Heike Solga

The social stratification of the German VET system

Germany is widely known for its vocational education and training (VET) system and its dual apprenticeship system in particular. What is often overlooked, however, is the vertical stratification within the German VET system. This is the focus of this study. Our analysis shows that the VET system, like the German school system, is highly stratified, resulting in large differences in labour market opportunities. We elaborate on three dimensions of vertical stratification: VET system vs. higher education, fully qualifying vs. prevocational VET programmes and segmentation of the fully qualifying VET programmes by educational attainment and career prospects. All three stratification dimensions are closely linked to school attainment and thereby to social origin.

Secondary Education Systems and the General Skills of Less- and Intermediate-educated Adults A Comparison of 18 Countries

We investigate the impact of external differentiation and vocational orientation of (lower and upper) secondary education on country variation in the mean numeracy skills of, and skills gaps between, adults with low and intermediate formal qualifications. We use data on 30- to 44-year-olds in 18 countries from the 2011–12 round of the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. We find that higher levels of external differentiation (tracking) amplify skills gaps between less- and intermediate-educated adults. This is mainly due to lower mean skills achievement of less-educated adults. By contrast, greater emphasis on vocational skills in upper-secondary education is positively related to numeracy skills for both less- and intermediate-educated adults. Gains are larger for the less educated, so the gap in numeracy skills tends to fall with the degree of vocational orientation. We discuss implications of our findings for research on educational and labor market inequalities.

Going across Europe for an apprenticeship? A factorial survey experiment on employers’ hiring preferences in Germany:

Owing to the recent recession, the German apprenticeship model is once again praised for smoothing out school-to-work transitions. In line with the social policy shift of favouring education as a key means to combat youth unemployment, European Union (EU) recommendations and German national policies encourage young Southern and Eastern EU citizens to apply for apprenticeship training abroad. Yet, young people wanting to go abroad are not only mobile young people but also immigrants. Given the prevalence of ethnic disparities in the German apprenticeship system, the question arises whether employers would be willing to hire these newcomers. Using a factorial survey experiment, we investigate how employers rate applications from Spanish newcomers compared to those from young immigrant descendants of Spanish origin. The results indicate that newcomers are substantially less preferred than immigrant descendants born in Germany. Employers’ expectations about newcomers’ language skills and employers’ interest in training for their own skilled labour force are key barriers to policies promoting apprenticeships abroad.

Education as social policy: An introduction

This Special Issue considers education as a social policy in its own right, from a life-course perspective and in relation to other policy areas. It recognizes the complexity of education systems and their multi-stage architecture. The volume broadens our understanding of the role of ‘education as social policy’ by addressing four different aspects: the importance of education providers, education as a means of social stratification, education as an interconnected regime component and public opinion on education as an important foundation of welfare state policies and a prerequisite for their sustainability in the long run. From a theoretical perspective, all authors critically engage with the social investment state approach that sees in education and training investment the lynchpin of a pre-distribution agenda protecting individuals from the new social risks of a competitive, knowledge-driven economy. The examples provided in this Special Issue expose the multifaceted role of education as social policy, drawing attention to both its formative and stratifying function across a number of European welfare states.

Applying to college: Do information deficits lower the likelihood of college-eligible students from less-privileged families to pursue their college intentions?: Evidence from a field experiment

Information deficits are considered an important source of why students from less-privileged families do not enroll in college, even when they are college-eligible and intend to go to college. In this paper, we examine whether correct and detailed information on the costs of and returns to higher education increases the likelihood of college applications of less-privileged high school graduates who expressed college intentions in their junior high school year. We employ an experimental design with a randomly assigned 25-minute information treatment about funding opportunities for, and returns to, higher education given at Berlin schools awarding university entrance qualifications. Our analyses show that our information treatment indeed substantially increases the likelihood of treated less-privileged students to apply to college. Our study indicates that our low-cost provision of financial information not only increased their college knowledge but also substantially changed their college application behavior, despite other existing barriers, like economic constraints.

„Wir haben dieselben Ziele …“ – Zur Bedeutung von Paarkonstellationen und Disziplinenzugehörigkeit für Karrieren von Frauen in der Wissenschaft

Mit der hoheren Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung von Frauen haben sich die Lebens- und Erwerbsverlaufe akademisch gebildeter Manner und Frauen deutlich angenahert. Dennoch haben hoch qualifizierte Frauen auch bei gleichem Bildungsniveau schlechtere Berufsaussichten und Karrierechancen als hoch qualifizierte Manner. Frauen in Fuhrungspositionen stellen nach wie vor nur eine Minderheit dar. Im Hochschulsystem sind Frauen in leitenden Positionen mit einem Anteil von 13 % an den C4/W3-Professuren besonders rar (Statistisches Bundesamt 2010: 27).

Persistent Disadvantages or New Opportunities? The Role of Agency and Structural Constraints for Low-Achieving Adolescents’ School-to-Work Transitions

School leavers with low educational attainment face great difficulties in their school-to-work transitions. They are, however, quite heterogeneous in terms of their personal and social resources. These within-group differences may influence who shows initiative during the school-to-work transition period and thereby helps employers recognize their learning potential at labor market entry. Yet this recognition also depends on the ways employers select applicants, which may prevent them from discovering such within-group differences. We therefore investigate the interplay between agency and its constraints, that is, whether higher cognitive and noncognitive skills and more parental resources provide low-achieving school leavers with new opportunities in the school-to-work transition period or whether their low school attainment causes the persistency of their disadvantages. We use panel data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which started in grade 9. The NEPS also includes school leavers from special-needs schools. Our sample consists of 3417 low-achieving adolescents (42% female), defined as adolescents who leave school with no or only a lower secondary school-leaving certificate. Their average school-leaving age is 16 to 17 years. Our key findings are that the transition period opens up new opportunities only for those low-achieving adolescents with better vocational orientation and higher career aspirations, leading them to make stronger application efforts. The success of youth’s initiative varies considerably by school-leaving certificate and school type but not by competences, noncognitive characteristics, and parental background. Thus, the label of “having low qualifications” is a major obstacle in this transition period—especially for the least educated subgroup. Their poor school attainment strongly disadvantages them when accessing the required training to become economically independent and hence in their general transition to adulthood. Our results are also of interest internationally, because participation in firm-based training programs functions as the entry labor market in Germany. Thus, similar explanations may apply to low-achieving adolescents’ difficulties in finding a job.

Reading-Aloud Versus Self-Administered Student Questionnaires: An Experiment on Data Quality

A major finding from recent large-scale assessments on student achievement is that a remarkable proportion of students around the world are poor readers. This calls into question the quality of the data retrieved from self-administered background questionnaires. A better administration mode, especially for this student population, might be to have the administrator read the questionnaires out aloud, as is done in surveys at elementary schools. In order to provide empirical evidence on whether reading aloud helps improve data quality, we conducted an experimental study with 664 twelve-year-old students in lower secondary schools in Germany. One finding is that, unsurprisingly, reading questionnaires aloud increases survey time. Regarding data quality, however, item non-response rates decrease somewhat in the reading- aloud group, and filtering procedures also work better. This effect can be found regardless of students’ status or reading speed. Even though the data quality for this group is generally poor, the improvement achieved by reading aloud is comparable with the group of fast readers. Regarding the acceptance of the mode, analyses on the role of migrant status and reading speed suggest that slow readers and migrant students particularly prefer being read the questionnaires aloud. Our study indicates that reading questionnaires aloud may be a meaningful administration mode not only in early primary school grades, but also at the beginning of secondary school. Data quality in studies involving at-risk students can particularly benefit from reading questionnaires aloud.

Schulabgänger und -abgängerinnen mit maximal Hauptschulabschluss

Mit Daten des Nationalen Bildungspanels (NEPS) werden Handlungsressourcen und Ubergange ins Berufsbildungssystem von Jugendlichen mit maximal Hauptschulabschluss untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass diese Jugendlichen eine benachteiligte, aber keine homogene Gruppe sind. Ein nennenswerter Teil hat kognitive und nicht-kognitive Potenziale sowie soziale Herkunftsressourcen, die sowohl fur einen hoheren Schulabschluss gereicht hatten als auch fur hohere Ausbildungschancen. Diese Potenziale bleiben allerdings weitgehend unentdeckt – mit der Folge eines hohen Risikos, langfristig bildungsarm zu bleiben.