Á síðustu áratugum hefur töluvert verið rætt um skólavalsstefnur, þar sem árangur
á afmörkuðu sviði ræður alfarið aðgengi nemenda að bóknámsbrautum í tilteknum
skólum. Skólinn hefur á síðustu áratugum orðið mikilvægur liður í félags- og
menningarlegri aðgreiningu milli hópa samfara auknu aðgengi að framhaldsskóla,
vaxandi samkeppni og stéttaskiptingu í samfélögum. Allir geta nú sótt framhaldsskóla
en ekki hvaða framhaldsskóla sem er. Í rannsókninni er byggt á hugtökum Bourdieu
um samspil veruháttar, vettvangs og auðs þegar rætt er um stéttarstöðu, sjálfsmynd og
aðgreiningu og hvernig val nemenda á námi til stúdentsprófs mótast af þessu samspili.
Hér er sjónum beint að framhaldsskólavali bóknámsnemenda á höfuðborgarsvæðinu;
hvernig þeir skilgreina skólana í hinu félagslega stigveldi. Sérstök áhersla er á að skoða
val og gildi nemenda með veruhátt rótgróinnar millistéttar, sem samkvæmt Bourdieu
er talinn samsvara best menningu og áherslum hefðbundins bóknáms.
Tekin voru viðtöl við 19 nemendur sem töldust ná góðum árangri í sínum skóla og
voru á fjórða námsári. Skólarnir fjórir voru valdir út frá háu eða lágu höfnunarhlutfalli
við inntöku nemenda á síðustu fimm árum. Ljóst er á orðum viðmælenda að skólaval
er mikilvægur farvegur sjálfsmyndarsköpunar og aðgreiningar. Hjá þeim sem eiga sér
menntauppruna aftur í ættir kemur skýrast fram að það er ekki aðeins vilji nemenda
eða einlægur áhugi sem stýrir valinu heldur einnig þrýstingur frá fjölskyldumeðlimum
og óorðaðar væntingar frá samferðafólki sem eiga þátt í þessu ferli. Ástæður vals eru
oft óljósar þangað til hefðbundnum valmöguleikum er ógnað. Það er ekki fyrr en
nemendur af rótgróinni millistétt fara út fyrir upprunavettvang sinn sem þeir upplifa
misgengi milli veruháttar og vettvangs. Meðvitund um forréttindi, félagslegan ójöfnuð
og stéttastöðu er almennt takmörkuð en skapaðist hjá þeim tveimur nemendum úr
rótgróinni millistétt sem höfðu farið út fyrir upprunavettvang sinn.
This study focuses on academic-track students and examines how choice between
upper-secondary school tracks leading to matriculation exams is perceived by those
who live in the largest market area; the Reykjavik capital region. The study is based
on Bourdieu’s theories, which describe choice as being marked by the relationship
between habitus and field and how ideas on school quality are colored by the
concentration of privilege of those who belong to the school community. The aim of
the study is to imagine whether and, if so, how this applies here in Iceland with regard
to students’ choice of upper secondary school and matriculation track.
The article is part of a larger study by the first author, which has been supported
by the University of Iceland Research Fund (2017). The project is a qualitative case
study. The participants consist of 19 students in four different schools: two elite upper
secondary schools and two other schools that have low market value among students
aspiring for matriculation exams. Both elite schools only have academic tracks for
matriculation exams. The lower-ranking schools offer both academic tracks for
matriculation exams and art and vocational tracks of many kinds. There is a much
wider age distribution of students than in the elite schools, both due to the vocational
tracks and also due to access of young people up to 24 years old to enroll in academic
tracks integrated with 16 to 20-year-old students at the upper secondary schools.
The interviewees were all born in 1997 and were entering their fourth and last
year of study. Each student interviewee participated in a semi-structured interview,
theoretically driven by Bourdieu’s conceptual framework in mind (Berglind Rós
Magnúsdóttir, 2014; Reay et al., 2011; Reay et al., 2005). The students also answered
a standardized electronic questionnaire that mapped generational class history,
extracurricular activities and certain aspects of their cultural consumption.
In this article we pay particular attention to those students in the group who fulfill
the criteria for being students with generational middle-class history, as having deep
middle-class roots. These turned out to be eight of the 19 students, six out of 10
students from the elite schools and one from each of the schools with low market
value. Deep middle-class roots mean that they are at least third-generation middleclass, where one or both sets of grandparents possessed cultural privilege, which
includes having access to higher education when this was available only to a few.
The research questions probe how these “good” students define the schools and their
hierarchy and whether and, if so, how students differentiate themselves from others
and define their own identity and changes to it through their school choice.
It is clear from participants’ words that school choice is an important means for shaping
identity and leads them to position themselves both materially and symbolically. In
other words, it might be said that school choice is a certain class indicator in the
teenagers’ world, where differentiation and the need for it are clear. The article discusses
how certain “types” seem to define the schools, according to the interviewees. By
choosing a school, students are often subconsciously connecting their habitus and an
appropriate field, shaping their identity and identifying with certain groups. There
is clearly a great deal at stake for many of them. Choosing a school can even entail a
decision about what kind of person they are going to be in society.
It is clear that it is not only a student’s desire or genuine interest that directs the
choice. Pressure from parents and relatives or unclear, subconscious expectations
often surround this process, the sense of what others of similar origins find acceptable
or appropriate (Bottero, 2010). Students with generational middle-class history do
not experience a disjuncture between habitus and field until they go outside their
field of origin and either “don’t fit in” or make an effort to identify with groups at
other schools that are closer in class position to them. The values of family and fellowtravelers have been ingrained into the subconscious (habitus) and the reasons for their
choices are often unclear until traditional options are threatened. Distinction based
on social class is often uncertain until students dwell outside their field of origin; a
continued need to identify with their “own types of people” and lesser interest in
close acquaintance with other groups.
Awareness of privilege, social inequality and class position is limited, similar to results
shown by research in other countries (Reay et al., 2011). Mentioning the name of an
upper-secondary school was like referring to a particular brand that could either be
perceived positively or negatively. The “brandization” of the upper secondary school
system is systematically used for identity formation and to maintain the class system.
