End Of Compulsory Schooling Research Articles

Effect of a multicomponent school-based intervention with parental involvement on socioeconomic inequalities in smoking initiation: equity impact analysis of the TOPAS study

BackgroundAs prevalence of tobacco use falls, socioeconomic inequalities in tobacco use are increasing in many high-income countries. Evidence is lacking on the effect of preventive interventions on socioeconomic inequalities in...

Changes in the association between educational achievement, attainment and subsequent mental health: A survival analysis of 21 Swedish graduation cohorts

BackgroundLow academic achievement and low educational attainment in adolescence is associated with higher risks of internalizing disorders later in life. However, less is known regarding if these associations vary over time across cohorts. The aim of this study was to investigate temporal changes in the association between academic achievement or educational attainment and subsequent inpatient treatment for internalizing disorders among Swedish youths.MethodsRegister data on all students graduating from compulsory school in Sweden between 1990 and 2010 (N = 2 252 703) were used. Students were followed for a maximum of 8 years using discrete time proportional hazard models. Internalized disorders were measured by specialized inpatient psychiatric care for depression or anxiety disorders. Academic achievement was measured by grades at the end of compulsory school, and educational attainment by completion of upper secondary school.ResultsThe positive association between inpatient treatment for internalizing disorders and both low compulsory school achievement and non-completion of upper secondary school became stronger in more recent cohorts. The results were completely driven by girls and native-born youth.ConclusionsLow compulsory school achievements and failure to complete upper secondary school has become more important risk factors for inpatient treatment for internalizing disorders, particularly in native-born youth and girls. More research is needed to establish whether youth with internalizing disorders increasingly fail in school or whether low achievement has become more harmful for mental health.

How spatial considerations figure into aspiration formation and agency

As young people near the end of compulsory schooling they are faced with decisions about what future education, training and employment they will pursue. This paper argues that imagined future education, training and career prospects can have largely under-recognised socio-spatial dimensions. This claim disrupts received notions around careers decision-making as distinctly rational, based on academic strengths, skills, or talents. This spatial argument follows from a theoretically-informed analysis of interviews conducted with 15 young people living in England. Sampling was opportunitistic and the design flexible to enable me to explore the use of different methods which could foreground reflections on space and place. Interviews employed visual methods (including photo voice) to prompt young people to talk about their conceptualisations of places and spaces as well as future education, training and career considerations. Focusing in particular on three participants’ reflections, I suggest that through a process of emplacement young people are constructing thirdspaces, a concept proposed by Soja. This process both supports aspiration formation and disrupts imposed structures or labels that might otherwise be deterministic of particular post-16 pathways and subjectivities. For three participants, I consider the ways their conceptions of spaces are implicit responses to cultural expectations, limitations and structures. These three participants are presented as developing what Yosso has called spatially-informed navigational and resistant capitals. Claims are made in the context of an analysis framed by an interpretation of agency in terms of the identity and implied subjectivities. The process by which a young person emplaces themselves in a possible future and the construction of imagined thirdspaces could be untapped cultural resources informing young people’s post-16 decisions and planning which could lead them to build future pathways they themselves value.

Trajectories of school absences across compulsory schooling and their impact on children's academic achievement: An analysis based on linked longitudinal survey and school administrative data.

Prior research has identified that school absences harm children's academic achievement. However, this literature is focused on brief periods or single school years and does not consistently account for the dynamic nature of absences across multiple school years. This study examined dynamic trajectories of children's authorised and unauthorised absences throughout their compulsory school career in England. It investigated the consequences of these absence trajectories for children's achievement at the end of compulsory schooling. We analyse linked administrative data on children's absences and achievement from the National Pupil Database and survey data from the Millennium Cohort Study for a representative sample of children born in 2000/2001 in England (N = 7218). We used k-means clustering for longitudinal data to identify joint authorised-unauthorised absence trajectories throughout compulsory schooling and a regression-with-residuals approach to examine the link between absence trajectories and achievement. We identified five distinct absence trajectories: (1) 'Consistently Low Absences', (2) 'Consistently Moderate Authorised Absences', (3) 'Moderately Increasing Unauthorised Absences', (4) 'Strongly Increasing Unauthorised Absences', and (5) 'Strongly Increasing Authorised Absences'. We found substantial differences between trajectory groups in GCSE achievement, even when accounting for significant risk factors of school absences. Compared to 'Consistently Low Absences', 'Strongly Increasing Unauthorised Absences' reduced achievement by -1.23 to -1.48 standard deviations, while 'Strongly Increasing Authorised Absences' reduced achievement by -0.72 to -1.00 SD for our continuous outcomes. 'Moderately Increasing Unauthorised Absences' (-0.61 to -0.70 SD) and 'Consistently Moderate Authorised Absences' (-0.13 to -0.21 SD) also negatively affected achievement compared to 'Consistently Low Absences'. Our research underscores the critical importance of examining entire trajectories of absenteeism and differentiating between types of absences to fully grasp their associations with academic outcomes and design targeted interventions accordingly.

To persist or not? Examining the relations between parental education, self‐regulation, school engagement and persistence in post‐compulsory education

AbstractThere are few longitudinal studies of adolescent students’ choice to persist in post‐compulsory education. Hence, the present study introduces a longitudinal model that describes the interplay between sociological and psychological explanations of adolescents’ choice to persist in post‐compulsory education in the UK. Data on parental education, early childhood self‐regulation (age 5), sustained school engagement (ages 7, 11, 14) and persistence in education after the end of compulsory schooling (age 17) were utilised. The sample comprised 8333 (51.1% females, 89.5% white) children from the Millennium Cohort Study. Statistical analyses included state–trait modelling, longitudinal mediation and multigroup moderation. A trait–state–occasion model was run to disentangle the trait from state variance in school engagement. Afterwards, two hypotheses were formulated, namely the ‘instilment’ and the ‘differential’. The ‘instilment’ hypothesis involved a longitudinal predictive model, whereby parental education predicted early childhood self‐regulation which, in turn, predicted sustained school engagement which predicted students’ choice to persist. The ‘differential’ hypothesis examined whether higher vs. lower parental education changed the nature of the predictive relations between self‐regulation, sustained school engagement and persistence. The results were in favour of an ‘instilment’ hypothesis, whereby higher parental education was translated to higher levels of early self‐regulation which predicted higher sustained engagement, which, in turn, predicted greater probability of persisting in post‐compulsory education. The findings suggest a pathway from early childhood experiences to educational outcomes via the development of a trait of engaging with school.

Learning Loss Due to School Change: A Cause for Major Concern?

We investigate the effect of changing schools on academic achievement. Using representative data on the educational trajectories of 17,000 Swiss lower secondary students and national assessment data at the end of compulsory schooling, we estimate the potential individual achievement gaps caused by a school change. While the overall effect is surprisingly small and statistically insignificant, we find a significant, but also small, negative effect for boys. These effects quickly diminish one year after the change.

Social classes, school performance, subjective expected utilities, and educational decisions

There have been several suggestions on how Rational Choice Theories (RCT) for educational decisions could be tested directly. In this empirical analysis, it is argued that these testing strategies have shortcomings, and therefore a different testing strategy is suggested. An innovative specification of a broad version of an RCT for educational decisions is applied, directly taking the utility-maximising behaviour of the actors into account. By using this improved testing strategy, it is demonstrated for young people residing in German-speaking Switzerland that rational decisions play an important role in educational decisions. They calculate the subjective expected benefit of every educational option at the end of compulsory school that, in their view, is relevant to the continuation of their school and vocational training. Panel data show that they ordinally rank the educational options considered according to their benefit and that they choose the option that promises the greatest benefit. For young people in different school branches, it can be seen that the purposive-rational evaluation of the educational options considered and the selection of the educational option with the highest subjectively expected utility are essential mechanisms of educational decision-making characterised by procedural rationality.

Changing Occupations or Changing Companies—Predictors of Different Types of Premature Contract Terminations in Dual Vocational Education and Training Programs

In Switzerland, access to non-academic occupations requires the completion of a vocational education and training (VET) program. Over two-thirds of adolescents choose to start a dual VET program after compulsory education. However, this path from school to work is not always linear, and changes can be a means of adjusting wrong career choices. In the context of dual VET, two types of adjustments that occur frequently can be distinguished: (1) change of occupations and (2) change of companies. The present study aims to examine the predictors of each of those two types of changes. First, we are interested in the link between individuals’ intentions to change their career paths and actual changes. When changes are intended by the trainee and aimed at correcting wrong career choices, actual changes can generally be expected to be predicted by change intentions. Second, we are interested in the role of person-job fit (P-J fit) as well as trainees’ socialization and performance indicators. Third, we examine to what extent trainees’ decisions to change occupations or companies can be predicted by pre-entry factors (perceived P-J fit and effort during compulsory education before the transition to VET). We used a longitudinal sample of adolescents at the end of compulsory school and at the end of their first year in a dual VET program in Switzerland. This data set is combined with government data on actual changes regarding individuals’ training companies and their occupations. The two types of adjustments were examined in separate structural equation models that compared trainees without any types of adjustments during their training program (1) to those who changed occupations (N = 417) and (2) to those who changed training companies (N = 378). The results show that actual occupational changes and actual company changes of trainees are affected by the same work-context predictors (negative effect of trainees’ self-perceived work performance) and pre-entry predictors (negative effect of effort during compulsory education). However, in contrast to changes of training companies, changes of occupations are significantly predicted by trainees’ intentions to change. Moreover, while P-J fit during the VET program is the only direct predictor of trainees’ intentions to change occupations, intentions to change companies are not significantly predicted by P-J fit. Intentions to change companies are negatively affected by companies’ socialization tactics and positively affected by adolescents’ pre-entry effort. Overall, the results call for a more differentiated assessment of changes/ premature contract terminations in future studies. Whether change intentions are a valid proxy for actual change behavior seems to depend on the type of changes that trainees decide to make.

Walking the line: Does crossing a high stakes exam threshold matter for labour market outcomes?

ObjectivesThis paper offers new insight into the link between success in high stakes exams and subsequent education and labour market outcomes. It is the first study to look holistically at the impact of crossing an important high stakes threshold on both academic and vocational education choices and ultimately labour market outcomes.
 MethodIt does so by comparing those either side of a formerly important threshold in the English education system at the end of compulsory schooling (achieving five general certificate of secondary education A* to C passes) which was commonly regarded as the minimum benchmark for continuing into post-compulsory education.
 ResultsI find that crossing this threshold led to an 6.3-6.7 percentage point increase in the proportion of men and women (respectively) going on to take academic qualifications, with little change in the proportion taking vocational qualifications, leading to a net increase in those staying on after compulsory schooling. Women's daily earnings in 2017-18 (11-13 years after leaving compulsory schooling) were 3.1 percentage points higher for those just crossing the threshold, but men's early labour market outcomes were unchanged.
 ConclusionThe results for men can be explained by low returns to academic qualifications for marginal learners. The findings for women do not disappear after accounting for subsequent education choices, suggesting that crossing the threshold may play a signalling role for employers as well as education institutions.

Historically restricted or historically empowered? Differences in access to historical content knowledge between low‐ and high‐SES pupils

AbstractIn the study presented in this article, the aim is to further the understanding regarding the differences between pupils (aged 15–16) from schools with low or high socio‐economic status (SES), regarding the amount and diversity of content knowledge in history that they have acquired by the end of compulsory schooling. Following a definition of historical content knowledge, we situate the concept in relation to other aspects of the history school subject. This is done to visualize historical content knowledge's central role in more complex aspects of the subject. The empirical material used in the study is pupils' responses on both selected and constructed response items on the Swedish national test in history. In the study, a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches is used. The results show not only that pupils in low‐SES schools provide fewer examples of historical content knowledge. We can also establish that the historical content knowledge of pupils from high‐SES schools represents several perspectives while there are few perspectives present in the responses from pupils in low‐SES schools. The results are used to discuss how the differences between pupils in low‐ and high‐SES schools may affect their possibilities for educational success and active participation in society.

Occupational aspirations at the end of compulsory schooling: The interplay of parents’ educational background, work values and self-Concepts in the reproduction of inequality

Decisions about further schooling or vocational training are imminent at the end of lower secondary education, and they determine educational and occupational trajectories. Understanding decision processes during this transition helps to elucidate the intergenerational reproduction of inequality. The aim of this study is to untangle influences on students’ occupational aspirations and how their parents’ educational level shapes these aspirations. We analysed data from an online survey of 3078 students at approximately 15 years of age in the general track of lower secondary school (‘Neue Mittelschule’) in Vienna (Austria). Based on regression analyses and path models, we show that educational background is related to occupational aspirations. Work values, attitudes towards school and social capital shape occupational aspirations but cannot be (fully) explained by educational background. Furthermore, we find no evidence that locus of control affects the level of occupational aspirations.

Transitions, choices and patterns in time: young people’s educational and occupational orientation

ABSTRACT At the end of compulsory schooling, young people face an important transition: they have to decide whether to pursue either further schooling or vocational training. Choices are crucial phenomena in transitions: they are based on what a person considers to be options and follow preferences shaped by their social position and context. Using a qualitative longitudinal interview approach, we explore the development of educational and occupational orientations from the last year of compulsory schooling through the two years after in Vienna, Austria. We subsequently develop a typology of young people’s orientation processes over time: ‘Determined’, ‘resigning’, ‘step-by-step aspiring’ and ‘drifting’. Taking the perspectives of young people seriously, we gain an understanding of thoughts, ideas and worries during this transitional phase. We also learn about institutional and social constraints and the resources that shape the orientation process and related patterns in time.

Gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence: population based full sibling cohort study

ObjectiveTo investigate the association between gestational age at birth and cognitive outcomes in adolescence.DesignNationwide population based full sibling cohort study.SettingDenmark.Participants1.2 million children born between 1 January 1986 and 31 December...

Impact of Family Background and Individual Characteristics on Vocational High School Choice in South Korea: A Gender Analysis

At the end of compulsory school, adolescents in many industrialised countries must makean important and far-reaching decision that strongly influences their future working life. Few of the many studies of school choice in South Korea have empirically analysed the choice of type of upper secondary school and almost none have paid attention family background and individual characteristics. This paper does so for both boys and girls completing compulsory lower secondary education, using 11 years’ data from the Korea Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) of the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training from a period before recent Korean vocational educational policy changes. We use a Probit model to deal with binary variables. Key variables considered include teacher assessments of students, father’s income, father’s education, spending on private tutoring at the lower secondary level, and the number of siblings, these last two never previously analyzed. In addition, to gender analysis this paper confirmsprevious results that parental social status is a major determinant of high school choice between general and vocational education. The key gender result is that fathers’ educational attainment negatively and significantly affects females more than males, and that fathers’ high income more negatively and significantly affects males than females in nonattendance at vocational high school. This paper also confirms previous findings that females were more motivated than males to enroll in vocational high school. Vocational education better meets females’ needs than males’, especially those not well supported by their parents. These findings imply that future research on both Korea and other countries needs to pay much more attention to family and individual characteristics and to differences between genders.

Educational attainment in Swedish (L1) and English (L2) for students with reading difficulties: a longitudinal case study from primary to the end of secondary school

ABSTRACT This longitudinal case study examines reading difficulties identified in Grade 2 and Grade 6 national assessment test (NAT) scores in relation to Grade 9 NAT in Swedish (L1) and English (L2). A norm-referenced screening was used in Grade 2 to assess word reading and reading comprehension. In line with the simple view of reading, four subgroups were identified: (1) Typical reading development, (2) Word reading difficulties, (3) Reading comprehension difficulties, and (4) Mixed difficulties. Results indicate that reading difficulties in primary school have long-standing implications for educational attainment in Swedish and English. In logistic regression models students with reading difficulties in Grade 2 and low Grade 6 NAT-scores had a higher probability to achieve low attainment levels in Grade 9. This implies that a norm-referenced screening in Grade 2 can be useful for identifying students at risk of low attainment in language subjects at the end of compulsory school.

The effect of pursuing a gender-nontraditional profession on young newcomers' occupational self-efficacy via frequency of evaluative feedback

We investigated the effect of young newcomers' pursuit of gender-nontraditional professions on their occupational self-efficacy after starting work via the perceived frequency of evaluative feedback from others in their companies. Our research model was based on social–cognitive career theory and tokenism theory. We surveyed a longitudinal sample of 1269 adolescents (female: 44 %) at the end of compulsory school (ninth grade in Switzerland) and at the end of their first year of work experience as young newcomers. A structural equation model with multigroup comparison by gender showed no gender differences. Young female and male newcomers' pursuit of gender-nontraditional apprenticeship professions significantly affected their occupational self-efficacy after 1 year of work experience, mediated by the perceived frequency of evaluative feedback they received from coworkers. We controlled for the effects of newcomers' preentry occupational self-efficacy and preentry expectations about work conditions, as well as the effect of conscientiousness on occupational self-efficacy after 1 year of work experience. We further controlled for the effect of young newcomers' conscientiousness on perceived frequency of evaluative feedback from others in their companies. Our findings clarify the crucial role of frequent evaluative feedback from coworkers for occupational self-efficacy among young newcomers in gender-nontraditional professions. The longitudinal effect of preentry occupational self-efficacy on occupational self-efficacy after starting work underlines the importance of young newcomers' job preparation.

Prediction from early childhood vocabulary to academic achievement at the end of compulsory schooling in Denmark

Prediction from early development to later achievement has the potential to improve clinical and educational service delivery as well as to inform developmental theory. In this longitudinal study, we asked how well can educational achievement measured in the final year (Grade 9, age 15) of compulsory education—both overall and for outcomes in the lowest 20%—be predicted from information available in the first 3 years of life, particularly early expressive vocabulary? Measures for 2,767 children (1,345 males, 1,422 females) aged 16 to 30 months on early expressive vocabulary, along with family socioeconomic status (parental education, occupation, and household income), other demographic information (gender, birth order, parental age, social benefits, etc.), timing and nature of early child care, and early home literacy experience, were used to predict performance on Danish Upper Secondary School Leaving Exam (USSLE) in Danish, English, Math, and Science. A cross-validated combination of Lasso (Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) and ordinary least squares regression was the primary analysis for continuous outcomes and cross-validated Lasso and logistic regression for categorical outcomes. With respect to continuous outcome measures, the patterns of prediction varied with specific domain; R2 ranged from 9.4% to 21.4%. With respect to low USSLE performance, area under the curve statistics ranged from 64.1% to 72.2%. In all domains, early childhood expressive vocabulary made a significant unique contribution to the outcome when measured over the full range. The prediction was also significant for vocabulary to low Danish and English scores although not for Math and Science. Although the predictions were not strong enough for clinical diagnosis on their own, they demonstrate that low early vocabulary is an important and measurable risk condition that can direct early intervention and thus contribute to later educational attainment.

Are They Still Aiming High? The Development of Educational Aspirations of Lower Secondary School Students With Immigrant Backgrounds in Germany

Although research indicates that students with immigrant backgrounds often have higher educational aspirations than students without immigrant backgrounds at the same performance level, little is known about the longitudinal development of this difference in aspirations. This article analyzes how idealistic and realistic educational aspirations from Grade 5 until Grade 9 in Germany develop for students from various migrant groups, compared with those without immigrant backgrounds at the same school track and at the same level of school performance. Drawing on different theoretical assumptions, we examine to what extent students (increasingly) adapt their aspirations to their school performance toward the end of compulsory schooling. Our empirical analysis uses data from the first five waves (Grades 5–9; 2010/11–2014/15) of the National Educational Panel Study in Germany ( N = 5,542). Random-effects model results show a positive association between students’ school performance and their idealistic and realistic aspirations, and this association tends to increase over time. However, there is no uniform pattern in students’ aspiration trajectories. Some migrant groups (Poland, Southern Europe, former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) have similar aspiration trajectories as students without immigrant backgrounds at the same performance level, while other groups (Turkey, Northern and Western Europe, and others) maintain higher idealistic aspirations. Controlling for school performance, only students of Turkish origin also maintain higher realistic aspirations until Grade 9. These findings allow us to better understand the conditions behind the educational disadvantages of some migrant groups and offer insights into how best to further mitigate inequalities in educational outcomes.

The Development of Informal Competences Between the End of Compulsory School and Early Adulthood

AbstractThis study investigates whether the informal competencies effort, exertion, perseverance and volition develop differently among youth who enter firm- or school-based vocational education and training or general education tracks, which offer distinct socialisation environments. The results show that the analysed competencies increase considerably after entry into vocational education and training. Young people in general education show a delayed development and only increase their informal competencies after the age of 18 years.

“Thoughts and Health”, the future prevention for adolescents today - Preventing a first depression

Introduction Mental illness is a growing problem among adolescents. Adolescents are sensitive and at increased risk of developing a first depression. There are knowledge gaps about the long-term effects of prevention programs against depresson for adolescents.ObjectivesA randomized controlled study among Swedish adolescents in eighth grade, who are at risk of developing depression. The study examines the long-term effects of the “Thoughts and Health” prevention program and whether it is as effective Online as In Real Life (IRL).MethodsIn a first step, about 20 junior high schools in the Västra Götaland region will be recruited and randomised into one of three groups.The adolescents are screened for depression at schoolGroup 1 - Adolescents at risk of developing depression receive the course program “Thoughts and Health” Online.Group 2 - Adolescents at risk of developing depression receive the course program “Thoughts and Health” IRL.Group 3 - Adolescents at risk of developing depression receive the usual school health care (control group).Psychologists decide inclusion after a diagnostic interview. OUTCOME VARIABLESQuantitative- development of depression is measured via self-assessment instruments and follow-up assessment, by a psychologist.- school attendance and full grades at the end of compulsory school.- biomarkersQualitativeAdolescent’s experiences and perceptions of the course program.ResultsWill create evidence for prevention programs against depression and be used to develop primary prevention for adolescents Online and IRL, which will be of great importance to public health.ConclusionsThoughts and Health can be a useful tool to prevent depression among adolescentsDisclosureNo significant relationships.