General or Vocational Education? The Role of Vocational Interests in Educational Decisions at the End of Compulsory School in Switzerland
Loading...
Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2020
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Collections
Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Vocations & Learning
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Series
Series number
Volume
14
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Springer
Place of publication / Event location
Edition
Version
Programming language
Assignee
Practice partner / Client
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Vocational interests, RIASEC, Career decisions, Vocational training, Upper secondary education, General education
Subject (DDC)
Event
Exhibition start date
Exhibition end date
Conference start date
Conference end date
Date of the last check
ISBN
ISSN
1874-7868
1874-785X
1874-785X
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
No
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
License
Citation
Jüttler, A., Schumann, S., Neuenschwander, M., & Hofmann, J. (2020). General or Vocational Education? The Role of Vocational Interests in Educational Decisions at the End of Compulsory School in Switzerland. Vocations & Learning, 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-020-09256-y