Session Information
02 SES 09 A, Higher and Adult Education I: Transitions and Further Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Introduction
Vocational education and training (VET) is a key element of the Swiss education system. After completing their compulsory education, two thirds of youth enter initial VET. Graduates can subsequently either enter the labour market as certified specialists or continue in tertiary education.
In Switzerland, but also in other OECD countries, basic VET is strongly segregated according to gender (OECD 2013; 2017). While, for example, apprenticeships in social and health occupations are predominantly chosen by women, men are overrepresented in technical apprenticeships (SFO, 2018). Also on tertiary level men and women are distributed among different occupations. In view of the shortage of skilled workers in certain gender-segregated occupational fields (SECO, 2016), a deeper understanding of gender distribution within occupational fields is necessary. Although many studies investigate the influence of gender on career choices (Buchmann & Kriesi, 2012), little research examines these mechanisms more specifically for a particular occupational field. Our study aims to contribute to this research by examining, how gender-typical career decisions affect the allocation of men and women to their position within a gender-segregated occupational field.
In our study, we use the social sector as a typical example of a gender-segregated professional field with a tense skilled labour situation. Within the social sector, we focus on the VET occupation 'Certified Social Care Worker (CSCW)'. After certification, CSCW can either work as such in one of the work areas, study a tertiary social career at a professional college or – go to a university of applied sciences, if they have a federal vocational baccalaureate degree.
Our article examines the two questions how male and female apprentices after completion of training differ in their intention (1) to work as a CSCW, either in childcare or disability care, and (2) to enter further education at tertiary level.
Research Background
In order to get a better understanding of the gender specific educational and occupational decisions within the field of social care, we use the theory of segregation (Hinz & Schübel, 2001; Wetterer, 2002).
According to the theory, horizontal segregation describes the assignment of persons to a specific work area according to gender-typed characteristics (Wetterer 2002). Because even gender-typed occupational fields are not homogeneous, but a compilation of specific tasks and positions with different characteristics. Within the field of social care, the biggest work areas - childcare and disability care - differ in their shares of men and women. The gender distribution in both areas lead to gender-typical decisions by learners when they apply for an apprenticeship: While women are clearly over-represented in childcare, in the disability care the share of men is comparatively large (SAVOIRSOCIAL, 2018). Research results from recent years show that gender typed occupational choices remain important in Switzerland (Maihofer et al., 2013), and we thus expect once again a gender-typical choice pattern after completion of initial VET: both men and women are expected to remain in their gender-typed area of work.
Vertical segregation refers to the unequal distribution of sexes to different hierarchical levels. Among other things, access to these hierarchical levels is regulated by qualifications. In the social sector, higher qualifications are mainly gained in tertiary VET and universities of applied sciences, the latter having higher admission requirements. With a university degree, the labour market opportunities increase in terms of wages and positions. On the basis of human capital theory (Becker, 1982), we could argue that women tend to invest less in their education. As career breaks and part-time work are anticipated, investments in education have lower expected returns than for men. Based on this background, we assume that men have higher aspirations for further education than women.
Method
Data and Method The study presented is part of a large career study including three different surveys in the field of social care. To test our assumptions, we rely on the sample of apprentices (n=1600) who were close to obtain their certificate in social care work. The distribution of apprentices across the work areas is examined descriptively. Furthermore, we conduct two multivariate analyses of the career intentions. The first model examines the persistence of horizontal segregation. The dependent variable therefore has four values: (1) remain in the occupation and the work area they were trained in, (2) remain in the occupation with change to another work area, (3) continuing education (4) leave the occupational field. The second model explores the vertical segregation. The dependent variable therefore has four values: (1) remain in the occupation, (2) tertiary education in higher vocational schools in social care, (3) tertiary education at university of applied sciences in social care (4) leave the occupational field. For both models, the explanatory variables are structural characteristics of the current training field captured by the work area (childcare and disability care) and gender. Control variables include age, region, social origin and type of compulsory school degree.
Expected Outcomes
Results The preliminary descriptive and multivariate results confirm our assumptions. Both the current field of work as well as the preferred career path after completion of training is gender-specific. During their apprenticeship, women are overrepresented in child care, while men more frequently work in disability care. This gender-specific pattern continues after completion of vocational training. Women working in childcare tend to remain in the work area they were trained in. Women and men working in disability care as well as men working in childcare are more likely to change the work areas after completing initial VET. Regarding continuing education, our study indicates that women in general, but in particular women in the female dominated domain childcare are less likely to enter higher education such as professional college or university of applied sciences. This indicates, that in particular vertical segregation within an occupational field is linked to cost-benefit considerations of the employees. Overall, our results provide deep insights into the mechanisms of gender-specific segregation in the field of social care and can thus explain gender-specific structures in the occupational field. Implications for the practice and further research questions will be discussed.
References
Literature Becker, Gary Stanley. (1982). Der ökonomische Ansatz zur Erklärung menschlichen Verhaltens. Tübingen: Mohr (Siebeck). Buchmann, M.& Kriesi, I.(2012). Geschlechtstypische Berufswahl: Begabungszuschreibungen, Aspirationen und Institutionen. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 52 (Sonderheft Soziologische Bildungsforschung), 256-280. Hinz, T. & Schübel, T. (2001). Geschlechtersegregation in deutschen Betrieben. In Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. 34(3), pp. 286-301. Maihofer, A., Bergman, M., Hupka-Brunner, S., Wehner, N., Schwiter, K., Huber, E. & Kanji, S. (2013). Kontinuität und Wandel von Geschlechterungleichheiten in Ausbildungs- und Berufsverläufen junger Erwachsener in der Schweiz. In Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (Hrsg.), Gleichstellung der Geschlechter (Nationales Forschungsprogramm NFP 60): Universität Basel. OECD (2013). Gleichstellung der Geschlechter: Zeit zu Handeln. Paris: OECD. OECD (2017). The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle. Paris: OECD. SAVOIRSOCIAL (2018). Zahlen und Fakten zum Grundbildungsberuf Fachfrau/Fachmann Betreuung 2006 – 2016. (https://www.savoirsocial.ch/de/allgemeine-berufsinformationen/zahlen-und-fakten) SECO (2016). Fachkräftemangel in der Schweiz. Indikatorensystem zur Beurteilung der Fachkräftenachfrage. Bern: SECO. SFO (2018). Berufliche Grundbildung nach Bildungsfelder und Geschlecht. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/wirtschaftliche-soziale-situation-bevoelkerung/gleichstellung-frau- mann/bildung/berufs-studienfachwahl.html (01.09.2018) Wetterer, A. (2002). Arbeitsteilung und Geschlechterkonstruktion . ‘Gender at Work’ in theoretischer Perspektive, Konstanz: UVK.
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