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Head of the Chair for  Sociology of Education
Teaching at the School of Education, University of Applied Sciences FHNW
Teaching at the Centre for Educational Sciences, University of Basel
Topic: Sociology of Education

Sociological Research
Topics: Educational Governance; educational institutionalisation and transformation; educational inequalities (gender, social origin); vocational education and training (VET); academic careers; educational organisations; transitions from school to work

Academic education and professional positions

Link to complete list of publications and CV

Governance of Transitions in the Swiss Education System. A Study on the Political Regulation of Moving from Primary to Lower-Secondary and from Lower-Secondary to Upper-Secondary Education (GovTrans)

Aim of the study: The study applies a governance perspective to examine how in the Swiss system of educational federalism the transition from primary to secondary education (transition 1) and from lower-secondary to upper-secondary education (transition 2) is governed – that is, regulated, organised, reformed, and legitimised; how differences in governance between the cantons can be explained; what kinds of tensions arise within and between the cantons as a result; and how these are addressed by the relevant actors involved in the governance process.

The upper secondary specialised middle/specialised baccalaureate school as a separate educational track besides vocational education and training and general baccalaureate school - processes and outcomes of its positioning and profile raising

Aim of the study: In a long-term transformation process from the 1970s onwards, the specialised middle/specialised baccalaureate school has established itself as the third federally approved educational pathway alongside VET and the Gymnasium. The study examines the controversial process of institutionalising the school as an access to tertiary education. How has the school succeeded in positioning itself alongside VET and general baccalaureate school? How does the school profile itself as a way of complementing VET and general baccalaureate school? To investigate the positioning and profiling of the school, we refer to document analysis, interviews and quantitative statistical data.

Training networks in practice – A multiple case study on the functioning and the demands of a new organisational form of apprenticeship from the perspective of various actors

Aim of the study: During the past decade national vocational education policy in many European countries has been furthering so-called training networks or training circles. The study seeks to know more about how this new organisational form of VET is functioning. To investigate the potential and the challenges of training networks, the perspectives of the training companies, of the leading organisation as well as of the apprentices are analysed.

Institutionalisation of gender equity in lower secondary schools
("Gender Day")

The study looks at the observance of "National Daughters Day" in a selected canton in Switzerland (so called "Gender Day") and investigates how schools as organizations deal with expectations of educational reform and equal opportunity policy geared toward gender equality.

Please visit the Institutional Repository FHNW (IRF) for further projects. 

Team / Teaching / Courses / Exams / BA/MA-Thesis / Research

More information about

• the team of educational sociology at the School of Education
• courses, exams and bachelor or master thesis
• ongoing research

you can find here: Professorship of Sociology of Education