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Middle-class choice of selective schools and classes at the elementary school level
Smith Slámová, Radka ; Straková, Jana (advisor) ; Šeďová, Klára (referee) ; Veselý, Arnošt (referee)
Middle-class choice of selective schools and classes at the elementary school level Radka Smith Slámová ABSTRACT Fear of downward mobility has led middle-class parents to seek new strategies that enable them to achieve social reproduction through formal schooling. In the Czech educational context, middle- class parents' school choice strategies as their child enters the increasingly diversified elementary school level have not been explored. The dissertation aims to detail why middle-class parents in various contexts across the country consider choosing a selective school/track. Drawing on the grounded theory research design and 28 in-depth interviews, I depict middle-class parents' circumstances, assumptions, and perceptions surrounding the choice of a selective school/track in the public school system. The results revealed that parents' choices were primarily informed by their negative view of a typical Czech school - a view constructed in the light of their memories of their own schooling, "hot" knowledge from their parental networks, their own child-rearing convictions, and experiences with their child's preschool institutions. The parents expected that their family's supposed incongruence with the environment of public schools would disadvantage their child in a typical elementary school, despite them...
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