Abstract
Pathways to German higher education have diversified considerably during recent decades and approximately one quarter of all first year students enter higher education with a qualification for the skilled labour market. This contribution seeks to identify different types of pathways to higher education and examine the differences among these groups regarding five dimensions of self-reported academic readiness. For our analyses, we used data on Starting Cohort 5 of the National Educational Panel Study. Our results suggest that for most of the indicators of academic readiness, students who entered via non-traditional pathways reported lower levels of academic readiness than traditional students did. In particular, students without a formal higher-education entrance certificate reported lower levels of academic readiness than any other group did. These patterns remained largely stable after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and institutional destination.
Highlights
The German system of secondary education is tracked and students are allocated to non-academic and academic tracks after primary school at the age of 10–12
We examine the socio-demographic composition of students from traditional and alternative pathways and their academic readiness, using a recent large-scale survey of German students who entered higher education in 2010/11 (Starting Cohort 5 of the German National Educational Panel Study [NEPS])
Do students from different pathways differ regarding their academic readiness when socio-demographic characteristics, field of study, and institution type are taken into account?
Summary
The German system of secondary education is tracked and students are allocated to non-academic and academic tracks after primary school at the age of 10–12. Despite the increasing relevance of alternative pathways to higher education, the heterogeneity of German students has not received much attention in prior research. We know little about the academic readiness of students who have not gone through the prevalent academic track. This contribution aims to address these issues and shed some light on the composition and academic readiness of students from different pathways. We examine the socio-demographic composition of students from traditional and alternative pathways and their academic readiness, using a recent large-scale survey of German students who entered higher education in 2010/11 (Starting Cohort 5 of the German National Educational Panel Study [NEPS])
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