Educational and Occupational Aspirations: A Longitudinal Study of Vienna Youth

Abstract

During their transition from lower to upper secondary education, young peoplemake educational and occupational choices driven by their aspirations. Such aspirations are shaped by the individuals’ social environment, their idea of what seems achievable and desirable, and their experiences. Therefore, aspirations can change during the transitional phase. In this article, we explore the development of educational and occupational aspirations of young people over three years. At the start of the study period, the students were attending the lower track in lower secondary education, the so‐called Neue Mittelschule (8th grade), in the city of Vienna in the 2017–2018 academic year. Drawing on the panel survey data (2018–2020) of the Pathways to the Future project, we simultaneously explore stability and change of educational and occupational aspirations. We describe different patterns of change in aspirations and analyse the influence of sociodemographic characteristics and prior achievement on these patterns. Using latent transition analysis, we identify 11 patterns of aspirations with important differences depending on social background. Most of the students have stable aspirations. However, the results show that school performance, migration background, and the level of parental education play important roles in explaining different levels and patterns of aspirations over time. These longitudinal analyses of educational and occupational aspirations provide important insights into the transition process.

Do women's empowerment and self-expression values change adolescents' gendered occupational expectations? Longitudinal evidence against the gender-equality paradox from 26 European countries

“…Another study found math achievement to be a "critical filter" to subsequent math careers (Shapka et al, 2006). At the individual level, a myriad of factors affect the development of occupational expectations; but school performance, migration background, and parental education play important roles in explaining occupational expectations (Valls et al, 2022). This information allows us to control the effect of individual variables at the first level (both gradual and categorical) so that we can calculate the effect of the country…”

Challenges in School‐To‐Work Transition in Germany and Austria: Perspectives on Individual, Institutional, and Structural Inequalities

“…Moreover, the life course perspective emphasises the need for using longitudinal analyses to examine transitions as processes. Therefore, several contributions either deal with facets of stability or change in the transition, such as Mühlböck et al's (2022) work on occupational aspirations, Fischer-Browne's (2022) article on the compromise formation between occupational aspirations and training occupation, or Valls et al's (2022) research on the alignment of occupational and educational aspirations. Furthermore, some articles investigate individual developmental processes in the transition, such as Gellermann and Fuchs' (2022) work on autonomy, Fasching and Felbermayr's (2022) research on cooperation, Wintersteller et al's (2022) study on young people's demands, or insecurity by Thoma and Langer (2022).…”

Peer Effects on Educational Aspirations

“…The avoidance of downward mobility in educational decisions is supported by empirical evidence (e.g., Becker, 2003;Holm and Jaeger, 2008;Stocke, 2007). Students from a privileged background are more likely to maintain their higher aspirations over time, thus high and low aspirations tend to get locked-in (Valls et al, 2022).…”