Across OECD countries, segmentation is deeply anchored in both – in education systems and the labour market, which tends to deepen social inequalities through life course (OECD 2025). Although trajectories and pathways to working life as well as segmentation within the education system and the labour market have been the focus of considerable research efforts in recent years (Schoon & Parsons 2002; Kleinert & Jacob 2024), the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored in greater depth. Germany is an interesting case in this regard. In addition to a strong segmentation within the general education system, Germany has a large dual vocational education and training (dual VET) sector, which is experiencing increasing segmentation – both among dual VET occupations and in the labour market. (Autor:innengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2024; OECD 2025). In a growing number of occupations, the shortage of skilled labour force is increasing significantly. In addition to the health, care and social sectors, the fields of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology (STEM-professions) are particularly affected (BA 2023). Craft trades and industrial and technical professions, are characterised by a significant decline in demand from young people in the apprenticeship market- Despite a wide variety of dual VET occupations in Germany, young people's career aspirations are concentrated on a limited number of occupations, like in other OECD countries (Mann et al. 2020), which tends to increase the shortage as well as segmentation between occupations. On the other hand, a considerable number of young people cannot to find a training place in their preferred occupations.

Occupations differ, among other things, in the social recognition or esteem they receive. Conceptually, a distinction is usually made between a symbolic and a material dimension of occupational prestige (Honneth 2008). The perceived social recognition of an occupation and the orientation towards significant others is emphasised in various theoretical approaches as a relevant factor in occupational choice. Studies show that young people tend to exclude occupations as potential career options if they are associated with the expectation of low social approval (Matthes 2028). Increasing aspirations for a wider range of occupations is a key challenge of career guidance activities, both because young people's career aspirations are still stratified along specific social categories like gender and social status (Gottfredson 1981) and because young people in Europe have generally a limited field of professional aspirations (Mann et al 2020). This is even more important as the shortage of skilled workers has become more severe in Germany due to a number of factors, particularly in light of demographic change and especially in the VET sector (Oeynhausen et al. 2023).

In our contribution, we thus first examine the characteristics of occupations that make a job ‘attractive’ to young people in the career guidance phase, based on a survey of general education students (RQ1). Until now, little is known about how professions differ in terms of social recognition and how these differences can be explained, particularly among young people (Lynn et al 2017; Valentino 2020). Mainly, our attention focuses on the following question: Is it possible, through a career guidance approach, to raise young people's awareness of the attractiveness of professions and thus help to reduce segmentation on the demand side of training market? Is it - according to motivational role-modelling-theory - possible that vocational role models – who are themselves apprentices – can contribute to inspire and thus positively change students' perceptions of VET occupations, acting as ‘ambassadors for a profession’ and conveying not only information (knowledge and skills) about them but also a ‘taste’ for a profession by activating student’s motivation and confidence in their abilities (self-efficacy) (Morgenroth 2015)? (RQ2).

The intervention involves VET apprentices who act as “VET-ambassadors” visiting secondary school classes as part of a regional career orientation study in the years 2021-2023 to provide information and insights on their occupation, VET in general, the mobility within the education system, and answer students’ questions. The “VET-ambassadors” act as real-life and same aged vocational role models. The empirical results are based on data analyses from a large scale quasi-experimental intervention study conducted with approximately 1,500 general education students in grades 8 to 12 (aged 15 to 18, 43% of whom were female) in Germany. Surveys were conducted for the treatment group just before (T1) and just after the intervention (participation in presentations by ‘training ambassadors’) (T2), then a few months later (T3, final interview). The control group was interviewed twice (T1 and T3) – before participating in the training ambassador conferences (waiting control design). The contribution uses data from the preliminary and final surveys (T1, T3) of those who participated in the role models. These are around 20 dual-VET occupations (e.g. IT specialists, electricians, automotive mechatronics engineers). Using mean comparisons and regression methods, we examine, on the basis of the pre/post survey, the extent to which vocational role models can change perceptions of different professions. Socio-structural differences between the treatment group and the control group are taken into account using a weighting procedure (Inverse Probability of Treatment Weights, IPTW).

Our results indicate that participation in work-study ambassador interventions can, on average, slightly increase career aspirations for the profession presented. The effectiveness varies greatly depending on the profession presented (and its characteristics) but also on the gender of the participating students. Thus, a unique, short-term career orientation intervention with vocational role models in classrooms can on average increase students’ occupational aspirations for the presented professions, extending previous empirical findings on academic professions to the VET-context. Accordingly, training ambassadors can contribute to broaden the spectrum of professions that young people are interested in, given the growing shortage of skilled labour, and in the future may be contribute to reducing segmentation on the training demand side. It needs to be discussed how the results of this intervention study will become part of the (national and international) discourse around the orientation programmes of VET-Ambassadors which have been implemented in several European countries and thus new aspects of knowledge will be transferred to political stakeholders (governmental and chamber level) Even if our study shows positive results, we have to take into consideration different limitations (like the regionality of the study, the cohort of students was surveyed during and at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the school years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, a non-representative school sample (due to specific situation at the end of COVID), the heterogeneity of VET ambassadors etc.).

Abrassart, Aurélien; Wolter, Stefan C. (2020): Investigating the image deficit of vocational education and training: Occupational prestige ranking depending on the educational requirements and the skill content of occupations. In: Journal of European Social Policy 30 (2), S. 221–236 Autor:innengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung. (2024). Bildung in Deutschland 2024 [National Report on Education 2024]. https://doi.org/10.3278/6001820iw Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191 Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) (2023). Fachkräfteengpassanalyse 2022. Berichte: Blickpunkt Arbeitsmarkt. BA Statistik. Nürnberg Gottfredson, L. (1981). Circumscription and compromise: A developmental theory of occupational aspirations. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 28(6), 545-579. Heckhausen, H. & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1987). Thought contents and cognitive functioning in motivational versus volitional states.of mind. Motivation and Emotion, 11, 101-120. Holland, John L. (1973): Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Honneth, Axel (2008): Arbeit und Anerkennung. Versuch einer Neubestimmung. In: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 56 (3), pp. 327–342. Lynn, Freda B.; Ellerbach, George (2017): A Position with a View: Educational Status and the Construction of the Occupational Hierarchy. In: American Sociol Review 82 (1), pp. 32–58 Mann, A., Denis, V., Schleicher, A., Ekhtiari, H., Forsyth, T., Liu, E., & Chambers, N. (2020). Dream Jobs? Teenagers' career aspirations and the future of work. https://www.mmllen.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/dream-jobs-teenagers-report.pdf Morgenroth, T., Ryan, M. K., & Peters, K. (2015). The Motivational Theory of Role Modeling: How Role Models Influence Role Aspirants’ Goals. Review of General Psychology, 19(4), 465–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000059 OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/1c0d9c79-en Oeynhausen, S., Christ, A., Schuß, E., Milde, B., & Granath, R.‑O. (2023). Die Entwicklung des Ausbildungsmarktes im Jahr 2023: Analysen auf Basis der BIBB-Erhebung über neu abgeschlossene Ausbildungsverträge und der Ausbildungsmarktstatistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit zum Stichtag 30. September. Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung Schoon, I., & Parsons, S. (2002). Teenage Aspirations for Future Careers and Occupational Outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(2), 262–288. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.2001.1867 Valentino, Lauren (2020): The Segregation Premium: How Gender Shapes the Symbolic Valuation Process of Occupational Prestige Judgments. In: Social Forces 99 (1), pp. 31–58.