From academic to social success? The case of teachers' children in France

International audienceOur presentation takes an interest into the explanation of inequalities in education and more particularly tackles the resources provided by privileged familial backgrounds in order to facilitate educational and social achievement of their children. Our presentation will focus on teachers as parents.For the primary and secondary school level, educational success of teachers' children has been recently demonstrated for the case of France. However the conversion of this academic success into professional or social achievement has not been particularly investigated. Do teachers, as parents, provide their children with all conditions for social achievement? If they supply their children with academic resources, they may not provide them with other resources that make a difference for entry the job market (such as economic, social or material resources). Using recent French data on employment (Labour Force Survey, INSEE), we examine the pathways of teachers' children in higher education and their entry into the labor force. Preliminary results demonstrate that there are significant differences between trajectories of the children of secondary or tertiary education teachers versus the children of primary education teachers. The former have the most successful educational and social trajectories along with the children of professionals, even though we need to distinguish between a "mother effect" and a "father effect". Our research therefore emphasizes the importance of both high cultural and high economic capital in educational and professional achievement in contemporary France