Longitudinal Studies on School-to-Work Transitions for Local Transition Management

The paths to vocational training and employment have become more complicated in recent years for young people who only attend secondary modern school. If these young people do not find subsequent opportunities that match their abilities, goals and life situations, there is a risk that they may take routes that turn out to be diversions or dead ends. The starting hypothesis for this project is that effective coordination of policies, programmes and provisions at both the local and regional levels – i.e., coherent local/regional transition management – may be able to increase the probability that these young people will have a successful transition into vocational training and employment. In five German municipalities school-to-work transitions of school leavers will be studied to provide a data base for this type of transition management.
For this purpose, in Franfurt/Oder, Halle/Saale, Jena, Leipzig and Stuttgart all school-leavers of secondary modern are being interviewed at regular time intervals about the course of their education and training, their assessment of their situation and their further plans. In addition, using a national search, components for effective local/regional transition management are being identified. Initial results will be available in the summer of 2007.