Higher Education in Switzerland: Predictors of Becoming Engaged in Higher Vocational or Higher Academic Education – The Role of Workplace Factors

Abstract

Context: Vocational education and training enables young people to quickly and effectively enter the labour market. To advance their careers and to develop their professional expertise even more, they must then further their education through higher vocational or higher academic education. In this study, we looked at young people at work: What motivates them to move on towards higher education? As they are engaged in their jobs, their work situations will affect their further educational engagement. We hypothesised that individuals will more likely move towards higher education if their workplaces offer learning opportunities and social support. Human capacities, attitudes, and goals at work develop mainly in informal or non-formal learning situations and in their interactions with their teams. We tested the effect of these workplace factors by taking into account additional important predictors of educational pathways, such as sociodemographic factors (social background, nationality, gender) and motivational factors (values). * Higher Education in Switzerland 265Methods: Data stemmed from a multi-cohort longitudinal survey on educational decisions and educational pathways in the German part of Switzerland (BEN), running from 2012 to 2016. The selected sample consisted of 601 working individuals who were not engaged in higher education in 2014. Multinomial logistic regressions were run to test the hypothesis.Findings: First, we found that only 35% of the individuals who wanted to become engaged in higher vocational education in 2012 became engaged up to 2016 compared with those intending to become involved in higher academic education, where the rate varied by age-from younger to older-between 45% and 70%. Second, we found distinctive predictors for becoming engaged in higher vocational or academic education. Workplace factors predict engagement in higher vocational education but not sociodemographic factors, whereas sociodemographic and not workplace factors predict engagement in higher academic education. A significant predictor for both groups is the value attributed to higher education. Conclusions:The unique contribution of this paper is to show that distinct patterns of becoming engaged in higher vocational or higher academic education exist. These results confirmed the persistent effect of sociodemographic factors that shape the pathway to higher academic education. Moreover, the results indicated that an individual's value and workplace factors contribute to enabling paths to higher vocational education, as this depends not on sociodemographic factors but on shaping the work environment that supports learning at work.

Transition From Low-Threshold Vocational Education and Training to Work in Switzerland: Factors Influencing Objective and Subjective Career Success

“…The VET trainer probably acts as a role model and motivates this choice after apprenticeship. Surprisingly, the VET trainer's influence did not work for undertaking further education in our study, which contradicts findings of other studies Nägele et al 2018) but can be explained by the high correlation with other independent variables (e.g. skill variety) that mediate these associations.…”

“…First, we look at how background factors, such as socioeconomic status or parental interest, migrant status, or region, influence career success early in one's career. Research results confirm the persistent effect of socio-demographic factors that shape school and professional success and, especially, the pathway to higher academic education (Becker & Schulze, 2013;Nägele et al, 2018). Specifically, in a comparison of different OECD countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), NEET status is influenced by such background factors as the socioeconomic level of parents (status) and parental education ( Carcillo & Königs, 2015).…”

“…learning opportunities, autonomy, and skill variety) seem to have positive outcome effects (Humphrey et al, 2007). In a Swiss study on VET careers, learning opportunities-not socio-demographic factors-predicted engagement in higher vocational education (Nägele et al, 2018). Additionally, job resources (influence at work and opportunities for development) seem to protect against occupational turnover in the European nursing sector, whereas job demands (emotional demands and work-home-interference) are positively related to turnover (Van der Heijden et al, 2018).…”

Job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention of CTE health science teachers

“…Work engagement has become significant for practitioners and researchers because of its significant influence on organizational outcomes (Kim, 2017), including increased individual productivity and commitment, a decrease in recruitment and retention costs; and organizational stability (Harter et al, 2002;Saks, 2006;Saks & Gruman, 2014;Schaufeli et al, 2002;Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Workplace factors, such as learning activities and strong support, have been found to predict work engagement in higher vocational education (Nagele, Neuenschwander, & Rodcharoen, 2018). Work engagement is beneficial to the organization and the employee, both at work and outside of work (Seppälä, Mauno, Feldt, Hakanen, Kinnunen, Tolvanen, & Schaufeli, 2009).…”

Students’ Potential Abilities as Correlates of Self-Employment Start-Up Intentions: Evidence from Private Sector-Led Technical and Vocational Education Institutions in Nigeria

“…For students to possess potential abilities and succeed in their future entrepreneurial endeavour, they must continue to learn new skills through higher TVET (Nagele, Neuenschwander & Rodcharoen, 2018). The intention to start-up a new business after graduation is an important decision for TVET students as it would help them to be self-employed and contribute to development of Nigerian economy.…”