The project “Social networks and educational inequality in the transition from primary to secondary education” aims to improve our understanding about how the socio-economic or ethnic composition of the peer group affects (inequalities in) educational outcomes in the transition from primary to secondary education. Socio-economic and ethnic inequalities in children’s academic achievement and orientation are well-documented. However, empirical research on specific mechanisms explaining these inequalities remains limited. With a strong focus on parent-child and teacher-student relationships, research has paid limited attention to the importance of social networks. Using new longitudinal prospective network data and comprehensive register data, we will incorporate important properties of students’ network structure and different types of relationships as predictors of educational decisions (e.g. school choice), aspirations, and performance.

This project is carried out by Dieuwke Zwier as a PhD project. The project is part of the National Cohort Study Educational Careers (NCO) PRIMS-module “Peer Relations in the Transition from Primary to Secondary school: Social, Behavioral and Academic Aspects of Social Integration”, a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam and the University of Groningen.