Youth in Transition

Abstract

JT03411215 Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. EDU/WKP(2017)4 Unclassified English text only EDU/WKP(2017)4 2 OECD EDUCATION WORKING PAPERS SERIES OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcome, and may be sent to the Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD,

Skills for the 21st century

“…A recent study by Borgonovi et al (2017) takes data from both PISA and PIAAC between the ages of 15 and 27 in the sample of countries which participated in both assessments to examine the evolution of both socio-economic and gender disparities. Their findings show that the socio-economic gaps are exacerbated between the ages of 15 and 27, especially in the case of low-achieving students.…”

Education systems, education reforms, and adult skills in the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC)

“…Classic human capital theory identifies formal education as the major channel towards human capital accumulation, and is based on the idea that schooling enables to acquire productive skills (Becker, 1964 [4] ; Mincer, 1975 [4] ). In particular, education can provide students with general and specific skills, and the balance between these two differs across educational systems.…”

“…Proponents of vocational education emphasise the easy transition from school to work (Quintini and Manfredi, 2009); while opponents argue that vocational education may harm individuals' employment and earnings prospects later in life because specific skills become quickly outdated in modern economies experiencing rapid technological changes (Krueger and Kumar, 2004 [4] ; Wolter and Ryan, 2011 [4] ). At the centre of the debate is the issue of how adaptable previously vocational educated individuals are when facing structural changes in the economy.…”

“…The inherent challenge in using cross-sectional data to identify the impact of educational type on employment outcome partially explains the mixed findings in this line of literature. By and large, studies using large-scale cross-country data such as Brunello and Rocco (2015 [3] ), Hanushek et al, (2017 [3] ), Forster, Bol and van de Werhorst's (2016) and Hampf and Woessmann's (2017 [4] ) found a similar pattern: namely, that individuals with vocational education are more advantageous than individuals with general education in initial labour market outcomes, yet these advantages faded away later in life. It is worth noting that the cross-over age when general education becomes more advantageous differs when different labour market outcomes are examined.…”

“…Hanushek, Piopiunik and Wiederhold, 2014 [4] ). Therefore, it is difficult to identify the impact of school design just using national data sets; whereas an international perspective provides an opportunity for comparisons.…”