Ability, manners and character: Teachers’ attributions on baccalaureate and vet students

Abstract

The division of the educational systems into different tracks —academic and VET— represents one of the key elements in explaining social stratification and inequalities. Among the multiple factors that explain the relation between education tracks and social inequality, teachers’ expectations are conceived as a crucial element in understanding the distribution of different students in each track. In the Spanish context there is still a lack of literature analyzing the role of teachers’ expectations to explain the social inequalities associated to educational transitions. In this context, the aim of the paper is to explore teachers’ conceptions of Baccalaureate and VET students, exploring the features attributed to students in each track in terms of abilites, manners and character. Based on a constructivist approach, the article draws on data from a qualitative study based on 37 in-depth interviews to tutors from both secondary compulsory education, Baccalaureate and VET in a sample of 8 secondary schools in the city of Barcelona. The findings of the paper show a remarkably dichotomized conception between students from the academic and the professional track. These conceptions play a key role in the discursive legitimation in a highly segmented and unequal post compulsory education system.