Session Information
99 ERC SES 04 H, Transitions Across Educational Contexts
Paper Session
Contribution
This research is aimed at studying the transit trajectory of students’ progress to higher education after achieving vocational qualification. In the Russian educational context, vocational education means graduating from a community college. Community college graduates may be motivated by a variety of reasons when choosing a transit pathway.
Firstly, the educational path of «community college – university» can be considered as a widespread channel of social mobility. From the point of view of rational action theory, the researchers agree that the most socially and economically disadvantaged social groups choose vocational education (Alexandrov, Tenisheva, & Savelyev, 2015; Konstantinovskiy & Popova, 2018). At the same time, due to the transit trajectory, the path to higher education and social mobility upon graduation is not blocked for such students. Since Russian community college graduates can enter higher education without passing the Unified State Examination (USE), this path is called "bypass maneuver" (Adamovich, 2022).
Second, according to the theory of human capital, higher education contributes to the accumulation of the general human capital (Becker, 1962). This can be a significant incentive to increase the potential return on education. Various studies in Russia repeatedly showcase the positive impact of higher education and work experience on the success of entering the labour market (Dudyrev, Romanova, & Travkin, 2020; Roshchin & Rudakov, 2017).
And thirdly, in terms of the signal theory, by obtaining a higher level of education such as a bachelor’s degree after a vocational qualification, the candidates signal to the employer that they are productive and deserve a higher salary (Spence, 1973). Thus, community college graduates can enroll in higher education in order to provide a signal to the employer of their productivity and, as a result, grounds for potential wage increases.
Education and career trajectories are a common subject of both sociological and economic research. Sociological research is aimed at identifying the reasons for the choice of a particular educational path, and economic studies — its results. Sociologists, for example, often study educational routes based on the theory of rational action (Breen & Goldthorpe, 1997) and relative risk aversion (Breen & van de Werfhorst, 2014).
Economic studies, in turn, examine the results of an educational route. According to the theory of the human capital (Becker, 1962), students who have progressed from community college to university acquire human capital and become more promising candidates in the labor market. It can be assumed that investment in transit educational trajectory, in the long term, will bring higher income and protection from precarious employment (Maltseva & Rosenfeld, 2022).
The progression of college graduates to higher education is actively discussed by researchers in Russia (Yastrebov, Kosyakova & Kurakin, D., 2018). However, studying predictors associated with the Russian young people entering the transit trajectory remains scarce. In addition, the career trajectories of such students have not yet been covered by empirical research.
The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to the choice of transit education trajectory (socio-economic status (SES), academic achievement, personal characteristics). In addition, this study examines the relationship between the «transit» educational trajectory and the salaries of its graduates. In this research, a transit educational route is classified into two types — completed transit (entering university immediately after community college graduation) and postponed transit (entering university some time after community college graduation).
This research study answers the following questions:
What is the likelihood of obtaining higher education by the age of 25 (entering the transitory trajectory) among those who have received vocational qualification, depending on their SES and academic abilities?
Does this educational trajectory result in higher wages for its graduates?
Method
Data for the study were obtained during the national panel of the research project «Trajectories in education and occupation» (TrEC). TrEC is conducted annually by the Institute of Education of Higher School of Economics (HSE) and is based on a representative sample of TIMSS-2011 (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study). This study uses data from nine TrEC waves (2011 to 2020) and data from the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics on the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of various regions of Russia. In the Russian educational context, vocational education means graduating from a community college with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) qualification. For this study, a sub-sample of TVET diploma holders was formed from those who attended a community college on the basis of 9 grades. This sample includes the respondents who: 1) graduated from community college and had no further studies, 2) graduated from TVET and were studying at university in 2020, 3) graduated from both community college and university. In the data analysis phase, the categorical variable "Educational attainment by 2020" (only TVET, TVET and completed higher education, TVET and continuing education at a university) was selected as a dependent variable in the logistic regression model to answer the first research question. Multinomial logistic regression was chosen for analysis of the presented data, since the dependent variable in this study is categorical. The two main independent variables are the student’s socioeconomic status and their academic performance in school. The level of parents' education is chosen as an indicator of individual socio-economic status. The 8th grade TIMSS math score is used as a measure of academic achievement. Minzer Standard Least Squares Equation is used to answer the second research question on the impact of the transit educational trajectory on the earnings of graduates. For all college graduates a variable has been created, expressing the monthly income for the primary and secondary jobs in 2020. The main independent variables are the respondent’s level of education and work experience. Work experience is represented by the number of TrEC waves when the respondent had a temporary and/or permanent job, including combining it with college or university studies. However, the non-observed characteristics that affect entering in a particular educational path are not monitored in the regression model. It may lead to some bias in the estimate and limit the methodology.
Expected Outcomes
Community college graduate’s socio-economic status and academic performance are predictors of entry into the transit educational trajectory. However, entry into this route depends to a greater extent on the respondent's SES, since when this variable is added to the model, academic performance ceases to be significant. Thus, when entering university after graduating from community college, there are primary effects of inequality in education. Moreover, the educational route "9 grades – community college – university" is not a channel of social mobility, but rather a tool of reproduction of higher status positions (compared to holders of only a TVET diploma). The work experience of a "transit" graduate gives a significant return on wages, but graduation from college by 25 years does not create such a return. Graduates of the transit educational trajectory in our sample are 24-25 years old, and the peak of salary in Russia comes in the age of 30-35 years (Gimpelson, 2019). Thus, graduates of the transit route in our sample do not have time to use their accumulated general human capital. Therefore, it is more effective to continue studying the returns from their transit educational trajectory, when respondents reach their salary peak. It is noteworthy that in Russia the transit trajectory is very little highlighted in educational policy, even though one third of university students are "transit" students.The results of the study could be useful for informing youth education and employment policies, focusing policies on mitigating educational inequality and increasing access to higher education. In addition to that, the findings of this research may be of interest to a wide range of readers in the vocational education community. The results of this research can help students and alumni of community colleges to understand the variety of educational opportunities and potential challenges of choosing a career path.
References
1. Alexandrov D., Tenisheva K., & Savelyeva S. (2015). No-Risk Mobility: Through College to University. Voprosy Obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, (3), 66-91. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2015-3-66-91 2. Adamovich K. A. (2022) Educational Trajectories of Russian Students after the 9th Grade in 2000—2017: Types of Regional Situations and Their Predictors. Mo ni to ring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes. No. 1. P. 116–142. https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2022.1.1792 3. Becker, G. S. (1962). Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis. Journal of political economy, 70(5, Part 2), 9-49. https://doi.org/10.1086/258724 4. Breen, R., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (1997). Explaining educational differentials: Towards a formal rational action theory. Rationality and society, 9(3), 275-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/104346397009003002 5. Breen, R., Van De Werfhorst, H. G., & Jæger, M. M. (2014). Deciding under doubt: A theory of risk aversion, time discounting preferences, and educational decision-making. European Sociological Review, 30(2), 258-270. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcu039 6. Dudyrev F., Romanova O., Travkin P. (2020). Student employment and school-to-work transition: the Russian case. Education and Training, 62 (4), 441–457. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-07-2019-0158 7. Gimpelson V. (2019). Vozrast i zarabotnaya plata: stilizovannie fakti i rossiiskie osobennosti [Age and Wage: Stylized Facts and Russian Evidence]. The HSE Economic Journal, vol. 23, no 2, pp. 185–237 (in Russian). https://doi.org/10.17323/1813-8691-2019-23-2-185-237 8. Konstantinovskiy D. L., Popova E. S. (2018). Rossiyskoe srednee professionalnoe obrazovanie: vostrebovannost i spetsifika vybora [Russian Secondary Professional Education: Demand and Specificity of Choice]. Sociological Studies / Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniia, no 3, pp. 34–44. https://doi.org/10.7868/S0132162518030030 9. Maltseva V. A., Shabalin A.I. (2021). Ne-obkhodnoy manevr, ili Bum sprosa na srednee professional’noe obrazovanie v Rossii [The Non-Bypass Trajectory, or The Boom in Demand for TVET in Russia]. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 2, pp. 10–42. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2021-2-10-42 10. Roshchin, S., & Rudakov, V. (2017). Patterns of student employment in Russia. Journal of Education and Work, 30(3), 314-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2015.1122182 11. Spence, M. (1978). Job market signaling. In Uncertainty in economics (pp. 281-306). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882010 12. Yastrebov, G., Kosyakova, Y., & Kurakin, D. (2018). Slipping past the test: Heterogeneous effects of social background in the context of inconsistent selection mechanisms in higher education. Sociology of Education, 91(3), 224-241. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804071877908
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