Secondary effects and motivation of young people to choose vocational training

Abstract

This article analyses young people’s expectations in their last year of compulsory education regarding which path to choose after completing compulsory education, particularly between academic and professional tracks. Secondly, it analyses the motivations of young people who have chosen the vocational training option. The theoretical framework is grounded in Boudon’s theory of secondary effects and identification with the school institution. Bivariate and multivariate techniques are used to analyse data from a longitudinal study that began in the academic year 2013-2014 with a sample of 2,056 young people. The main results are that the family’s educational level, but especially grades influence the expectation of going to high school or doing vocational training. The majority of young people who choose vocational training have high expressive and instrumental motivations and generally exhibit a large degree of autonomy in their vocational choices.