Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This study investigates whether the informal competencies effort, exertion, perseverance and volition develop differently among youth who enter firm- or school-based vocational education and training or general education tracks, which offer distinct socialisation environments. The results show that the analysed competencies increase considerably after entry into vocational education and training. Young people in general education show a delayed development and only increase their informal competencies after the age of 18 years.

This article addresses inequalities in short‐ and medium‐term career outcomes of workers with different vocational education and training (VET) programmes during the early career. In particular, we examine how the degree of vocational specificity of VET programmes affects occupational status mobility throughout individuals' early careers, a topic that has hitherto received little attention. We adopt a life course perspective and combine an individual‐level theoretical approach (human capital and signalling theory) with an institutional approach. The former focuses on individuals' skill acquisition during VET and across the early career. The latter emphasises that individuals' allocation to a training programme influences the amount and types of skills they acquire. The multinomial logistic regression analyses are based on a combination of detailed curricula‐based occupation‐level data on the specificity of training programmes and individual‐level data from the Transitions From Education to Employment (TREE) longitudinal dataset. The results show, firstly, that labour market allocation at the beginning of a career has consequences for later labour market outcomes. Second, practical occupation‐specific education and training facilitate status stability at labour market entry, while general skills and knowledge are decisive for long‐term upward mobility.

Abstract
Based on human capital and institutional theory, this article investigates whether transitions into professional education depend on institutional characteristics of the preceding initial vocational education and training program. The empirical analyses make use of the SLFS data. They show that vertically non­differentiated initial vocational education and training programs with high shares of vocational school and standardized final exams increase the probability to enter professional education.

Over the last 15 years, research on the effects of different types of education on labour market integration and labour market outcomes has evolved. Whereas much of the early work analysed school-to-work transition outcomes, the focus of more recent studies has shifted to the relationship between educational achievement and mid- and long-term labour market outcomes. The overarching question of this body of research asks whether the allocation to different types of education leads to different skill sets, to different employment opportunities and to jobs offering unequal wages, job autonomy or job security. However, pivotal issues related to the comparison of vocational and general types of education or upper-secondary and tertiary-level qualification remain ambiguous and are hampered by a lack of suitable data and methodological problems. The aim of this issue is to further this debate and to provide more insights into the relationship between individual and contextual factors, allocation within the educational system, educational achievement and labour market outcomes over the life course. The 12 articles collected in this issue highlight the importance of focussing on the specific features and functions of different education tracks and programs, of applying data and methods suitable for such analyses and of considering the interplay of different determinants of education outcomes, such as social origin, gender or ethnicity.

In Switzerland, initial vocational education and training graduates may enter a track of the tertiary system called professional education. Professional education represents about one-third of the tertiary system, includes numerous vocational training courses, and prepares for managerial or expert positions. Despite its prevalence, the long-term returns to professional education have rarely been investigated due to lacking data. In order to fill this gap, we will estimate the long-term returns to professional education based on a novel methodological design. Secondly, we aim to explain the differences in the returns to professional education between occupational fields by making use of the task-based approach of Autor, Levy and Murnane (2003). Analyses are based on the Swiss Labour Force Survey from 1991-2016. Based on a quasi-panel with cohort fixed effects and on linear regression models, our results reveal average short-term returns to professional education of 7% and long-term returns of 11%. However, we find considerable differences in the returns between training fields, which can partly be attributed to differences in the change of task composition after completion of professional education between occupations.

This article reviews the similarities and differences in the transition to adulthood in Europe. Recent change and the still striking diversity in pathways to adulthood in Europe have attracted growing comparative research interests. The considerable heterogeneity in institutional arrangements, cultural heritage, and economic life observed across contemporary European societies provides fertile ground for testing hypotheses of various macro-level theories and approaches addressing interactions between micro- and macro-level factors. Pursuing a comparative perspective, this review frames the transition to adulthood within a life course perspective. After having mapped the terrain of recent change and contemporary diversity in the transition to adulthood in Europe, the review presents the theoretical perspectives predominantly used to explain diversity and discusses whether the empirical evidence squares with the theoretical propositions. The review concludes by suggesting how future research could advance understanding of the complex nature of the transition to adulthood in Europe.

The representative and interdisciplinary longitudinal study COCON (acronym for "Competence and Context"), supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, examines the process of growing up and competence development of more than 3.000 children and adolescents in the German- and French-speaking part of Switzerland (Buchmann, Fend, 2004). COCON's goal is to investigate the complex interaction between social contexts, competence development and coping with early life course transitions (e.g., school entry, transitions to secondary education, to occupational training and to employment). The following aspects are thus at the core of the project:
• Socialization contexts (family, school, friends, leisure/media)
• Institutionalized (status) transitions in the life course
• Individual competence development
COCON investigates three cohorts, representing three prototypical stages of growing up: 6-year olds (mid childhood – first cohort), 15-year olds (mid adolescence – second cohort) and 21-year olds (early adulthood – third cohort). For the 6- and 15-year olds primary caregivers and teachers are also surveyed. We shall continue to follow up the two younger cohorts (6- and 15-year olds in 2006) within the framework of the representative longitudinal study. So far, five survey waves have been conducted. In 2012, the 12-year olds of the first cohort made the transition from primary to secondary schooling. More than half of the 21-year olds of the second cohort mastered the transition to the labour market. Most of the other half is attending higher education. Educational trajectories of young adults are highly variegated, thus influencing young people's competence development in varied ways. Further information and results can be found on: www.cocon.uzh.ch. Since December 2013 the COCON data from the first three survey waves are available as scientific use files.

The representative and interdisciplinary longitudinal study COCON (acronym for "Competence and Context"), supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, examines the process of growing up and competence development of more than 3.000 children and adolescents in the German- and French-speaking part of Switzerland (Buchmann, Fend, 2004). COCON's goal is to investigate the complex interaction between social contexts, competence development and coping with early life course transitions (e.g., school entry, transitions to secondary education, to occupational training and to employment). The following aspects are thus at the core of the project:
• Socialization contexts (family, school, friends, leisure/media)
• Institutionalized (status) transitions in the life course
• Individual competence development
COCON investigates three cohorts, representing three prototypical stages of growing up: 6-year olds (mid childhood – first cohort), 15-year olds (mid adolescence – second cohort) and 21-year olds (early adulthood – third cohort). For the 6- and 15-year olds primary caregivers and teachers are also surveyed. We shall continue to follow up the two younger cohorts (6- and 15-year olds in 2006) within the framework of the representative longitudinal study. So far, five survey waves have been conducted. In 2012, the 12-year olds of the first cohort made the transition from primary to secondary schooling. More than half of the 21-year olds of the second cohort mastered the transition to the labour market. Most of the other half is attending higher education. Educational trajectories of young adults are highly variegated, thus influencing young people's competence development in varied ways. Further information and results can be found on: www.cocon.uzh.ch. Since December 2013 the COCON data from the first three survey waves are available as scientific use files.

The representative and interdisciplinary longitudinal study COCON (acronym for "Competence and Context"), supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, examines the process of growing up and competence development of more than 3.000 children and adolescents in the German- and French-speaking part of Switzerland (Buchmann, Fend, 2004). COCON's goal is to investigate the complex interaction between social contexts, competence development and coping with early life course transitions (e.g., school entry, transitions to secondary education, to occupational training and to employment). The following aspects are thus at the core of the project:
• Socialization contexts (family, school, friends, leisure/media)
• Institutionalized (status) transitions in the life course
• Individual competence development
COCON investigates three cohorts, representing three prototypical stages of growing up: 6-year olds (mid childhood – first cohort), 15-year olds (mid adolescence – second cohort) and 21-year olds (early adulthood – third cohort). For the 6- and 15-year olds primary caregivers and teachers are also surveyed. We shall continue to follow up the two younger cohorts (6- and 15-year olds in 2006) within the framework of the representative longitudinal study. So far, five survey waves have been conducted. In 2012, the 12-year olds of the first cohort made the transition from primary to secondary schooling. More than half of the 21-year olds of the second cohort mastered the transition to the labour market. Most of the other half is attending higher education. Educational trajectories of young adults are highly variegated, thus influencing young people's competence development in varied ways. Further information and results can be found on: www.cocon.uzh.ch. Since December 2013 the COCON data from the first three survey waves are available as scientific use files.