The Impact of Academic Preparedness of Immigrant Students on Completion of Commercial Vocational Education and Training
Author(s):
Beatrice S. Rangvid (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2012
Network:
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

02 SES 03 C, Access To VET: Requirements, Motivating And Readiness

Parallel Paper Session

Time:
2012-09-18
17:15-18:45
Room:
FCT - Aula 23
Chair:
Pekka Ilmari Kamarainen

Contribution

In Denmark, there is great political awareness on matters relating to student retention and progression to completion in vocational education and training (VET) as a key to achieving major political goals, as it is perceived as one of the main inclusion mechanisms for achieving the policy objective of making at least 95 per cent of a youth cohort complete a youth educational program at the upper secondary level by 2015.

Drop out rates from VET programs are considerably higher than from other youth educational programs and have been increasing from 40% to 50% between 2000-2008. Among all VET students, immigrant students are a particular vulnerable group with higher than average drop out rates.

Also, unlike dropouts from other programs, only 30% of VET dropouts continue in another education within two years. Thus, VET drop outs are at a high risk of not completing a youth educational program at the upper secondary level at all, which makes them more vulnerable to unemployment and labour market marginalisation.

Commercial vocational education and training is the most popular line of VET among students with 25% of Danish VET-students and 45% of VET-students with an immigrant background choosing the commercial line.

In this study we aim at answering the question: would better academic preparedness of immigrant students significantly help increase completion rates? The objectives of this study are to provide a better understanding of the impact of cognitive skills in dropping out of CVET for immigrant students and to help identify means (here, academic preparedness) by which to boost immigrant student completion rates.

 

Method

Using high quality longitudinal data from administrative registers on entire student cohorts, and employing statistical, econometric methods (multivariate regression), this paper investigates the role of academic preparedness as measured by school leaving exit exam grades in form 9 on completion probabilities of the full 4 year CVET program and of the 2-year basic course.

Expected Outcomes

We show that better academic preparedness increases completion probabilities of the 2-year basic course, and, partly indirectly through its effect on grades obtained during the basic course, also affects completion of the full 4-year program. The positive impact is concentrated at the lower end of the form 9 grade distribution. Yet, increasing initial academic preparedness of students from the lowest to the highest level would by itself increase the full program completion rate to only 16 percent. Even with augmented academic preparedness, there are still other strong forces causing drop out before completing the program. Additional results show that Math skills, rather than skills in Danish, affect completion rates.

References

• Bessey, D. & U. Backes-Gellner (2007): Premature Apprenticeship Terminations: An Economic Analysis. Working Paper No.2, Institute for Strategy and Business and Economics and Swiss Leading House Economic of Education. Firm Behavior and Training Policies, Zürich. • Eckstein, Z. & K. I. Wolpin (1999): Why Youths Drop Out of High School: The Impact of Preferences, Opportunities, and Abilities. Econometrica 67(6): 1295-339. • Hanushek, E.A. (1986): The economics of schooling: Production and efficiency in public schools. Journal of Economic Literature, 24(3): 1141–1177. • Hanushek. E.A., Lavy, V. & K. Hitomi (2008): Do Students Care about School Quality? Determinants of Dropout Behavior in Developing Countries. Journal of Human Capital, 2(1): 62-105. • Helland, H. & L.A. Støren (2006): Vocational Education and the Allocation of Apprenticeships: Equal chances for applicants regardless of immigrant background? European Sociological Review, 22(3): 339-351. • Johnes, J. & Taylor, J. (1989): Undergraduate non-completion rates: differences between UK universities, Higher Education, 16: 581–602. • Johnes, J. (1990): Determinants of student wastage in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 15: 87–99. • Rumberger, R.W. (1983). Dropping out of high school: The influence of race, sex, and family background. American Educational Research Journal, 20, 199-220. • Smith, J. & Naylor, R. (2001): Dropping out of university: a statistical analysis of withdrawal for UK university students. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, 164:389–405. • Stratton, L., D. Otoole & J. Wetzel (2008): A multinomial logit model of college stopout and dropout behavior. Economics of Education Review. 27(3): 319-331. • Wehlage, G.G. & R.A. Rutter (1987): Dropping out: How much do schools contribute to the problem? In: School Dropouts Patterns and Policies, ed. G. Natriello, pp: 374-392. Teachers College, New York

Author Information

Beatrice S. Rangvid (presenting / submitting)
SFI, The Danish National Center for Social Research
Copenhagen

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