This paper explores conditions for social upward mobility through education. The social reproduction within the educational system globally sustains an unequal society. Amongst the students within higher education, there is an overrepresentation of students with at least one parent with a high school degree. The phenomenon of social reproduction through education is global and existing also in countries such as Sweden where there is a high level of formal equality in education. Previous research provides much knowledge on the relation between social structures and education, providing explanations on the mechanisms leading to a preservation and reproduction of hierarchic social structures in school and through the education system. There is less research on the exceptions, what enables students of non-academic backgrounds to reach success in school and what motivates them to aim for higher education. The majority of such studies are retrospective, based on interviews with adults that have experienced upward social mobility through education.

As a part of a monographic PhD dissertation in which thirteen high performing Swedish youths whose parents have no higher education, share their life stories once a year during a three-year period, this paper provides an overview of some of the upcoming results as two thirds of the empirical data has been collected. The aim of the study is to gain knowledge about how these youths, who are structurally less likely to attain higher education, have achieved success in school and strive for higher education. The research question is: What enables school achievement and aims of attending higher education, amongst youths whose parents do not have experience of higher education?

The selection of these students is based on the criteria: they attend upper secondary school; they finished 9^th grade with high grades; their parents did not attend university; they strive for higher education. The interviews are unstructured life story interviews which are analysed both biographically and narratively, i.e., both what is told and how it is told. The research procedure follows the guidelines for Interpretative Grounded Theory according to Strauss. Theoretical concepts will be articulated based on the empirical data rather than using the data in order to verify or test already existing theories. Several theoretical frameworks have been studied as part of developing a theoretical sensitivity, frameworks that might be applicable to the results presented in this paper. However, the current research phase explores the contents of these interviews by letting them speak for themselves before applying already existing theories or framing a new substantial theory upon these life stories. The results provided here are not seen as ‘discovered’ nor ‘constructed’ but ‘interpreted’.  

An overview of the results from the so far 25 interviews made with 13 youths, provides a picture of a diversity of sources for motivation, both between and within interviews. Frequently mentioned sources of motivation are the following: giftedness/ ability; vocation/ interest; making parents proud; expectations; a stable economy in the future; norms given by siblings or peers; caring for the mother in the future; teachers’ influence/ encouragement; avoiding their parents’ destiny and; escaping a situation. 

The data consists of unstructured life story interviews with 13 youths, all attending upper secondary school by the time of the first interview made in 2021. The selection of these students was made in several steps. As a first step, the average number of elementary school grades (as summarised in numbers) needed for admission to all upper secondary school in a specific region in Sweden, were analysed. The 10 schools with highest numbers were contacted in order to give a brief presentation of the study and ask students to answer a minor questionnaire including questions regarding the parents’ educational background and whether they strived for higher education or not. Out of these 10 schools, 6 schools accepted to participate. Based on the students answers in the questionnaire, which also included questions of gender, country of birth (both student and parents) and the area where they lived, 26 students were contacted. Out of these 26 students, 13 agreed to participate in the study. The interviews began with a short reminder of the purpose of the study, after which the student was asked to talk about their life, not only about school achievement and their strive for higher education but their life in general. The life stories are analysed both biographically and narratively, i.e., both what is told and how it is told. The narrative is not an exact presentation of the past but an adapted story, for example in relation to the purpose, audience and points of view. A narrative is also a way of presenting aspects of oneself, which is central in the analyses presented in this paper. In Life Story interviews, the story is about the past but created in the present. Hence, it is a present product and not an identical reflection of the past.

The results of the so far 25 interviews made with 13 interviewees show a diversity regarding the main motivation and enabling events in these young people’s lives. Frequently mentioned sources of motivation are the following: giftedness/ ability; vocation/ interest; making parents proud; expectations; a stable economy in the future; norms given by siblings or peers; caring for the mother in the future; teachers’ influence/ encouragement; avoiding their parents’ destiny and; escaping a situation. However, these sources of motivation are not solely one-sided but often appear as complex and even somewhat contradictory. Some of the interviewees touch many sources of motivation in their stories while others have fewer but often more distinguished sources of motivation. The youths sharing least reflexion upon the topic are the ones also revealing how attaining higher education has become a norm although their parents have not attained higher education. Reasons for perceiving higher education as an obvious choice after finishing upper secondary school are either older siblings school achievement and choice of career or following the general perception of peers who have parents with an academic background. All the interviewees but one, have parents who support their ambition to attain higher education. In the remaining case, a father discourages the daughter’s ambitions, but the mother is supportive. In three cases though, including the already mentioned, the fathers’ opinions have no impact or a contrary impact on the daughters’ ambitions.

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