Aiming high: Learning investments in German upper secondary education. Differences between immigrant and non-immigrant youth

Abstract

This article addresses important aspects of the largely unexplored interplay between high educational aspirations and low academic achievement in migratory contexts. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), I examine the determinants of learning investments of students who changed from vocational to academic tracking at the transition to upper secondary education. I also explore additional social challenges to upward track mobility that might affect immigrant students in a particular way. As educational disparities are often interpreted as a cumulative consequence of class- and migration-specific educational choices, I develop a learning investment model that explains differences in learning investments between immigrant and non-immigrant youth. I introduce the essential mechanisms of psychological motivation theory into a subjective expected utility (SEU) model, which allows for a specific examination of the relationship between educational aspirations, motivation, and learning investments. Results show that newcomers to academic tracking are more likely to invest in learning. Yet, learning investments in upward mobility processes may be influenced by the different learning environments of stratified education and by family dynamics. Here, I find differences between immigrant and non-immigrant youth. Thus, introducing motivational factors into an SEU model helps to understand when youth invest in learning.