Austria, Germany and Switzerland have a strong apprenticeship system. There are small but important differences in the structure and organization of VET between those countries. These differences in the apprenticeship system (e.g., steering, curricula) and in the economic situation (e.g., supply and demand) determine and restrict the options for an adolescent in making a vocational choice. Additionally, gender, mobility, socio-economic background and the migration status are important factors.

On the individual level, students from school tracks with high demands can choose between more options than those from tracks with basic demands. A high achievement-oriented motivation strongly determines the chances to get an apprenticeship and stay in education and not to drop out early and become unemployed, as indicated by the expectancy-value-models (e.g., Jacquelynne Eccles). These models refer to individual competences and preferences and claim to explain the aspiration-level and the domain of the chosen apprenticeship. Adolescents' expectancies and values differ between low-achieving and high-achieving students. They explain whether a student moves into a profession with high or low demands. Especially, it explains the pathway to an apprenticeship combined with a vocational matura that allows continuing the education at a University of applied science. So, the decision for a specific apprenticeship and the decision on how to continue the career after apprenticeship can be explained by the same expectancy-value theories. This allows comparing these two important transitions of young people within the same theoretical framework.

On a theory level, structural und individual determinants of VET decisions can be conceptualized by the person in context paradigm (Richard Lerner). Individuals are seen as active agents that shape their own future within the options given by their competences and interests as well as social, institutional and economic conditions. Individuals are embedded in social contexts that restrict their available options and give social support during the transition to VET.

This approach opens the opportunity to ask questions on how individual and institutional factors interact and determine decisions to enter an apprenticeship (transition from school to apprenticeship) or the labor market (transition from apprenticeship to work). Of special interest is to disentangle institutional and individual factors in this decision processes.

All four contributions in this symposium present new results of their own research that was conducted within their national context. The quantitative and the qualitative data will illustrate the determinants of vocational choice in the transition from school to work on the individual and institutional level.

By comparing those results, we can learn on how national specificities in the organization of VET influence individual transitions. The conclusions of the symposium focus on (a) the theory, especially on how the national apprenticeship system regulates individual choices during the transition from school to apprenticeship and into work, and (b) on the national policy to make structures that support the adolescents' in their transitions.