This study investigates the relevance of career compromises (i.e. the discrepancy between expected and attained training position) for dropping out from vocational education and training (VET), focusing on compromises in terms of field of work, social status and gender type. Moreover, it examines whether apprentices’ enjoyment of training ex-plains this association. Using longitudinal data on 5,600 apprentices from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, Starting Cohort 4), the results of discrete event history models show that all types of compromises are crucial for VET dropout, but especially compromises regarding field of work and downward discrepancies in gen-der type. Furthermore, the link between compromises and VET dropout is partly mediated by apprentices’ enjoyment of training, which itself is highly correlated with dropping out. These findings draw attention to the role of pre-entry VET policies, such as career counselling, in minimising the incidence of career compromises.
Although women are increasingly entering male-dominated careers, they remain strongly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations. While previous explanations emphasize the importance of individual preferences or family socialization, less is known about how the school context contributes to these differences. This study aimed to examine the role of the classroom context as a frame of reference for students' career expectations, focusing on comparative and normative reference group effects. Building on gender socialization theory and rational choice models, I investigate whether these contextual effects affect students' occupational expectations in a gender-specific way. Drawing on a large representative sample of secondary school students in Germany, I find that the gender gap in students' occupational expectations is larger in classrooms characterized by a high mathematical confidence and high aspirations toward STEM. In classrooms with a pronounced STEMrelated classroom climate, female students less frequently expect to work in a STEM career, while for male students the same classroom climate is associated with higher expectations toward STEM. More generally, this study demonstrates that research on the explanation of gender differences in career expectations profits from incorporating social context effects within schools and classrooms.
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