Vocational education and training dropout : A school-to-work transition failure?

1. Vocational education and training dropout: A school-to-work transition failure? Marine Jordan, Nadia Lamamra & Jonas Masdonati Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET), Lausanne, Switzerland marine.jordan@iffp-suisse.ch|nadia.lamamra@iffp-suisse.ch | jonas.masdonati@fse.ulaval.ca

2. CONTENTS • Introduction • About the research project • Results • Question of transition • Dropout phenomenon and failed transition • Practical implications and conclusions Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

3. INTRODUCTIONVET/PET system in Switzerland (canton Vaud) TERTIARY-LEVEL TYPE A Universities, Federal institutes of technology, Teachers colleges TERTIARY-LEVEL TYPE B Universities of applied sciences Professional colleges, national professional examinations UPPER-SECONDARY Selective school: Academic Baccalaureate UPPER-SECONDARY Specialised School: Specialised School Diploma UPPER-SECONDARY Vocational school (combined school/work-based VET programme or entirely school-based VET programme) BRIDGE-YEAR COURSES LOWER-SECONDARY: 3 years from age 12 to15: Three different preparatory tracks: Pre - gymnasium track Intermediate track Pre - professional track PRIMARY (6 years from age 6 to 12) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

4. INTRODUCTIONStrengths and weaknesses of the Swiss VET system • Strengths • Gradual entry into the labour market • An opportunity to promote non-academic skills • VET programmes are generally seen in a positive light in Switzerland • (most frequently chosen route by students leaving lower-secondary school) • Weaknesses • Non-linear transitions from compulsory education to VET (gap between supply and demand on apprenticeship market, bridge-year courses) • Is the entry into the labour market truly gradual? • Difficulties preventing the dropout phenomenon and its impacts Lave & Wenger (2002); Masdonati et al. (2007); Zittoun (2006) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

5. INTRODUCTIONLabour market and VET Cohen-Scali (2001), Hanhart (2006), Masdonati (2007) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

6. INTRODUCTIONDropout phenomenon in VET • Dropout rates vary between 10% and 40% depending on the region • Influence of socioeconomic status, nationality and course of study • Main reasons: choice of occupation and company, working conditions, apprenticeship training conditions • Divergent viewpoints held by apprentices and VET teachers and trainers • Negative repercussions on the student’s sense of well-being, mental and physical health • The significance and impact of the dropout depend on the reason for leaving the VET programme and the occupation in question • Young dropouts take very different pathways after leaving the VET programme Eckmann-Saillant et al. (1994); Ferron et al. (1997); Michaud (2001); Neuenschwander (1999); Schmid & Stalder (2007); Stalder & Schmid (2006) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

7. ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECTOverview • Research questions • How do young people explain and experience VET dropout? • Which impacts does VET dropout have on young people’s pathways? • Which correlation exists between the VET dropout phenomenon and identity building? • Participants • 46 young people who dropped out during the first year of their apprenticeship • Age 15 – 23 (M = 17.5), 30 adolescents, 16 young adults • Sample by quotas: gender, professional sectors, compulsory school level Lamamra & Masdonati (2009) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

8. ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECTMethodology • Qualitative research, point of view of young people, subjectivediscourse • Individual semi-structured interviews: • - Socio-biographical data • - Reasons for leaving the VET programme • - Relationship aspects • - Biographical aspects • - Systemic aspects • - Current situation • Content analysis • Deductive procedure (1st research question) • Inductive procedure (2nd and 3rd research questions) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

9. RESULTSReasons for leaving the VET programme • Poor working relations (N = 23) • Impossibility of learning the occupation (N = 23) • Difficulties making the transition from lower-secondary school to the upper-secondary VET programme (N = 10) • Labour market-related problems (N = 8) • External contingencies (N = 2) Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

10. RESULTSReasons for leaving the VET programme: Configurations and social factors • Configuration I • Poor working relations • Difficulties learning occupation • (Labour market) Configuration II Difficulty making the transition from lower-secondary school to upper-secondary VET • SOCIAL FACTORS • Emerging adulthood • Previous pathway was non-linear • SOCIAL FACTORS • adolescents • Previous pathway was linear Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

11. QUESTION OF TRANSITION • Difficulties choosing an occupation • Wrong perception of the occupation • Choice made by default • Lack of readiness in making a choice • Respondent 32, 16 years old, previously enrolled in the VET programme in plastering and painting: • “I really didn’t have any problems with the subjects at vocational school. The work-based training in general was also cool. I just didn’t find it [the occupation] interesting enough. […]. It’s hard to explain. Maybe I just decided too quickly and didn’t take enough time to […] For the longest time, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. Then I tried working as a painter and liked it. So, I thought that this was the occupation for me. I didn’t give the matter any more thought” Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

12. QUESTION OF TRANSITION • Difficulties adjusting between school and working environments • Difficulties adjusting from a school environment (people of the same age group, same languages, similar interests) to a working environment (mainly comprised of adults) • VET students not always prepared for the constraints of working life (working hours, • fast-pace and working conditions). • Respondent 31, 17 years-old, previously enrolled in the Vet programme in tiling: • Well, it taught me a great deal. I learnt what exactly working life means and there just ain’t no free lunch I can tell you. It’s no longer like school, no longer the same thing. […]. I was a bit worried, a bit nervous about what to expect from working life […] and then it [working life] hits you straight on, it’s… […]. Life used to be all fun and games and then one day it all changes … and you gotta work real hard. When we were in our last year [of lower secondary school], we had absolutely no idea that working life would be like this. We thought that it would be this pie-in-the-sky kind of thing. Then we find that it ain’t and, boy, is it a rude awakening. Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

13. VET DROPOUT AND FAILED TRANSITION • Failed transition can be linked to individual factors , but also closely linked to the context in which the transition happens: • Competitive apprenticeship market • unbalanced number of apprenticeship positions (qualitative and quantitative gap) • strong economic pressure on host companies • VET system does not always provide a slow and gradual school-to-work transition a successful transition is not only defined in terms of whether students coming out of lower-secondary school find an apprenticeship position but also in terms of whether they stay in the apprenticeship until the end of the VET programme and receive the desired qualification Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

14. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS • Individual level • Working with VET trainers in host companies (recognising the role that they play, enable them to understand what the transition means for the trainees) • Adopting measures for young people (preparing them for the transition, lending support before and during cancellation of the apprenticeship contract) • Organisational level • Adjusting schedules and activities/tasks/content of work • Promoting true apprenticeship negotiations between VET students and host companies • Institutional level • Intervening at the level of the VET system • Acting on the socio-economic context of future VET students Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training

15. REFERENCES • Cohen-Scali, V. (2001). Les attitudes à l‘égard de l‘insertion professionnelle d‘apprentis de l‘enseignement supérieur, L‘orientation scolaire et professionnelle, 30, 173-202. • Eckmann-Saillant, M., Bolzman, C., & de Rham, G. (1994). Jeunes sans qualification: Trajectoires, situations et stratégies. Genève: I.E.S. • Ferron, C., Cordonnier, D., Schalbetter, P., Delbos-Piot, I., & Michaud, P.-A. (1997). La santé des jeunes en rupture d'apprentissage. Lausanne: IUMSP. • Hanhart, S. (2006). Marché de l’apprentissage et pouvoirs publics, Bulletin de la CIIP, 19, 8-9. • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2002). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation (10th ed.). Cambridge: University Press. • Lamamra, N., & Masdonati, J. (2009). Arrêter une formation professionnelle: Mots et maux d'apprenti-e-s. Lausanne: Antipodes. • Masdonati, J. (2007). La transition entre école et monde du travail: Préparer les jeunes à l’entrée en formation professionnelle. Berne: Peter Lang. • Masdonati, J., Lamamra, N., Gay-des-Combes, B. & De Puy J. (2007). Enjeux identitaires du système de formation professionnelle duale, Formation emploi, 100, 15-29. • Michaud, P.-A. (2001). Prévenir les ruptures, limiter leurs conséquences. Panorama, 6, 8-10 • Neuenschwander, M. P. (1999). Lehrvertragsauflösungen im Kanton Zürich: Schlussbericht. Zürich: Impulse; Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt/Bildungsentwicklung • Schmid, E. & Stalder, B.E. (2007). Pourquoi les jeunes changent de métier durant l’apprentissage, Panorama, 5, 10-11. • Zittoun, T. (2006). Insertions: A quinze ans, entre échec et apprentissage. Bern: Peter Lang. Droupout in vocational education and training Droupout in vocational education and training