Übergänge in die Ausbildung: Welche Rolle spielt die Ausbildungsreife?

Abstract

Youth with no or only a lower secondary school degree (Hauptschulabschluss) are increasingly disadvantaged in terms of access to vocational education and training (VET). Their lower chances of obtaining a trainee are explained by the claim that an increasing number of them are "not mature enough for VET". These young people would not (yet) meet the training requirements-so the criticism. So far there are no empirical studies that have shown whether such immaturity can indeed serve as an appropriate explanation for differences in training chances of less-educated youth. This paper answers this question by analyses using a panel survey of school leavers after grade 9 from the Hauptschule in Lower Saxony. Central results are: About 45 % of the school leavers had successfully entered into an apprenticeship within three months. School grades in German and mathematics were less important than grades for work attitudes and finnintemships while still at school. In general, our analyses reveal that social behaviour and a firm's opportunities to discover the strengths of low-achieving youths and not only their weaknesses are important factors for the chances of successful transitions into training. © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2012.