scholarly journals The early labour-market returns to upper secondary qualifications track in England

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Queralt Capsada-Munsech ◽  
Vikki Boliver
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Disposable Income ◽  
Service Class ◽  
Market Returns ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Early Labour ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Secondary Track

We explore the early labour-market returns to following the academic track (such as A levels) rather than the vocational track (for example, NVQs) in upper secondary education in England. England is an interesting country case because students are ‘free to choose’ which upper secondary track they follow, unlike to many other European countries where standardised tests and teachers’ recommendations play a much larger role. We draw on data from the longitudinal survey Next Steps and register data from the National Pupil Database. We consider occupational social class and net disposable income at age 25 as early labour-market outcomes to explore to what extent the upper secondary qualification track has a net influence on them, controlling for pre-track measured ability, relevant socio-demographic characteristics and higher education participation. Our results show that following the academic track in upper secondary education is associated with higher chances of being employed in a service class occupation at age 25, compared to those with vocational upper secondary qualifications or no upper secondary qualifications at all. Subsequent participation in (prestigious) universities further improves the chances of service class membership. Interestingly, there does not seem to be a differentiated effect of following the academic rather than the vocational track by socio-economic status, except for those that did not subsequently attend university. Unlike access to service class occupations, we find no net effect of upper secondary track on disposable income at age 25 after controlling for prior attainment at GCSE and subsequent participation in higher education.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>We explore the early labour market returns to following the academic and the vocational track in upper secondary school in England.</li><br /><li>Following the academic track is associated with higher chances of being employed in a service class occupation, and further improved if attending university.</li><br /><li>Unlike access to service class occupations, we find no net effect of upper secondary track on disposable income.</li></ul>

The vocational route to higher education in Finland: Students’ backgrounds, choices and study experiences

2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412199626
Author(s):  
Nina Haltia ◽  
Ulpukka Isopahkala-Bouret ◽  
Annukka Jauhiainen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Mature Students ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Institutional Habitus

Division between academic and vocational education is a predominant feature of both upper secondary and higher education in Finland as well as in many other country contexts. This article focuses on a minority of higher education students, those who have not proceeded to higher education through the traditional academic track but have enrolled through the vocational route. We deploy the concept of institutional habitus and utilize Eurostudent VI survey data ( N=7318) to analyse the backgrounds and study experiences of higher education students with different kinds of educational backgrounds. Our findings indicate that those enrolling through the vocational route are more often mature students from lower parental educational backgrounds. They have often completed a longer study path and began to see themselves as future higher education students later in their life course. There are also differences in how students with diverse educational backgrounds experience their sense of belonging to the higher education community. This paper focuses on Finland but has relevance for other European countries as the institutional structures and practices discussed in this paper are evident internationally.

scholarly journals Stakeholder views on young adults with intellectual disabilities as a workforce: A qualitative study on students’ performance in upper secondary education and their employment potential

2021 ◽  
pp. 174462952110264
Author(s):  
Kateryna Karhina ◽  
Jens Ineland ◽  
Lotta Vikström
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Employment Agency ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Working Capability ◽  
Students With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Adults With Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Employment Potential

People with intellectual disabilities are the most disadvantaged group among all disability types when it comes to employment. In Sweden, special needs upper secondary schools prepare students with intellectual disabilities for the labour market using practice periods at workplaces. This study targets stakeholder involved in their school-to-work transition (i.e. teachers, employers, employment agency officials). The aim is to identify how they view: (1) the working capabilities of students during practice periods and (2) their employment potential. We base the analysis on interview data with the stakeholders using Grounded Theory. Our results identify three student types whose preparedness for the labour market differs considerably. One student type performs well during the practice period and represents a high potential to enter the workforce. The other two student types have the lower working capability and employment potential. Our study highlights stakeholders as resources to improve the labour market preparations of students with intellectual disabilities.

Labour Market Returns to Graduates’ International Experience: Exploring Cross-Country Variation in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marita Jacob ◽  
Michael Kühhirt ◽  
Margarida Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Intercultural Competence ◽  
International Experience ◽  
Market Returns ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Early Labour ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Graduate Unemployment ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe potential benefits of increased international experience abound, ranging from enriching cultural understanding to an improvement of language skills and intercultural competence. At the same time, empirical evidence is mixed, particularly with regards to how well international experience translates into individual returns on the labour market. This article examines the association between studying abroad and early labour market outcomes in a comparative perspective aiming to shed light on why labour market returns differ across countries. We expect labour market returns to vary with specific country characteristics such as demand for international experience and competition among graduates at labour market entry. In our empirical analyses, we use data from 13 European countries that provide information on graduates’ early labour market outcomes. We find a large variation in the impact of studying abroad on both wages and attaining a higher service class position. Generally, the labour market returns to international experience are larger in countries in Eastern and Southern Europe with poorer university quality, higher graduate unemployment, and fewer students abroad.

Social origins, tracking and occupational attainment in Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Barone ◽  
Moris Triventi ◽  
Marta Facchini
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Occupational Attainment ◽  
Probability Models ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Occupational Outcomes ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Academic Track

Students and parents choose among high school tracks based on the assumption that academic tracks will offer a better preparation for university while vocational tracks will make the transition in the labour market easier, if students do not have a tertiary degree. We assess whether this assumption holds also when considering the long-term occupational outcomes of tracks choices in upper secondary education, controlling for both social and ability selection into tracks. We use for this purpose recent data from the 2014 ISFOL PLUS survey and apply linear regression/probability models to investigate labour market outcomes in a stage of occupational maturity. We find that, while there are no significant differences between tracks in the likelihood of being employed, students with an academic diploma fare better than vocational students in terms of social class attainment, even in the absence of a tertiary degree. The advantage of the academic diploma holds both for entering the salariat class and the high salariat class, and for avoiding demotion into manual occupations or unskilled manual occupations. We also show that tracking accounts for a large proportion of the total effects of socio-economic background on occupational attainment, and that coming from socio-economically advantaged families exacerbates the labour market advantages of attending an academic track.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>The link between social background, high school track and long-term occupational outcomes is analysed.</li><br /><li>Analyses control for social and ability selection into tracks.</li><br /><li>There are no significant differences between tracks in employment status at occupational maturity in Italy.</li><br /><li>Academic diploma holders have higher chances of entering the upper classes and lower risks of ending into manual occupations.</li></ul>

Academic and Vocational Tracking in Upper Secondary Education

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Lessard-Phillips ◽  
Yaël Brinbaum ◽  
Anthony Heath
Keyword(s):  
Minority Students ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
High Status ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Academic Tracks

This chapter focuses on students who continue in full-time education after compulsory schooling and asks whether minority students are disproportionately channelled into lower-status vocational tracks and are excluded from the high-status academic tracks which lead to higher education. The picture that emerges is of distinct patterns in different sets of countries. In Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, minority groups are less likely to follow the academic track, but this under-representation can be entirely explained by their disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and relatively low grades in lower secondary school. However, in a second group of countries – England and Wales, Finland, France and Sweden –most minorities are in fact more likely to follow the academic track than their majority-group peers from similar socioeconomic backgrounds and with similar grades. The indications are that comprehensive systems offer greater opportunities for minority students to fulfil their ambitions than do tracked educational systems.

scholarly journals Post-Compulsory Education in England: Choices and Implications

2017 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. R42-R57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Hupkau ◽  
Sandra McNally ◽  
Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela ◽  
Guglielmo Ventura
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Education System ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Long Tail ◽  
National Examination ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
Early Labour ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
The Many

Most students do not follow the ‘academic track’ (i.e. A-levels) after leaving school and only about a third of students go to university before the age of 20. Yet progression routes for the majority that do not take this path but opt for vocational post-compulsory education are not as well-known, which partly has to do with the complexity of the vocational education system and the difficulty of deciphering available data. If we are to tackle long-standing problems of low social mobility and a long tail of underachievers, it is essential that post-16 vocational options come under proper scrutiny. This paper is a step in that direction.We use linked administrative data to track decisions made by all students in England who left compulsory education after having undertaken the national examination – the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) – at age 16 in the year 2009/10. We track them up to the age of 21, as they progress through the education system and (for some) into the labour market. We categorise the many different types of post-16 qualifications into several broad categories and we look at the probability of achieving various educational and early labour market outcomes, conditional on the path chosen at age 17. We also take into account the influence of demographics, prior attainment and the secondary school attended. Our findings illustrate the strong inequality apparently generated by routes chosen at age 17, even whilst controlling for prior attainment and schooling up to that point

scholarly journals The Evolution of Educational Expectations in Spain (2003-2018): An Analysis of Social Inequality Using PISA

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Manuel Tomás Valdés
Keyword(s):  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Educational Expectations ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Upper Secondary Education ◽  
Academic Track ◽  
The Social ◽  
Upper Secondary

This paper examines the educational expectations of the Spanish student body at the end of compulsory education. Using the 2003 and 2018 waves of PISA, I report a remarkable increase in the educational ambition of the Spanish student body. Two aspects are worth noting. Firstly, virtually all 15-years-old students expect to enroll in Upper Secondary Education by 2018. Secondly, Higher Vocational Education has become a very appealing alternative at tertiary level. Furthermore, significant inequalities have been documented in the configuration of educational expectations. However, inequality has been reduced in the expectations of enrolment in Upper Secondary and Tertiary Education due to the higher educational ambition among socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In turn, inequality has increased in the horizontal expectation of enrolment in the academic track in both levels because a larger share of socioeconomically disadvantaged students preferred the vocational track in 2018 (diversion thesis). Using counterfactual analysis, I have observed that this increase in horizontal inequality would have been larger had it not been for the change in the social structure between 2003 and 2018

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