How Swiss middle school students approach and live the imminent transition from compulsory to post-compulsory education.
Author(s):
Jenny Marcionetti (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

14 SES 03 A, School-Related Transitions Within a Life Course Perspective I

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-08
17:15-18:45
Room:
103.Oktatóterem [C]
Chair:
Patricia Schuler

Contribution

The end of compulsory school can be a difficult moment of transition and crises for adolescents (Anderson, Jacobs, Schramm, Splittgerber, 2000; Hviid & Zittoun, 2008). In Southern-Swiss educational system, compulsory school ends with the 9th grade (last year of middle school). For those who intend to pursue upper secondary education, three main possibilities are offered: an academic education in baccalaureate schools, a vocational education and training (VET) in full-time vocational schools and a VET which is made partially in a vocational school and partially in a company (i.e. the apprenticeship). This last option implies the need to find an employer.

Due to this set of options, adolescents have to make a more (for those who chose the apprenticeship) or less (for those who chose baccalaureate schools) specific career choice since the age of fourteen (Hirschi, 2009, 2011). Worries and fears could then arise, mostly due to the fact that the future he/her will face is still “unknown”.

Some individuals cope easily with those periods, whereas others live badly transitions and the identity changes related to them (Hirschi, 2010; Zittoun & Perret-Clermont, 2002).

The actual situation in Canton Ticino, as in the others Swiss Cantons, leads an increasingly number of adolescents to attend the so-called “bridge-year-courses” or to begin schools and apprenticeships that they will soon abandon (Marcionetti, Calvo, & Donati, 2014; OFS, 2010). Considering the specificities of Southern Swiss educational system, some questions related to this topic will be analyzed in the present paper: Do Southern-Swiss adolescents fear the end of compulsory school and the beginning of an upper secondary education? Are there adolescents who are more worried or feared compared to others? For instance, are there differences between girls and boys? Do adolescents arrive at the end of compulsory school with a defined career choice? Is lower career indecision associated with fewer worries about the imminent transition and a better life satisfaction?

Method

To answer to these research questions, an ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 448 Southern-Swiss 9th grade students from 7 out of 35 middle schools from Canton Ticino (the only Italian-speaking Swiss Canton). The questionnaire contained questions about how they approach the end of compulsory school and, as a consequence, the beginning of a new part of their life in upper secondary education, enclosing two specific scales to measure life satisfaction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; Di Fabio and Palazzeschi 2012) and career indecision (Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996; Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2013); furthermore questions for collecting socio-demographic information and school achievement indicators. Additionally, ten students, chosen accordingly to their specific situation with regard to the career choice, were interviewed. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Differential analyses implicated X2 and ANOVA statistics. Interviews will be transcribed and be the subject of a content analyses.

Expected Outcomes

First results emerging from the quantitative phase, show that 54% of adolescents are not much worried about the end of compulsory school, whereas 34% are somewhat and 12% a lot worried about that. More precisely, 43% of adolescents worry a lot and 22% somewhat not to find an apprenticeship place or a school they like. Moreover, the fact to disappoint their parents distress also 46% of adolescents somewhat and 31% a lot. Nevertheless, 47% of adolescents are really happy to end middle school and 54% to begin a new school or an apprenticeship. First outcomes show also that at the end of compulsory school 55% of adolescents have made a definitive career choice, 23% have made a choice that they have to confirm, 14% have a precise idea of what to choose but they still want to explore some other options before to decide, whereas 8% is always exploring possibilities without having a precise idea of what they could do. The study highlights significantly low worries and higher life satisfaction for adolescents experiencing lower career indecision. In parallel, analyses indicate that girls worry significantly more than boys about the end of compulsory school and their future education, even if no differences in the career indecision level were found. That seems to indicate a tendency to worry more about the future by the side of girls, perhaps due to higher conscientiousness and feelings of responsibility of girls compared with boys. Analyses found in fact that girls distress more than boys when thinking about the possibility to disappoint parents. More evidences, enriched by qualitative information, will be presented at the conference.

References

Anderson, L.W.; Jacobs, J.; Schramm, S.; Splittgerber, F. (2000). School transitions: beginning of the end or a new beginning? International Journal of Educational Research, 33(4), 325-339. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13 Di Fabio, A., & Palazzeschi, L. (2012). La Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS): un contributo alla validazione italiana con lavoratori adulti [The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS): A contribution to the Italian validation with adults workers]. Counseling, 5(2), 207-215. Di Fabio, A., & Palazzeschi, L. (Eds.). (2013). CDDQ – Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire. Firenze, Italy: Giunti O.S. Gati, I., Krausz, M., & Osipow, S. (1996). A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision making. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 510–526. Hirschi, A. (2009). Career adaptability development in adolescence: Multiple predictors and effect on sense of power and life satisfaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74(2), 145-155. Hirschi, A. (2010). The role of chance events in the school-to-work transition: The influence of demographic, personality and career development variables. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(1), 39-49. Hirschi, A. (2011). Career-choice readiness in adolescence: Developmental trajectories and individual differences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(2), 340–348. Hviid, P. & Zittoun, T. (2008). Editorial introduction: Transitions in the process of education. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 23(2), 121-130. Marcionetti, J., Calvo, S., & Donati, M. (2014). Sguardi sulle scelte e i percorsi degli allievi del Pretirocinio d’orientamento [Glances at choices and educational paths of Pretirocinio d’orientamento’s pupils]. Locarno: Centro Innovazione e Ricerca sui Sistemi Educativi. OFS. (2010). Perspectives de la formation. Scénarios 2010-2019 pour le degré secondaire II [Educational perspectives. 2010-2019 scenario for upper secondary level]. Neuchâtel: Office fédéral de statistique. Zittoun, T., & Perret-Clermont, A.-N. (2002). Esquisse d'une psychologie de la transition [Outline of a psychology of transition]. Education Permanente, 1, 12-15.

Author Information

Jenny Marcionetti (presenting / submitting)
University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
Department of Education and Learning
Locarno

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