Invest for the Long Term or Attend to Immediate Needs? Schools and the Employment of Less Educated Youths and Adults

Abstract

For the past 20 years, researchers worldwide have shared a consensus that tracking leads to failure in school. But educational systems continue to use this practice for many reasons. One argument used to support the practice is that students who enter the vocational track early in their careers tend to enter the labour market more quickly. Data show, however, that when these people are in their 40s, they become the most vulnerable to poverty, especially during periods of economic recession. In addition to moving towards more comprehensive educational systems as the best long‐term way to improve the chances of all future adults, our research demonstrates that schools can play a key role in preventing and reversing the risk of unemployment and poverty of low educated youth. The INCLUD‐ED project has analysed effective actions in eight European countries (Slovenia, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Romania, Belgium, Finland, and Spain) that respond to the educational needs of those who have experienced tracking. These effective alternatives are vocational programmes that include an academic‐type of curriculum and allow students to move to higher education, as well as adult education programmes in schools which meet families' training needs, improving their opportunities in the labour market.

How do vulnerable youth complete secondary education? The key role of families and the community

“…Tracking is defined as the separation of students into different schools depending on their ability, often involving a choice between academic and vocational tracks (European Commission 2006). It is one particular practice in secondary education that has been identified to have an impact on students' subsequent educational and labour opportunities (Moller and Stearns 2012;Hanushek and Wößmann 2006;Santa Cruz, Siles, and Vrecer 2011). In addition, it is a socially selective process that affects vulnerable youth in particular, including poor students, cultural minorities and immigrants (Hallinan 1994;Tieben and Wolbers 2010).…”

Dreams of Higher Education in the Mediterrani School Through Family Education

“…As a result, the whole dream of achieving higher education is present in community members' expectations. As some authors explain (De Vries and Wolbers, 2005;Santa Cruz et al, 2011), achieving a higher education leads to better possibilities: people have a greater chance for a more stable job and are less vulnerable to poverty (European Commission, 2010a; European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014). Therefore, to follow the community's transformation, we must continue with the research and verify how the dreams that we now project for higher education are completed and the impact these actions have on community members' work lives and long-term trajectories.…”

“…Thus, family background's effect on education and labor market entry is repeatedly demonstrated (Dustmann, 2004;Krause and Schüller, 2014;Jose et al, 2017). Research indicates that those with a higher educational level have more opportunities in the labor market; conversely, those with lower educational levels tend to have temporary jobs that are precarious (De Vries and Wolbers, 2005;Santa Cruz et al, 2011). In this context, European organizations such as the European Commission (2010b) and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2014) have noted that the lack of academic training, precariousness and inactivity are key factors that increase the vulnerability to poverty.…”

From Vocational Education to Career Readiness

“…The international literature also highlighted the tensions between using vocational education for long-term skill development and using it only to ensure shorter term labor market preparation. Santa Cruz, Siles, and Vrecer (2011) linked tracking toward vocational training early in students’ schooling to midcareer employment vulnerability, emphasizing a concern in the policy world that accumulation of specific skills in the short term could have longer term costs if it means having lower levels of generalizable skills or knowledge that could facilitate career changing. This concern is similar to that of recently published work from Hanushek, Schwerdt, Woessmann, and Zhang (2016), who found a similar trade-off existing for workers across 11 European countries.…”