Immigrant parents’ educational preferences between Vocational training and higher education. A qualitative study on Switzerland.

Immigrants’ choices concerning professional orientation and education often diverge from those of the ethnic majority in their host countries. Holding constant socio-economic background, immigrants are more likely to choose an academic trajectory compared to a vocational education track. This trend persists not only in countries where the academic path is highly esteemed, as exemplified by Great Britain [Shah et al, 2010], but also in collective skills formation systems (CSFS) like Switzerland [Abrassart et al, 2017], as well as in Germany [Beicht and Walden, 2017], where vocational training is held in high regard. This intriguing observation forms the basis of our research question: "What explains the relatively low interest of immigrants in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs?" To address this question, we propose a qualitative analysis of 40 interviews with immigrant parents throughout Switzerland. Those are drawn from the Parental Investment in Children’s Education (PICE) dataset. Interviewees were selected based on their low socio-economic backgrounds and based on their children having successfully accessed higher education. They are immigrants from Southern Europe, former Yugoslavia, Turkey and Sri Lanka. Understanding parents’ views offers a valuable lens through which to comprehend why second-generation immigrants gravitate toward higher education even when their socioeconomic circumstances might typically guide them towards VET programs. The interviews are coded by hand. This paper aims to unravel the underlying factors that influence immigrant youths' educational preferences, shedding light on the complex interplay between individual aspirations, cultural perceptions, and societal influences.