Search results

Research on job precarity and job instability have largely neglected the labor market trajectories in which these employment and non-employment situations are experienced. This study addresses the mechanisms of volatility and precarity in observed work histories of labor market entrants using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997. Several ideal-typical post-education pathways are modeled for respondents entering the labor force between 1997 and 2010, with varying indicators and degrees of precarity. A series of predictive models indicate that women, racial-ethnic minorities, and lower social class labor market entrants are significantly more likely to be exposed to the most precarious early careers. Moreover, leaving the educational system with a completed associate’s, bachelor’s, or post-graduate degree is protective of experiencing the most unstable types of career pattern. While adjusting for these individual-level background and education variables, the findings also reveal a form of “scarring” as regional unemployment level is a significant macro-economic predictor of experiencing a more hostile and turbulent early career. These pathways lead to considerable earnings penalties 5 years after labor market entry.

The purpose of this study is to discuss conditions in support of a Competent Self in the broader process of the school‐work transition, particularly regarding early school‐leavers.

A total of 233 early school‐leavers were followed in innovative and successful vocational training courses. Using a “quali‐quantitative” research model, longitudinal and multilevel, the comparison between contexts (previous/current school attended) and experiences (school failure/success) was adopted as the basic unit of analysis and considerable attention was given to the personal reflexivity stimulated by the transition undertaken.

The successful vocational training experience allowed the students to demonstrate commitment, competence and mastery motivation supported by the perception they were part of a project that was credible, shared and focused on a mutual investment in learning a job. The commitment and availability of the teachers and the testing of the “learning by doing” were the aspects that most strongly supported the construction of a Competent Self, in contrast with what the students perceived in the schools they had left.

The findings support the relevance of studying school‐failure by valorising the perceived quality of the school experience especially in relation to the teaching‐learning models adopted.

Emphasis was placed on the conditions that could contribute to coping with the school failure phenomenon (especially regarding vocational school paths).

The theoretical‐methodological measures adopted contributed to overcoming some ambiguities that characterised the research on school failure, questioning the supposed weakness of the early school‐leavers and highlighting school factors that contributed to students' engagement/disengagement, making the “school” (not only the students) “protective” or “at risk”.

This paper presents data from a survey of 283 out‐of‐school youth conducted in New South Wales, Australia, supplemented by interviews with a separate group of out‐of‐school youth. Overall the data indicate that those adolescents who leave school early for “home reasons” generally enjoyed their school experience, but that family problems or dysfunction resulted in them having to leave. Once out of school, and in many cases out of home, they are a highly vulnerable group, more likely to participate in health‐damaging behaviours, and to experience more mental health problems than adolescents who left school early for other reasons. This group of early school leavers have enjoyed their school experience and have some “connectedness” to school that is severed when they leave. Schools have not demonstrated their capacity to identify and support students in such adverse circumstances. These results suggest that schools need to be better equipped to identify and manage adolescents who are having difficulties at home, and who may need to leave home as a consequence of abuse or neglect. The results also point to the need for accessible counselling and advisory services within school, and school protocols for crisis management, especially for students who leave their family home.

This chapter explores the discourse and phenomenon of ‘early school leavers’ (ESL) through a policy lens from the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark and from an international critical theoretical perspective. We look at political documents to find out how ESL and the young people involved are perceived. This chapter will equip the reader with an overview of a range of frames on ESL and the impact those have on societal attitudes, educational practices and, ultimately, young people.

People with even a superficial knowledge of educational history are aware that in Rugby continued education of one day a week is compulsory for all young school leavers until the age of 16. They usually know this is the last relic of the stillborn experiment in compulsory day continuation education catered for by the 1918 Education Act. They know that day continuation schools were opened in some areas in the early 1920s, and all were closed within a year or 18 months except at Rugby. Apart from these, little accurate information is common knowledge though the passage of time has woven a web of myth around the event.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and summarise the Australian research on the impact of vocational education and training (VET) on transitions to work for young people aged 15 to 24 years.

The methodology involved the compilation of statistics on VET participation by young people and a review of research on the topic of young people and the longer‐term impact of VET on transitions into work. Research included in the review was restricted to Australian research published during or after 2005.

The findings suggest that young people who participate in VET experience better employment outcomes compared to young people who do not participate in post‐school education and training. However, the smoothness of the transition into work varies for young people who participate in VET programs. Programs linked to the workplace provide the most rapid and successful transitions while other VET programs, such as certificate I and II courses, often require further study at a higher level in order for students to achieve their desired job. The paper also shows that school VET programs have a particularly positive effect on transitions into work for early school leavers.

The paper consolidates the knowledge on how VET assists young people's transitions into work. By focusing on longitudinal research, the paper enhances the understanding of the longer‐term impact of VET for young people.

The aim of this paper is to consider the role played by vocational education and training (VET) for young people in Australia.

The paper is based on an analysis and synthesis of the existing research and literature, including the author's own body of research in the field, regarding VET delivered in schools and in adult sector institutions.

This research presents evidence that VET in Schools (VETiS) constitutes an important and significant curriculum reform in upper secondary schooling, but that it is usually offered at the most basic qualification levels within the subject model paradigm of senior secondary certificates. Its heavy use by young people from disadvantaged backgrounds raises concerns regarding social selection and it suffers from problems of low esteem and variable quality, with its place often questioned within the traditional academic culture of secondary schooling. With respect to adult VET providers, the article argues that the role of TAFE across Australia for 15‐19 year‐olds is relatively limited, with questions raised regarding the quality of programs for younger clients, and that low SES students are more likely to enter post‐school VET destinations.

This article argues that an integrated approach to VET provision, both during and after school, is needed to create quality pathways for students of all backgrounds.

The article presents an integrated view of the role played by VET across different sectors for young people. It is designed to be of value to policy makers and practitioners seeking coordinated policy responses designed to offer curriculum, diversity, and strong pathways into further education and quality full‐time employment.

This study aims to deal with the role of vocational training in developing social inclusion by analyzing the school‐to‐work transitional outcomes of early school leavers whose successful experience in vocational training was documented in previous works.

The sample comprises 126 males who enrolled in and successfully completed biennial vocational training courses soon after dropping out of school. The transitional outcomes one year after the qualification as well as the variability of these outcomes in relation to age, degree of success in vocational training, and achievement in the previous schools were analyzed. A phone interview was used to collect data, and a binary logistic regression analysis was applied. In addition, narrative materials were collected through biographical interviews and qualitatively analyzed.

Although most subjects obtained a stable job, some critical aspects emerged: at times employment seemed to be the result of a “negative compromise”; several constraints emerged in managing further personal investment in school and learning.

Results support the usefulness of studying social inclusion by adopting a transitional perspective. The main limitations concern the focus on just a few variables that only partially explain the different outcomes.

Findings suggested the need for greater flexibility among school, vocational training, and the world of work in order to promote effective social and professional inclusion through the VET system.

The paper's results indicate that developing social inclusion of early school leavers inevitably demands a transformation in the widespread beliefs about the dichotomy between learning and work.

‘We find’, remarked a District Magistrate of the Kericho district of Kenya to a New Statesman correspondent, ‘that quite a lew of these children are capable of benefiting from further education.’ When asked for a definition of further education he replied, ‘Beyond the age of nine.’ The same correspondent spent a summer in Albert County, Colorado. There the entire leaving class of the High School was going on to the University. ‘They'll all get something out of it’, said a member of the School Board, ‘and we have quite a few capable of graduating and going on to MA work.’

Swelling the August unemployment figures to over 600 000, last summer's school leavers are the latest to bear the consequences of the years of neglect of the bulk of the schools' population after they finish their statutory schooling. In the fat years this neglect can be masked — the vans need drivers, the drivers need van‐boys, and presto the early school leaver disappears quickly from the list of the long‐term unemployed. This year will be different.