THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND AND GENDER FOR MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT AND SECONDARY SCHOOL CHOICE

The article presents the research results on the effects that gender and socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics have on pupils' achievement in mathematics and secondary school choice. The research was conceptually connected to Bourdieu (1977) and carried out on a sample of 693 elementary school pupils from Zagreb and the surrounding Zagreb County. The results have shown that girls have higher school grades in mathematics than boys, and are more likely to choose grammar schools than vocational schools with a large number of math lessons (technical schools). Pupils from families with higher socio-economic and socio-cultural status achieve better grades and more often choose schools with a large number of math lessons. Gender parents' higher level of education, owning classical literature and the Internet access in one home proved to be the strongest predictors of higher mathematics achievement. As for the choice of schools, the choice of grammar school was primarily explained by cultural resources of the family, while the choice of technical school was explained by pupils' gender These findings are consistent with the results of similar research studies in other countries.