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Tracking pupils based on their abilities or other aptitudes is a common practice in many countries. In Finland, selective classes with a special emphasis have become popular. The societal and individual effects of tracking are a topic of ongoing educational discussion. Tracking has been seen to increase educational inequality, but still it has been defended as an important practice enabling individualised and adjusted teaching. This study examined whether studying in a selective class with a special emphasis has an effect on the development of pupils' action-control beliefs from grade seven to nine. Results showed that pupils who studied in classes with a special emphasis showed greater achievement and were more likely to have highly-educated mothers than pupils in classes without an emphasis. This selectivity explained most of the differences found in action-control beliefs between classes. Pairwise comparisons showed small differences in the change of certain action-control beliefs between classes.

This article concentrates on the transition from comprehensive school to the upper secondary level from the viewpoint of migrant background girls. Emphasis is on understanding the "bounded agency" and the ways in which gender and family background are expressed in the modalities of the agency. Previous studies show that ethnic minorities have more difficulties in school, and they continue to higher education less frequently than the majority of students. We are interested in the aspirations of migrant background girls (n = 34) concerning their post-comprehensive transition. Our focus is on the experienced agency during the last year of comprehensive school. Our research questions are: What kinds of modalities do migrant background girls use when considering their educational choices? How do these modalities reflect their bounded agency? The study shows that although the experienced agency is universal among the age group, there are specific ethnic and gender connotations.

Transitions from one level of education system to another and from education to work are structured by socio-economic and institutional structure factors, while at the same time they are appropriated by individuals in their biographical constructions. Patterns to career trajectories are also dependent on social class, immigrant origin and level of academic achievement. This paper elaborates the ways young people are envisioning their post-comprehensive trajectories in Finland. Based on an analysis of qualitative interview data (n = 113) with immigrant- and Finnish-origin youths in the final year of their comprehensive education (ninth grade), patterns of envisioned educational trajectories are identified and the reasoning behind them recognised. The analysis introduces six possible envisioned educational trajectories, based on combinations of envisioned educational choices and occupational destinations. They portray the multiple relational aspects and intertwining processes of the decision-making processes, but also underline the nature of them as self-made reasonings of skills, stress, friends, life management and aspirations. Study guidance and counselling should support the decision-making processes as a part of the holistic life-design process.

This study examined changes in pupils' agency beliefs and control expectancy from grade four to grade six, and whether they were associated with studying in a class with a special emphasis on a subject as compared to studying in a class without emphasis. After controlling for the effects of mother's education, prior school achievement, and gender, we found that the average pattern of change varied for different action-control beliefs, and that class membership did not moderate these changes. Mother's education, pupils' prior school achievement, and gender all predicted class membership, but their effects on action-control beliefs varied depending on the type of belief. Implications for educational policy will be discussed.

This article examines the educational trajectories envisioned by immigrant-origin youths. The mixed-methods research draws upon quantitative (N = 445) and interview data (n = 112). Whereas most prior research focuses on educational achievement or educational attainment of immigrant-origin youth, this article focuses on their outlooks concerning education and occupation. We determined the educational and career aspirations and expectations immigrant-origin youths have and in the ways their aspirations differ from those of Finnish-origin youths. We also seek to discover how this possible aspiration paradox is reflected in the trajectories envisioned by immigrant-origin youths. We confirm earlier findings showing that immigrant-origin youths have both a strong belief in education and the will to achieve success in tertiary-level education. We also argue for diversity of vocationally oriented youth: whereas Finnish-origin youths often share determinate vocational outlooks, immigrant-origin youths are more likely to aim for tertiary education via vocational education.