Unlocking academic potential: Role of individual agency in diverse social environments

Educational inequalities persist and are prevalent in the modern world. While disadvantaged students encounter many structural barriers, the latest research highlights that individual agency could be a pathway to reduce the social class education gap. To provide a more comprehensive understanding of the interplay between students’ social origins and individual agency, this study tested four compelling hypotheses - independent, mediation, cumulative and compensatory effect hypotheses - on their role in shaping social class educational inequalities using multiple indicators of both constructs. The study draws on two-wave data from 1087 (51.4 % girls) middle school students attending 16 schools across Croatia. From the set of SES indicators, only parental education and occupational prestige were predictive of students’ academic achievement. Furthermore, results highlight mostly independent effects of students’ social origins and individual agency in determining their academic success. Additionally, educational aspirations served as a mediating factor, while both educational aspirations and motivational autonomy played a compensatory role in determining students’ academic success.