Educational aspirations of school adolescents in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: how are these aspirations shaped?

Smailova A. Tynaliev U.M. Borbugulov M. Sadyrova G.
19 November 2024 Emerald Publishing

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development
2024 #26 Issue 4 309 - 325 pp.

Purpose: This study examines the factors influencing educational aspirations among adolescents in secondary and high schools across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (officially Kyrgyz Republic), and Tajikistan, with a focus on their aspirations for higher and postgraduate education. Through an analysis of a sample comprising 1360 students from grades 7 to 11, the research explores the likelihood of these students pursuing tertiary education. Design/methodology/approach: The ordered logit regression models were used to analyze the impact of variables related to family background, including parents’ education, family support and SES, and school grade. Additionally, the Exploratory Factor Analysis was utilized to distill a smaller set of underlying factors or constructs from the measured variables. Findings: The findings indicate that the mothers education level is significantly more influential compared to the fathers education in shaping adolescents aspirations for higher and postgraduate education in the Central Asian context. Additionally, hypotheses concerning the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES), family support, and grade-level differences on adolescents higher educational aspirations have only been partially confirmed. Originality/value: To the best of the authors knowledge, no prior research work has indicated a significant impact of a mothers education on the educational aspirations of her offspring in the Central Asian region. This trend is consistent with the concept of educational hypogamy, wherein mothers possess higher educational levels than fathers, a phenomenon that is gaining prominence in contemporary family dynamics.

Adolescents , Educational aspirations , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Secondary school , Tajikistan

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Doctoral School of Sociology and Communication Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Institute for Postgraduate Studies, Ala-Too International University, Bishkek, Kazakhstan
Economics Program, CERGE-EI, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Department of Quality Assurance, Kyrgyz National Agrarian University named after K. I. Skryabin, Bishkek, Kazakhstan

Doctoral School of Sociology and Communication Science
Institute for Postgraduate Studies
Economics Program
Department of Quality Assurance

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