Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 19th Aug 2026, 21:30:10 EET
|
Daily Overview |
| Session | ||
28 SES 08 A: Pupil Selection and Educational Trajectories
Paper Session | ||
    | ||
28. Sociologies of Education
Paper Pupil selection to Emphasized Teaching in Urban Comprehensive Schools in Finland 1: University of Turku, Finland; 2: University of Eastern Finland, Finland Presenting Author:Introduction The Finnish comprehensive school system aims at providing equal opportunities for every child regardless of socio-economic background, gender, or place of residence. Officially, there is no ability grouping by tracks or streams within basic education in Finland, meaning that all children attend similar ‘neighbourhood schools’ catering for the children who live nearby (Seppänen et al., 2023). Despite its widespread international reputation as non-selective, the Finnish school system includes an ‘implicit tracking system’ in the form of so-called classes with a special emphasis (e.g. Berisha & Seppänen, 2017). These selective classes emphasize one or more school subjects in their local curricula (e.g. music, sport, or a foreign language), and schools are legally permitted to use aptitude tests for admission (Basic Education Act, 1998/628). Providing emphasized teaching is common in Finnish cities. In the lower grades (grades 1–6), the most common emphases are music and teaching in a foreign language, while at the lower secondary level (grades 7–9), the range of emphasized teaching is broader and includes several subjects, such as mathematics, science, sports, or visual arts (Seppänen et al., 2023, pp. 201–202). This proposal builds on a previously published peer-reviewed article (Pasu et al., 2023). It examines pupil selection to emphasized teaching in urban Finnish comprehensive schools in the early 2020s and analyses how admission criteria to emphasized teaching contribute to the construction of an ‘ideal pupil norm’ within a formally non-selective system. The study contributes to ongoing international discussions on educational equality, education policy, and social reproduction (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990) in comprehensive schooling. Previous research has shown that emphasized teaching tends to attract high-achieving pupils from highly educated families (Kosunen & Seppänen, 2015; Berisha & Seppänen, 2017), while pupils with special educational needs or those with Finnish as a second language are underrepresented (Siipola et al., 2023). In many cities and schools, emphasized teaching functions as a basis for permanent pupil grouping across all subjects (Siipola et al., 2023; Pasu et al., 2025) even though there is no national policy requiring such arrangements. These pupil selection and grouping practices have been shown to result in socio-economically selective student compositions within comprehensive schools (Kosunen et al., 2016; Seppänen et al., 2023). While public and policy discourse often frames aptitude-based selection as neutral, this study critically examines how the selection criteria extend beyond ‘aptitude’ and require various forms of family resources. The theoretical framework draws on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of capital – economic, cultural, and social capital (Bourdieu, 1986). From a sociological perspective, schools function as institutions historically aligned with a middle-class habitus, favouring pupils from socio-economically advantaged backgrounds. School practices, expectations concerning pupils' competencies, and norms related to behaviour and communication form an institutional framework that privileges middle-class dispositions (Lareau, 2003; Power et al., 2003; Huilla, 2022). Pupils and families whose habitus aligns with the field of education through accumulated cultural capital are best positioned to meet these expectations in a seemingly natural and effortless manner (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). In this study, we ask: (1) How do cities and comprehensive schools describe pupil selection to emphasized teaching in official admission documents in the early 2020s? (2) What kinds of selection criteria are used in different subject emphases? and (3) How do these criteria construct a norm of the ideal pupil? These questions are addressed by analysing and interpreting how pupil selection texts related to emphasized teaching reveal the need for different forms of family capital, or the advantages these capitals provide in applying for and being admitted to emphasized teaching. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The data consist of publicly available admission documents produced by the 12 biggest cities in Finland and their comprehensive schools offering emphasized teaching (n = 173 schools). The documents were collected from municipal and school websites and include guides, information pages, brochures, and other written materials describing emphasized teaching and pupil selection criteria for the school year 2021–22. The data were analysed using a theory-guided qualitative content analysis. The analysis focused on how pupil selection is described, what criteria are presented as relevant, and how these criteria vary across different subject emphases (e.g. music, sports, bilingual education, mathematics and natural sciences, and visual arts). Bourdieu's forms of capital functioned as guiding concepts for the analytical categorisation. Selection criteria were analysed in relation to whether they highlighted cultural capital (e.g. skills, talent, prior achievement), economic capital (e.g. access to extracurricular activities), or social capital (e.g. belonging to selected peer groups). Given the interrelated nature of capitals, particular attention was paid to how criteria simultaneously mobilised multiple forms of capital. In addition, quantitative content analysis was used to identify the prevalence of different selection criteria across cities and subject emphases. This approach allowed for a comparative overview of how widespread and varied pupil selection practices are within urban Finland. The analysis does not seek to evaluate the actual implementation of selection decisions but rather examines public information provided to families about enrolment in emphasized teaching. These texts are treated as meaningful policy artefacts that communicate expectations, norms, and values, and that shape families' understandings of who is considered suitable for emphasized teaching. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The findings demonstrate that pupil selection to emphasized teaching is highly competitive. Schools do not just evaluate pupils' aptitudes for specific subjects but apply numerous criteria, including exams, interviews, academic performance, teacher recommendations, and evidence of extracurricular activities. Selection practices and municipal enrolment policies vary nationally, raising questions about the opportunities of attending ‘one school for all’. The lack of clear normative regulation highlights the role of education providers and schools as key actors in education policy. By defining and publicly communicating selection criteria, these actors shape educational pathways and produce social distinction within a system officially committed to equality. The selection criteria, and the ways in which they include and exclude pupils, may reproduce existing social and economic inequalities within comprehensive schools. Selection criteria articulated by cities and schools contruct a norm of the ‘ideal pupil’ and communicate to families what kind of student is considered suitable for emphasized teaching. Pupils with backgrounds in institutionalised extracurricular activities, such as sports or music, appear to have an advantage in highly selective entrance examinations, while those with interest but limited prior experience are less likely to succeed. Access to emphasized teaching is closely linked to forms of different capital typically associated with middle-class families. Selection criteria tend to favour children from privileged backgrounds and, through permanent pupil grouping, create school classes that separate children into distinct peer groups along social class lines. In this way, success in admission testing for selective classes is also a question of economic inequality, despite the official discourse of tuition-fee-free public education. Pupil selection contributes to urban and school segregation by increasing socio-economic differences both between and within schools (see also Kosunen et al., 2016; Seppänen et al., 2023), raising concerns about the fairness of selecting pupils based on skills closely tied to family socio-economic background. References Basic Education Act 628/1998. Berisha, A.-K., & Seppänen, P. (2017). Pupil selection segments urban comprehensive schooling in Finland: composition of school classes in pupils' school performance, gender, and ethnicity. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 61(2), 240–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2015.1120235 Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood. Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. Sage. Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. The University of Chicago Press. Huilla, H. (2022). Kaupunkikoulut ja huono-osaisuus. [Disadvantaged Urban Schools] [Dissertation, University of Helsinki]. Helsinki. Kosunen, S., Bernelius, V., Seppänen, P.. & Porkka, M. (2016). School choice to lower secondary schools and mechanisms of segregation in urban Finland. Urban Education, 55(10), 1461– 1488. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916666933 Kosunen, S., & Seppänen, P. (2015). The transmission of capital and a feel for the game: Upper-class school choice in Finland. Acta Sociologica, 58(4), 329–342. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699315607968 Lareau, A. (2003). Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. University of California Press. Pasu, T., Seppänen, P., & Kosunen, S. (2023). Painotetun opetuksen oppilasvalikointi Suomen kaupunkikouluissa: valintakriteerit ja ideaalioppilaan normi. [Pupil selection to emphasized teaching in comprehensive schools in urban Finland: Selection criteria and the norm of the ideal pupil.] Hallinnon Tutkimus, 42(1), 38–55. https://doi.org/10.37450/ht.115579 Pasu, T., Suomi, J., Siipola, M., Koivuhovi, S., & Seppänen, P. (2025). Painotettu opetus suomalaiskaupunkien peruskouluverkoissa. [Emphasized teaching in urban comprehensive school networks in Finland]. Terra, 137(3), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.30677/terra.156674 Power, S., Edwards, T., Whitty, G., & Wigfall, V. (2003). Education and the middle class. Open University Press. Seppänen, P., Pasu, T., & Kosunen, S. (2023). Pupil selection and enrolment in comprehensive schools in urban Finland. In M. Thrupp, P. Seppänen, J. Kauko & S. Kosunen (Eds.), Finland's famous education system: Unvarnished insights into Finnish schooling (pp. 193–210). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8241-5_12 Siipola, M., Koivuhovi, S., Seppänen, P., Nazeri, F., Rimpelä, A., & Vainikainen, M.-P. (2023). Osaaminen, kouluinto ja koulu-uupumus kaupunkikoulujen eriytyneissä oppilasryhmissä: Painotetun ja yleisopetuksen luokat Turussa. [School performance, school engagement and school burnout in segregated urban comprehensive schools: Selective and general classes in Turku]. Oppimisen ja oppimisvaikeuksien erityislehti, 33(4), 124–142. 28. Sociologies of Education
Paper Systematic Review of Student Identity Studies in STEM Education Boğaziçi University, Turkey (Türkiye) Presenting Author:Identity, according to Gee (2000), refers to how individuals are perceived as “what kind of person” in a specific context. Based on this definition, disciplinary identity can be defined as an individual's acceptance within that discipline. Researchers have focused more on scientific identity to examine students' interest in science and their scientific understanding (Kim et al., 2018). Numerous studies have revealed the effects of identity on career development; these effects encompass areas of interest (Zhao et al., 2024), choices (Aschbacher et al., 2010), self-efficacy (Ofek-Geva & Fortus, 2024), and success (Seyranian et al., 2018). Various review studies have been conducted on the concept of identity in different STEM subjects. Some of these studies have investigated how identity affects STEM learning, while others have explored how STEM subjects shape identity development. Teacher identity is also among the topics examined, particularly in science education (e.g., Zhai et al., 2024). Research studies in engineering education have examined academic identity (Gardner & Willey, 2019) and engineering identity development (Morelock, 2017). Additionally, systematic literature reviews have examined STEM identity development among young women (e.g., Kim et al., 2018) as well as identity development across STEM fields and grade levels (e.g., Simpson & Bouhafa, 2020). In contrast, there are insufficient review studies identifying current trends related to identity in mathematics education . In addition, a systematic literature review identifying trends in STEM education from elementary school through high school or across multiple STEM disciplines has not yet been found. Therefore, this study aims to address that lack of research by conducting a systematic literature review of identity studies in STEM education from elementary school through high school. To gain a comprehensive understanding of STEM identity and identify similarities and differences across disciplines, this study examined research on discipline identity in four STEM fields, as well as research on integrated STEM identity. In this review, we examined research trends related to students' identities in empirical research articles indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Our focus was on students in STEM education from elementary school through high school. The following research questions were addressed in this study: What are the research trends in student identity studies in STEM education from elementary school through high school, from the time they were first addressed until the end of 2025? Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used A systematic review is a method of creating a map of a particular field of study. Therefore, a systematic literature review was deemed appropriate for this study. WoS database was deliberately selected for this study because it is a meticulously structured and authoritative database of high-quality research and metadata with state-of-the-art filtering options (Birkle, et al., 2020). The systematic literature review was based on the PRISMA framework. The PRISMA framework provides a rigorous approach to evaluating studies in a given area of interest for a systematic literature review. A systematic review can be transparent if the search is conducted in the relevant field and certain criteria are specified (Moher et al., 2009). The researchers searched the following keywords in the abstract section of the WoS database: (scien* identity OR math* identity OR engineering identity OR techno* identity OR STEM identity OR physic* identity OR chemistry identity OR biology identity) AND (primary school OR elementary school OR middle school OR secondary school OR high school) This process resulted in 2,341 articles being listed. These articles were then filtered as Education & Educational Research (E&ER). The documents were filtered by type (articles, review articles, and early access) and language (English). Then, the total number of articles decreased to 867. Finally, the articles were screened by the researchers considering the inclusion criteria. Studies are required to fall within the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, technology, or STEM subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology. The target population spans from elementary to high school levels. Additionally, the studies should emphasize teaching and/or learning processes in STEM education at the elementary to high school level. According to these criteria, 108 articles were selected for this study. All articles were coded to analyse and categorize them for specific characteristics in a consistent manner. All selected articles were coded under the following headings: year of publication, country of study, areas of study, school type and/or grade, gender, identity type, identity formation (if any). Then, trends were revealed by calculating the frequencies of the codes and visualizing the results. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Research on STEM education identity is increasing, with the majority of studies conducted in the United States. In high school science education, physics identity was mainly studied, while chemistry identity and biology identity were the least studied. In mathematics education, only mathematics identity was investigated. This review study also revealed that research has been conducted in the field of science, as well as on more specific subtopics within it and context-based identities. For instance, environmental identity, cultural identity, and discursive identity were examined. Most studies with student groups focused on high school and middle school students, while only a few focused on elementary school students. This study also revealed a lack of intervention studies focusing on identity formation. In those studies, the interventions were primarily extracurricular or out-of-school activities, and there were few experimental studies. However, more curricular interventions are needed to support students' identity formation during in-school experiences. We recommend that future studies use quantitative methods and large participant samples to obtain a comprehensive view and more generalizable findings regarding STEM identity. It is also revealed that few single-gender studies have been conducted with male students. By providing evidence-based indicators of STEM identity, this review illuminates knowledge gaps and offers essential implications and recommendations. First, educational policymakers should organize and fund policies that allow students to have authentic experiences. For instance, these policies should provide opportunities for in-school activities, such as project-based learning, as well as out-of-school activities, such as STEM clubs. Second, given that identity development begins in elementary school, the limited number of studies in this setting represents a significant gap in the scientific literature. Third, because of the limited number of studies with male students from different racial and ethnic groups, we recommend conducting more identity studies with these groups in STEM education. References Aschbacher, P. R., Li, E., & Roth, E. J. (2010). Is science me? High school students’ identities, participation and aspirations in science, engineering, and medicine. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 47(5), 564–582. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20353 Birkle, C., Pendlebury, D. A., Schnell, J., & Adams, J. (2020). Web of science as a data source for research on scientific and scholarly activity. Quantitative Science Studies, 1(1), 363–376. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00018 Gardner, A., & Willey, K. (2019). The role of peer review in identity development for engineering education researchers. European Journal of Engineering Education, 44(3), 347-359. Gee, J. P. (2000). Chapter 3: Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25(1), 99-125. Kim, A. Y., Sinatra, G. M., & Seyranian, V. (2018). Developing a STEM identity among young women: A social identity perspective. Review of Educational Research, 88(4), 589-625. Morelock, J. R. (2017). A systematic literature review of engineering identity: Definitions, factors, and interventions affecting development, and means of measurement. European Journal of Engineering Education, 42(6), 1240–1262. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2017.1287664 Ofek-Geva, E., & Fortus, D. (2024). Exploring features that play a role in adolescents’ science identity development. Research in Science Education, 54(5), 867-889. Seyranian, V., Madva, A., Duong, N., Abramzon, N., Tibbetts, Y., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (2018). The longitudinal effects of STEM identity and gender on flourishing and achievement in college physics. International Journal of STEM Education, 5, 1-14. Sharma, L., Sharma, R., & Taak, N. (2021). A review: Study on identity in mathematics education. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 12(2), 2830-2835. Zhao, M., Ozturk, E., Law, F., Joy, A., Deutsch, A. R., Marlow, C. S., Mathews, C. J., McGuire, L., Hoffman, A. J., Balkwill, F., Burns, K. P., Butler, L., Drews, M., Fields, G., Smith, H., Winterbottom, M., Mulvey, K. L., Hartstone-Rose, A., & Rutland, A. (2024). Reciprocal associations between science efficacy, STEM identity and scientist career interest among adolescent girls within the context of informal science learning. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 53(2), 472–484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01868-6 | ||