intellectual frame of reference for the academic study of social mobility and resilience in society and schools.
Guest editors: Tímea Ceglédi & Veronika Bocsi (University of Debrecen, Hungary)##issue.tableOfContents##
Thematic articles
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Favouring Middle-and Upper-Class Students? The Structure and Process of Attending China’s Selective Universities
1-16Views:318Research suggests the increasing influence of family socioeconomic status, as measured by parents’ income and occupations, in access to Chinese higher education. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive about the extent to which the social background of rural and urban students is associated with academic and social performance at elite universities. We address this limitation by looking at the academic and social success of representative samples of first- and second-year students enrolled at four Chinese elite universities. Our aim is to understand the characteristics that students from both urban and rural environments bring with them and how those characteristics bear on academic and social performance in university. We found an overrepresentation of students from middle- and upper-class backgrounds in both urban and rural student groups. The fact that the process indicator of cultural capital has a direct association with social success suggests students from urban areas exhibit traits valued in the selective university environment.
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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation to Learn as Factors of Resilience in Students' Pedagogical Disciplines - Pilot Study
17-23Views:282Motivation determines the dynamics of behaviour and helps in overcoming obstacles. A related concept is resilience, which also relates to overcoming stressful situations and speaks to an individual’s ability to adapt to challenging circumstances in life. The aim of this paper was to investigate the relationship between resilience and motivation to learn in students studying in the field of education. One hundred and thirty students participated in the research (100 bachelor students and 30 master students). The research instrument used to measure resilience was The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10) and to detemine motivation The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C 28) tool was used. The Mann-Whitney test found no significant difference between the two groups of students in each of the variables measured. The results show a significant association between resilience and types of intrinsic motivation in particular, but the strongest relationship was found between resilience and the lack of motivation. Students with low resilience scored higher on amotivation. For students at university, motivation to learn based on intrinsic drives is assumed to be self-evident. However, the ability to overcome obstacles is also necessary for the attainment of learning goals. Its degree can also be developed through educational intervention, which provides an opportunity for university teachers to expand their area of operation.
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Investigation of Resilience among Teachers and in Teacher Education
24-36Views:341In recent decades, we have witnessed an increasingly widespread and complex use of the concept of resilience. The aim of the present study is to present a holistic concept of resilience that, thanks to its systems theory basis, can be applied very well in educational sciences, including research on teacher training, the institutional environment of teachers, their well-being at work, professional development, or even in the analysis of practical pedagogical situations. The dynamic interactive model of resilience (Shafi, & Templeton, 2020) allows for the examination of the resilience of learners, teachers and the institution, and even the examination of students, educators and teacher training institutions involved in teacher training. In the second part of the study, we present resilience development programs that have proven to be effective in teacher training and further training (BRiTE, ENTREE), which, with their complexity, are well suited to the dynamic interactive model of resilience discussed above.
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Curricular and Extracurricular Learning among Students with Resilience Potential. Social Inequalities in Higher Education
37-42Views:134Does resilience potential in higher education mature into success or does it remain merely a promise of success due to rising social inequality? We studied curricular and extracurricular learning of students with outstanding academic achievement who entered higher education despite their disadvantage of social background (= students with resilience potential). A student survey database compiled in the research project “Higher Education for Social Cohesion – Cooperative Research and Development in a Cross-border Area” (HERD) (HURO/0901/253/2.2.2.) in 2012 was analyzed. Students of three Eastern Hungarian higher education institutions were surveyed (N = 1205). Students with resilience potential were identified in the intersection of two groups of variables: social background and input academic achievement. We have conducted a cluster analysis, which has resulted in the identification of students with resilience potential and other researched groups: drifters (low social background and low input academic achievement), beneficiaries (high social background and high academic achievement) and indifferent prodigals (high social background and low academic achievement). To sum up our results, the students with resilience potential only use higher education to fulfill curricular requirements, and hit a ceiling, compared to the beneficiaries, when it comes to the student year mining, meaningful extracurricular activities. Thus social inequalities crawl through these invisible channels into higher education and beyond.
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Myth or Reality? Mobility Trends among Recent Graduates of Different Fields of Study
43-57Views:117The paper focuses on the intergenerational mobility processes in Hungarian higher education over the past decade. Its purpose is to explore these processes and to analyse the differences between the fields of study. The second-generation mobility theories, which serve to be the theoretical background of this paper, focus on the differences between income, education, occupational groups and social classes in connection with status attainment and mobility. Among the mobility theories relating to higher education, theories analyzing inequalities are studied, to discover whether they are found in Hungarian higher education („Maximally Maintained Inequality”, MMI and the theory of „Effectively Maintained Inequality”, EMI). The analysis also covers the „dynastic effects” related to mobility, whether they strengthen or weaken intergenerational processes. The database of the analysis is the Graduate Career Tracking System 2010-2021.
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Social Mobility through Education: Lifelong Learning and the Roma-Minority in Selected Central and Eastern European Countries
58-69Views:191Education plays a central role in supporting or impeding social mobility (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1974; Fend, 1980, 2006). The disadvantaged social and economic situation of the biggest part of the Roma minority (not only) in Central and Eastern Europe is usually seen as the main reason for their low educational attainment and success. And vice versa: the poor educational results are considered the main reason for their social deprivations. Therefore, education and lifelong learning have become the main strategy for improving their situation, especially since the ´Europeanization of the Roma issue` (Ram, 2015) through the European Union. Today, Education and lifelong learning are now the centre of EU-policies for achieving political and economic goals, like economic growth and social cohesion (Óhidy, 2008, 2009). This article analyzes the problems faced by and opportunities presented to the Roma people in selected Central and Eastern European countries, problems and opportunities arisen in the years up until 2020, regarding social mobility through education. In its analysis, this paper focused on the similarities. The article is based on 5 country studies from 2019, written by experts from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia (see Óhidy & Forray, 2019). The study uses the evidence from the country studies from Markéta Levínska, Dana Bittnerová & David Doubek, 2019 (Czech Republic), Julianna Boros & Eszter Gergye, 2019 (Hungary), Agnieszka Swietek & Wiktor Osuch, 2019 (Poland), Aurora Adina Colomeischi, 2019 (Romania) and Rastislav Rosinsky, 2019 (Slovakia) to explore the similarities in challenges, to increase the participation and success of Roma people.
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Research papers
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Reading Assessment for Diagnosing Acquired Reading Disorders in Adults: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of its Development
70-83Views:141The study of reading processes is of particular importance in the assessment of cognitive-linguistic functions in both atypical development and acquired disorders of the adult developmental skills system. A comprehensive assessment of cognitive processes allows the selection of the appropriate therapeutic techniques, which in turn contributes to the best possible quality of life following rehabilitation. A common leading symptom of cognitive dysfunction in adult acquired neurological impairment is a deficit in reading. Our aim was to develop a reading assessment procedure based on national and international theoretical and empirical research to allow a complex assessment of reading processes. In order to investigate the reliability of the test and to develop an assessment system for it, a large-scale survey was organised. During the analyses, an evaluation system was developed which would allow us to objectively describe not only the fact of impairment but also its extent. Based on our results, the design of the Adult Acquired Reading Assessment and the comprehensive assessment system associated to it have resulted in a complex test procedure that is not only well applicable in clinical diagnostics but also in exploratory empirical work.
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The International Comparison of the Educational Systems of Iran, Myanmar and Ethiopia
84-94Views:153Education systems usually fall into two main types: the Continental and Atlantic systems of education. Countries
belonging to the third world often follow after the characteristics of the continental system, however, the
specificities of the country may overwrite some characteristics of the original concept. This article aims to
introduce some specific aspects of the educational systems of Iran, Ethiopia and Myanmar through the
comparison of these systems. According to the data analysis, centralisation is relevant, but decentralisation
tends to be strengthened in each country. Concerning their structure, similarities in the division of levels were
identified, along with differences in duration and focus. Unsurprisingly, the curriculums are different in each
country; however, the basic subjects are almost the same. Finally, the grading systems use similar categories,
although the underlying points providing the basis for the grades significantly differ. Comparing them can
contribute to their evaluation and further development.PDF172 -
Types of Fathers’ Home-based and School-based Involvement in a Hungarian Interview Study
95-103Views:122This study explores the ways that Hungarian fathers are involved, at home and at school, in their children’s
development and achievement. It also identifies the types of fathers that emerge based on this involvement.
According to the literature, paternal involvement at home and at school contributes to academic achievement,
similar to the involvement of mothers, but to a lesser extent and in different ways. The theoretical framework of
the research relies on the types of parental involvement as defined by Epstein. The research was qualitative,
based on 14 semi-structured interviews and the classification of fathers, resulting in three groups of similar size.
The first group comprised fathers who contributed to their child’s achievement at home, often by helping with
school-related activities, while not participating in school events. The second group included fathers who were
involved at home and at school alike. Finally, the third group consisted of four divorced fathers, three of whom
were involved both at home and at school, due to their particular situation. Overall, fathers’ school-based
involvement can be increased by the supportive attitude of wives, fathers’ greater confidence in themselves and
their abilities, and by informal events organized by schools (cooking or sports days), in which fathers are more
likely to participate.PDF191
Book reviews
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Amundsen and the Sudoku
104-106Views:69Bibliography of the reviewed book: Donders, P. Ch. (2019). Resilience. Harmat.
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Sociology of Education – Theories, Communities, Contexts
107-109Views:173Bibliography of the reviewed book: Pusztai, G. (Eds.), (2023). Sociology of Education – Theories, communities,
contexts. Debrecen University Press.PDF206