Teachers' guidance advices at the transition from lower to upper secondary school in Italy. Being a foreign origin student makes the difference?

Within the Italian educational system, the transition from lower to upper secondary school constitute a crucial site to study the mechanisms at stakes in the reproduction of educational inequalities. Upper secondary track choices constitute indeed a crucial determinant of educational attainment as well as of individual future social position. Aim of this essay is to offer an in-depth analysis of one among the processes that may hinder the realization of equal educational opportunities at this branching point: teachers' guidance advices. Based on an ethnographic study carried out in two lower secondary schools in Milan, IT, the article explores the criteria teachers use to formulate recommendations to support their students upper secondary track choices. In particular, the essay show the logics underpinning teachers' tendency to guide foreign origin students toward vocational and technical school tracks.