The recently published study "Who Benefits from Guidance Counselling? Insights into Native and Immigrant Students of Low Social Origin" by Irena Pietrzyk, Marita Jacob (both University of Cologne) and WZB researcher Melinda Erdmann, examines the effects of individual and intensive counselling on the admission to university. A particular focus was placed on whether, within the group of students without an academic background, the effect on enrolment differs depending on the students' migration status. The study is based on data from a randomised controlled trial at German schools and is part of the research project "Future and career plans before the Abitur" (ZuBAb). It aims to gain a comprehensive impression of the future plans of today's upper secondary school students for the time after school and also to gain insights into how their realisation can be additionally supported. ZuBAb is a co-operation project between the University of Cologne and the WZB.
In general, individual counselling motivates and supports high school graduates to study. However, high school graduates without an academic background and with a migration background are more likely to enrol in higher education even without counselling, as they strive strongly for social advancement compared to people without a migration background. Accordingly, a relatively lower counselling effect was demonstrated for this group. In contrast, a comparatively high counselling effect was found for high school graduates without an academic background and without a migration background - they are supported by external counsellors in starting a degree course instead of vocational training. The results of the study also suggest that the positive effect of counselling for students without a migrant background is due to the fact that counselling reduces their perception of the costs of studying, while students with a migrant background tend to be further encouraged by the counselling in their already strong desire to move up socially.
The study highlights the importance of targeted counselling for students with a low social status. It also offers a new perspective on the migration status of students from low social backgrounds - students without an academic background and with a migration background can act as role models for others with their ambitious educational choices.