Social inequalities at the transition to higher education (HE) are well known (e.g. Becker & Müller 2011). The German education system includes several vocationally oriented school types which provide access to HE. In total, their graduates’ certificates account for one third of all higher education entrance qualifications (HEEQ) (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2020). It remains contested whether such alternative routes to HE have a compensating or reinforcing effect on social inequalities (Buchholz & Schier 2015; Schindler 2015). There is some empirical evidence that vocational grammar schools can have an inequality-reducing effect (Watermann & Maaz 2006) and that the institutional structure and social composition of vocationally oriented schools matter for the intention to study of their pupils (Schuchart 2019). At the organizational level, a single vocationally oriented school usually includes several institutional types of schools offering vocational specializations and the HEEQ, e.g. vocational grammar school (Berufliches Gymnasium), specialized upper secondary school (Fachoberschule), or the two-year full-time vocational school (Berufsoberschule). This paper asks how vocationally oriented schools enable pupils from different social backgrounds to aspire a HEEQ. Our focus is on organizational structures and pedagogical practices that support study orientation/preparation, how these structures and practices compensate or reproduce social inequalities, and how they differ by the type of vocationally oriented school types as well as between individual schools. We apply Bernhard's (2018) concept of institutional permeability which distinguishes between institutionalized access to and organizational linkages with other educational areas, crediting of learned knowledge and support structures for heterogeneous learners like the provision of information and counselling. In 2021, 62 problem-centered interviews were conducted with school administrators (e.g. principals), teachers, as well as counseling personnel in nine vocationally oriented schools in (the federal state of) Lower Saxony. Preliminary qualitative content analysis of the data shows that social background serves hardly as a category in which school staff consciously think, reflect and differentiate their educational offerings. Rather, enabling pupils' study orientation and motivation strongly depends on individual professional commitment. Moreover, the vocational schools' clientele varies greatly depending on its socio-spatial location. Preliminary results suggest that a single schools’ location in a socially disadvantaged area reinforces a weakened focus on study orientation.. We conclude that vocationally oriented schools partly reproduce social inequality in HE access. They remain, however, an important pathway to HE for socially disadvantaged youth.

Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung (2020). Bildung in Deutschland 2020. Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zu Bildung in einer digitalisierten Welt. Bielefeld: wbv. Becker, R., & Müller, W. (2011). Bildungsungleichheiten nach Geschlecht und Herkunft im Wandel. In A. Hadjar (Ed.), Geschlechtsspezifische Bildungsungleichheiten (pp. 55–75). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Bernhard, N. (2018). Necessity or Right? Europeanisation and Discourses on Permeability between Vocational Education and Training and Higher Education in Germany and France, in: S. Carney & M. Schweisfurth (eds.), Equity in and through Education. Changing Contexts, Consequences and Contestations. Boston: Brill | Sense, 97–117. Buchholz, S., & Schier, A. (2015). New Game, New Chance? Social Inequalities and Upgrading Secondary School Qualifications in West Germany. European Sociological Review, 31(5), 603–615. Schindler, S. (2015). Soziale Ungleichheit im Bildungsverlauf – alte Befunde und neue Schlüsse? KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift Für Soziologie Und Sozialpsychologie, 67(3), 509–537. Schuchart, C. (2019). Kulturen der Studienorientierung? Einzelschulische und schulstrukturelle Determinanten der Studienabsicht in der Sekundarstufe II. Zeitschrift Für Pädagogik. (1), 120–146. Watermann, R., & Maaz, K. (2006). Effekte der Öffnung von Wegen zur Hochschulreife auf die Studienintention am Ende der gymnasialen Oberstufe. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 9(2), 219–239.