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Adult Vocational Qualifications Reduce the Social Gradient in Education
- Source :
- Social Inclusion, Vol 7, Iss 3, Pp 95-109 (2019), Social Inclusion, Types of education, achievement and labour market integration over the life course
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Cogitatio, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Many youth leave school early without an upper secondary education, impeding their chances in the labor market. Early school leavers come disproportionately from families with low parental education. In some countries, there are alternative routes to upper secondary qualifications as adults. Does adult attainment reduce initial social differences in educational attainment, or does it reinforce such differences? Norway is one of the countries where many attain upper secondary qualifications in adulthood. Using individual data from administrative registers, we follow five Norwegian birth cohorts (1973–1977) from age 20 to 40. We document that the association between parental education and upper secondary completion declines monotonically with age, ending at age 40 about 35% below that at age 20. We also document that the alternative routes to adult qualifications recruit students of different family backgrounds. In particular, adults who acquire vocational qualifications via the experience-based route come from families with lower education than other groups. Our evidence suggests that institutions that offer opportunities for certifying qualifications acquired at work mitigate social gradients, fostering more equal opportunities within the education system.
- Subjects :
- family
Sociology and Political Science
Social Psychology
Economics
family background
intergenerational education
Social gradient
Generation
lcsh:HM401-1281
level of education attained
Norwegian
Education
Bildungswesen quartärer Bereich, Berufsbildung
Erwachsener
ddc:370
Individual data
ddc:330
Bildungsabschluss
occupation
Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie
qualification
Bildung und Erziehung
adult qualifications
Norwegen
Occupational Research, Occupational Sociology
Secondary level
vocational education and training
Norway
adult
Wirtschaft
Beruf
vocational education
language.human_language
Educational attainment
Vocational Training, Adult Education
lcsh:Sociology (General)
Berufsbildung
Vocational education
Familie
language
Demographic economics
Social differences
Birth cohort
Psychology
Qualifikation
Bildung
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 21832803
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Social Inclusion
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....fa39331d57d27d3963087b268837a5db