Social change in attitudes to education

Depending on the context, media channel and population groups addressed, the concept of education implicitly takes on a different meaning. The “right” understanding of education and the expectations that are placed on educational research on the one hand and on the design of educational courses, educational goals, educational institutions and the actors in educational policy and the educational system itself on the other are also hotly debated (Straubhaar 2005; Dörpinghaus 2009). However, a social consensus exists in the perception of education as an important factor both for the individual (in terms of social integration) and for society as a whole (in terms of system integration). What is unknown, however, is the distribution and changes in ideas about education in the Swiss population. The aim of the research project is therefore to describe in a differentiated manner which ideas about education are shared by the Swiss population. Furthermore - against the background of educational expansion and globalization or liberalization of the economy - the change in these educational ideas in the sequence of birth cohorts should be recorded. In order to be able to answer this question, a survey of randomly selected people from the adult population in German-speaking Switzerland is carried out using CATI and an online questionnaire. In addition, efforts are being made to integrate individual questions into important existing panel surveys (SHP, GESIS, GSOEP, ESS). This should enable both an international comparison and the continuation of the surveys launched in Germany on a topic that has been neglected in educational research (Schulenberg 1957; Strzelewicz et al. 1966; Schulenberg et al. 1978; Meulemann 1982). The various educational ideas in the population are surveyed with existing questions (replication) on the instrumentality of education and the realization of equal opportunities in the educational system as well as with newly developed questions for the BisoWa via CATI. On the other hand, based on Schulenberg (1957) and Strzelewicz et al. (1966), Meulemann (1982) and the EMNID survey (1973) used vignette experiments in the online questionnaire to collect ideas about the role of schools and the concept of education. Based on earlier research results and theoretical expectations, it is assumed that different educational ideas coexist, which are mainly manifested in the generational succession. Based on Mannheim (1928), it is expected that members of different generations are cultural carriers of educational ideas that exist at different points in time in the course of educational expansion. The results, apart from increasing scientific knowledge, are also relevant in relation to the ideas and interests related to education as well as to the understanding and misunderstanding of the role of education for individuals, markets and societal development in scientific and public debates about education. Important findings are expected, particularly against the background of the topicality of the educational policy debates (educational standards, output control, etc.) between the various relevant actors such as parents, teachers and representatives of business and politics.