Adolescents' effort in vocational education and training and upper secondary general education: Analyses of stability, determinants, and group differences.

INTRODUCTION: The effort adolescents make determines the risk for dropping out of vocational education and training (VET) early and their chances of graduating upper secondary education. Studies have shown that adolescents' efforts decrease during the transition to upper secondary general education and increases for the transition to VET. In this study, we examined adolescent self-efficacy in lower secondary education, adolescent-instructor relationship (AIR) in VET and general education, and perceived person-environment fit (PEF) as predictors of adolescent effort. METHOD: We calculated two longitudinal multigroup structural equation models. Group 1 comprised 1266 (mean age in T1 = 15.7 years; female: 44%) lower secondary education graduates who moved on to VET with two learning contexts, company and vocational school in Switzerland. Group 2 included 517 (mean age in T1 = 15.7 years; female: 44%) lower secondary education graduates who moved on to upper secondary general education and thus stayed in a school. Adolescents' survey data was collected in 2016 and 2017. RESULTS: Self-efficacy in lower secondary education and AIR in upper secondary education indirectly predicted effort in upper secondary education via PEF, controlling for effort in lower secondary education. Findings were similar for general education and vocational school. However, the effects differed between company and general education (moderation). The positive effect of AIR on PEF was statistically significantly weaker for adolescents in general education than for adolescents in VET and their company learning context. CONCLUSION: We discuss strategies to enhance adolescents' efforts in upper secondary education.

[The completion of trial apprenticeships is followed by the choice of an apprenticeship profession: Predicting the decision to pursue a trial apprenticeship profession in the career choice process]. / Nach den Berufswahlpraktika ist vor der Wahl des Ausbildungsberufs: Vorhersage des Entscheids für die Weiterverfolgung eines Praktikumberufs im Berufswahlprozess.

This article investigated the factors that lead adolescents to pursue a trial apprenticeship profession in their career choice process. Gottfredson's Theory of Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation (TCCSC) served as the theoretical basis for the analyses. A longitudinal sample of 128 female and 202 male adolescents who completed standardized questionnaires in seventh and ninth grades and who indicated that they would begin vocational education and training after compulsory schooling was analyzed separately by gender. Regression models showed that the number of apprenticeship positions has the strongest effect for both female and male adolescents (significant positive effect). Only for female adolescents, the extent of enterprising requirements of the trial apprenticeship profession was shown to have a negative effect on the decision to pursue a trial apprenticeship profession, controlling for the number of apprenticeship positions. The results support the accessibility hypothesis postulated in the TCCSC, according to which individuals are more likely to pursue professions they perceive as more accessible, i.e., with a large number of apprenticeship positions. In light of the compatibility idea contained in the TCCSC, a possible explanation for the negative effect of enterprising requirements of trial apprenticeship professions among female adolescents is that they may assess their enterprising skills as too low. As a result, they perceive professions with high enterprising requirements as incompatible and turn away from these professions. This study was able to address a gap in career choice research by examining the role of trial apprenticeship professions and offers important reference points for future research.

Career Decision, Work Adjustment, and Person-Job Fit of Adolescents: Moderating Effects of Parental Support.

We applied the social cognitive model of work satisfaction to the transition from lower secondary education to work in Switzerland and combined career decision and adjustment to work. The model assumes that self-efficacy affects career decision outcomes and adjustment after transition to work. Self-efficacy interacts with parental support during career decision making. We tested the model using a longitudinal sample of 603 adolescents who filled out questionnaires in seventh grade, ninth grade, and 1 year after starting work. Structural equation models showed that parental support weakens the effect of self-efficacy on anticipated person-job fit and expectations of work conditions (moderation). Expectations of work conditions and a company's support help newcomers to attain a high perceived person-job fit. These findings have several implications on how to support adolescents' school-to-work transition.

General or Vocational Education? The Role of Vocational Interests in Educational Decisions at the End of Compulsory School in Switzerland.

Many educational systems are characterized by segregation between a general and vocational educational track. When adolescents must decide on their postcompulsory education at the end of lower secondary school, the different programs are typically embedded in one of these two main tracks. Prior career choice theories postulate that vocational interests, as structured by the six-dimensional RIASEC model of Holland (1997), play a crucial role in educational and vocational transition processes. However, regarding the question of general versus vocational education, previous studies have mainly focused on the effects of social background. Therefore, this paper examines the impact of vocational interests on the choice of Baccalaureate School (BAC, general track), Vocational Education and Training (VET, vocational track) or the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate (FVB), a hybrid qualification that links elements of both tracks. The sample consists of N = 609 students at the end of lower secondary school in Switzerland. The results of multinomial logistic regression analyses show that all six dimensions of Holland's interest model are significant predictors for the three postcompulsory tracks, even when controlling for school variables (e.g., grades) and variables of social background. While the realistic and social dimensions are positively interrelated with the choice of VET, the artistic, investigative and enterprising dimensions predict the choice of BAC. The conventional dimension is the only one positively linked to the choice of FVB. The results are discussed with special attention to segregation between more practical and more theoretical types of interests.

Teacher Expectations and Parental Stress During Emergency Distance Learning and Their Relationship to Students' Perception.

School closures in spring 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were an unprecedented and drastic event for students, parents, and teachers. The unplanned adaptation of classroom instruction to emergency distance learning was necessary to ensure continued education. In this new learning environment, teachers formed expectations for student academic achievement gains, which in turn affected the opportunities for students to learn. Parents faced new challenges in supporting their children's learning. According to parenting stress models, such drastic events can be a stress factor for parents, which in turn affects their children's adjustment. This study analyzed the extent to which parents and teachers affected the perceptions of students in compulsory school toward distance learning through processes at home (individual level) and at the class level with data from multiple informants. On an individual level, the relationship between parents' perceived threat of COVID-19 and their stress due to distance learning and students' perceived threat of COVID-19 and their perception of distance learning were examined. Students' learning behavior was accounted for as a variable related to their perception of distance learning. At the class level, the explanatory character of teacher expectations and class-aggregated achievement gains were examined. Data on students in grades 4 to 8, parents, and teachers in Switzerland were collected with standardized online questionnaires after the period of school closures. A subsample of 539 students, 539 parents, and 83 teachers was analyzed. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling suggested that students had a more positive perception of distance learning if they were able to learn more autonomously (i.e., more motivated and concentrated than in regular classroom instruction) and if their parents felt less stressed in the distance learning setting. Parents were more stressed if they perceived COVID-19 as a threat. Students' perception of the COVID-19 threat was related to their parents' perception but did not explain students' learning behavior. At the class level, if teachers expected high academic achievement gains in distance learning, the average academic achievement gains of a class were greater. The greater the achievement gains were, the more positive the collective student perception of distance learning was.