The social stratification of the German VET system

Protsch, Paula; Solga, Heike

doi:10.1080/13639080.2015.1024643

Cited by 120 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This tendency, understood as an expression of a pedagogic code, implicitly reveals an academicvocational divide which is closely connected with the status of vocational programmes as reflected in enrolment patterns with consequences for class and gender. Problems of reproduction of class and gender are usually associated with countries that divide students early within their educational systems, such as Germany (Protsch & Solga, 2016), the UK (Avis, 2016) and the US (Allmendinger, 1989). However, our results illustrate that reproduction is a significant problem in the Nordic countries as well.…”

Section: Implications Of the Academic-vocational Divide For Class Andcontrasting

confidence: 51%

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

et al. 2018

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In this study we examine how the academic-vocational divide is manifested today in Finland, Iceland and Sweden in the division between vocationally (VET) and academicallyoriented programmes at the upper-secondary school level. The paper is based on a critical re-analysis of results from previous studies; in it we investigate the implications of this divide for class and gender inequalities. The theoretical lens used for the synthesis is based on Bernstein´s theory of pedagogic codes. In the re-analysis we draw on previous studies of policy, curriculum and educational praxis as well as official statistics. The main conclusions are that contemporary policy and curriculum trends in all three countries are dominated by a neo-liberal discourse stressing principles such as "market relevance" and employability. This trend strengthens the academic-vocational divide, mainly through an organisation of knowledge in VET that separates it from more general and theoretical elements. This trend also seems to affect VET students' transitions in terms of reduced access to higher education, particularly in male-dominated programmes. We also identify low expectations for VET students, manifested through choice of textbooks and tasks, organisation of teacher teams and the advice of career counsellors.

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Section: Implications Of the Academic-vocational Divide For Class Andcontrasting

confidence: 51%

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

et al. 2018

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“…The sorting at the secondary school juncture is therefore important for future educational attainment. Students are tracked by ability around age 10 to 12 (after four to six grades) into one of basically three secondary school tracks: the upper track where students can obtain an Abitur – the university entrance degree (attained after grades 12 or 13, depending on the state); the intermediate track towards the Realschulabschluss (after grade 10); or the lower track towards the Hauptschulabschluss (after grade 9 or 10) (see e.g., Witte & Kalleberg, 1995; Protsch and Solga, 2016; Buchholz et al, 2016; Lauterbach and Fend, 2016). Students are sorted into these secondary school tracks based on previous grades, teachers’ recommendations, and choice (rules of access partly differ among the federal states).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality and the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Germany

Ryberg

Bauldry

Schultz

et al. 2017

J Youth Adolescence

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Research based in the United States, with its relatively open educational system, has found that personality mediates the relationship between parents’ and child’s educational attainment and this meditational pattern is especially beneficial to students from less-educated households. Yet in highly structured, competitive educational systems, personal characteristics may not predict attainment or may be more or less consequential at different points in the educational career. We examine the salience of personality in the educational attainment process in the German educational system. Data come from a longitudinal sample of 682 seventeen to twenty-five year-olds (54% female) from the 2005 and 2015 German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Results show that adolescent personality traits — openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness — are associated with educational attainment, but personality plays a negligible role in the intergenerational transmission of education. Personality is influential before the decision about the type of secondary degree that a student will pursue (during adolescence). After that turning point, when students have entered different pathways through the system, personality is less salient. Cross-national comparisons in a life course framework broaden the scope of current research on non-cognitive skills and processes of socioeconomic attainment, alerting the analyst to the importance of both institutional structures and the changing importance of these skills at different points in the life course.

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“…In Britain this trend began in the 1960s whereas in Germany demand for apprenticeships began to exceed the supply of places only in the 1990s (Kuda, 1998). Government efforts to boost firm-based training in Germany have led to a division between fully-qualifying and pre-qualifying apprenticeships (Protsch and Solga, 2016), similar to the difference between 'good' and 'bad' government-funded youth training schemes that was identified in Britain in the 1980s (Lee et al, 1989). More young people have been seeking and gaining admission to higher education in both Britain and Germany, which has led to clearer rankings among universities (Protsch and Solga, 2016).…”

Section: The 21 St Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Government efforts to boost firm-based training in Germany have led to a division between fully-qualifying and pre-qualifying apprenticeships (Protsch and Solga, 2016), similar to the difference between 'good' and 'bad' government-funded youth training schemes that was identified in Britain in the 1980s (Lee et al, 1989). More young people have been seeking and gaining admission to higher education in both Britain and Germany, which has led to clearer rankings among universities (Protsch and Solga, 2016). Throughout Europe there is trend towards young people's attainments being measured against a 'normal' academic track (Vogt, 2017).…”

Section: The 21 St Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Education-to-Work Transitions: Thinking Backwards, Situating Agency and Comparing Countries

Roberts¹

2018

RES

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This paper argues that explanations must start at the end of young people's education-to-work transitions, with employers' recruitment behaviour and preferences, which then govern the content of and recruitment to preceding education and training. Young people themselves exercise agency: this propels their careers forward biographically, but necessarily consolidates opportunity structures (variously called routes, pathways or trajectories) that have been pre-built from above. It is also argued that ultimately the transition regime in every country, and sometimes in each region and business sector, needs to be treated as a unique case study. However, these regimes can be divided into recognisable types which are most easily identified by starting in an economy and its labour markets. Finally, it follows that attempts which start in earlier life, prior to young people entering the labour market, to modify links between social origins and occupational destinations will invariably fail. Effective interventions can be envisaged only by starting at the end of young people's transitions, then thinking backwards.

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The social stratification of the German VET system

Cited by 120 publications

References 21 publications

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

The academic–vocational divide in three Nordic countries: implications for social class and gender

Personality and the Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment: Evidence from Germany

Explaining Education-to-Work Transitions: Thinking Backwards, Situating Agency and Comparing Countries

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