Browsing by Author "Koivuhovi, Satu"

The Finnish comprehensive school system has got wide international recognition for its equality and quality. Yet, since 1990's Finland among many other western countries has adapted a new neoliberal educational policy which challenges the grounds of the comprehensive school ideology. Instead of equality neo-liberal education policies emphasizes the market ideology and the competition. This study focuses on one of the consequences of the new educational policy, school choice. The detailed research questions were: 1) What kind of lower secondary school choices families in Espoo do and what kind of reasons do they give to their choices? 2) How do parents' level of education and income explain their choices? 3) Do families that have made a different school choice differ in their attitudes towards choice? In addition the purpose of the study was to tests the measurement scales, which were used, for a prospective school choice survey. The study is part of a research project PASC, which examines the affiliation between parental educational strategies, social segregation and local school choice policies in Finland and Chile. The data (N=441) was gathered with a questionnaire that was send by e-mail to the parents of 6th graders during the school year of 2010 2011. The respond rate was 23,8 %. The data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Reasons given to the choices were analysed using content analysis. Parents' educational level and incomes were analysed by cross-tabs and chi-square- test. The summary variables of the attitudes were computed using factor analysis and differences in attitudes were analysed by analysis of variance. As a result of the research four different kinds of school choice types were done (the nearest - other than nearest school / emphasized - non-emphasized class). The choice was different in all of these types according to parents' level of education and income and the reasons behind their choices. Children whose parents had a high level of education and income applied for emphasized teaching more often than others. The role of the child in the school choice process varied in different school choice types. Families who had chosen emphasized class in their local or in distant school highlighted the child's opinion in the school choice process, whereas families who had applied for non-emphasized class stressed the importance of the friends in the choice process. One of the key reasons that families in all of the school choice types gave to their choice concerned the reputation of the school. Families who had chosen their local school stressed the good reputation of the chosen school whereas those who had applied for distant school had doubts about the reputation of their local school. The indicators and measurements of the school choice attitudes needs some further research.