The effect of decreased general training on skills and dropout - Evidence from a vocational school reform in Hungary

Abstract

The paper studies a unique education reform that decreased the length of secondary-level vocational education from 4 to 3 years, reducing the time spent on general subjects while keeping the time spent on vocational training. We use a difference-in-difference strategy by comparing reformed schools with early adopters before and after the reform. We find that students’ general skills have dropped considerably, but the probability of dropout has decreased, and the probability of getting a secondary qualification has increased. These results suggest that such a reform will have mixed labour market consequences, at least in the short run. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Dropout difference-in-differences vocational education reform general skills

Index Keywords

training Vocational education education reform labor market secondary education Hungary

Author Affiliations

HUN-REN Hungarian Research Network, Budapest, Hungary, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Funding & Acknowledgements

University College London, UCL

Daniel Horn acknowledges support from the MTA Bolyai research fellowship. We thank Hedvig Horváth and seminar participants at the Quantitative Social Science Seminar of the University College London, the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, and Corvinus University for their helpful comments.

Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA

Daniel Horn acknowledges support from the MTA Bolyai research fellowship. We thank Hedvig Horváth and seminar participants at the Quantitative Social Science Seminar of the University College London, the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, and Corvinus University for their helpful comments.

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The effect of decreased general training on skills and dropout - Evidence from a vocational school reform in Hungary

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