Search Results for
"Higher education"

This thematic issue investigates vocational schools as pathways to higher education (HE) across several countries, analyzing their potential to enhance educational and social mobility. With rising global demand for HE, vocational education and training (VET) systems offer alternative routes to HE, with vocational schools playing a crucial role, providing opportunities for students from less privileged backgrounds. The issue examines how vocational schools in various countries affect the permeability between VET and HE, highlighting the diverse narratives across different educational settings, including the DACH countries, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Despite vocational schools’ potential to act as bridges to HE, findings remain mixed. Although vocational schools have expanded university access, they often reproduce social inequalities. Analyses suggest that these schools could improve their impact in more targeted ways through stronger teacher engagement, better preparation of students, and structured pathways that acknowledge and address students’ diverse needs. The necessity for clear, common terminology and concepts, as well as for appropriate survey data to understand vocational pathways to HE in vocational school research, is emphasized, acknowledging significant research gaps, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Global South. Overall, this thematic issue calls for a new research agenda that includes diverse international perspectives, advocating for the recognition and enhancement of vocational schools as vital components to feed the HE landscape. © 2025 by the author(s).

This paper examines the earnings and job satisfaction of Vocational education and Training (VET) graduates in the European Union (EU) using two definitions of vocational education: a self-reported definition and a more specific definition that incorporates work-based learning. The incidence of third-level VET falls from 73% to 32% under the stricter definition. Across the EU, the returns to vocational and academic qualifications are comparable for upper secondary, post-secondary and tertiary qualifications. Earnings premia vary between countries, with VET generating higher returns in just under one-third of all EU-28 members. Additionally, third level VET graduates enjoy higher levels of job satisfaction. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The transition from technical and vocational education and training to higher education is particularly challenging for apprenticeship graduates. These challenges are not only bureaucratic or logistical but also reflect deeper systemic inequalities. In many countries, apprenticeship routes at the upper secondary level are disproportionately chosen by disadvantaged groups in relation to class, gender, and/or race. As a result, the limited, time‐consuming, and inconsistently regulated progression pathways in place contribute to the reproduction of social inequality. This article examines how such structural barriers are embedded in three national apprenticeship models in England, Germany, and Norway, where access to apprenticeship qualifications is primarily mediated by the labour market. In England, higher‐level apprenticeship routes combine company‐based learning with part‐time participation in institutional education. In Germany, the parallel or “dual” model integrates school‐based and company‐based training, while Norway’s sequential model structures apprenticeships as successive phases in schools and workplaces. In comparing these models, we conclude that despite differences across transition routes and claims to improve permeability, the divide between vocational and academic education persists across all three systems, thereby reinforcing rather than reducing systemic inequality. © 2025 by the author(s).

Over the past decade, the proportion of graduates from upper secondary vocational schools who have progressed to higher education (HE) has increased significantly in China. This study adopts a multiple case study methodology to provide an in‐depth examination of the under‐researched role vocational schools play in HE progression. Drawing on interview data, relevant policy documents, and administrative records, our findings reveal that vocational schools have actively promoted the “HE progression” trend. This role serves not only as a strategy for organizational survival—addressing challenges related to resource dependence and the pressure of institutional isomorphism—but also as a means of establishing organizational legitimacy. To improve HE admission rates, the schools in our case studies have implemented similar efficiency mechanisms in response to environmental pressures. These include enhancing the delivery of integrated‐education programs with symbolic quality control during the transfer process, adopting classification‐based student management systems that differ in form but are similar in substance, and establishing systems characterized by strong “examination‐oriented” features. © 2025, Cogitatio Press. All rights reserved.

Objective: Data from a longitudinal study were used to examine health changes among students in health profession disciplines. Methods: In the summer semesters of 2021 and 2022 a baseline survey (T0) was conducted among students in health-related professions at a university in Germany. Participation in the online survey was voluntary and took place during the period of remote learning. The follow-up survey (T2) was conducted at the end of the degree program in the summer semesters of 2023 and 2024. In addition to sociodemographic data, health-related features were assessed using selected indicators: self-rated health status, height and weight, diseases, self-rated mental well-being, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol consumption, dietary habits and health literacy. To analyze changes between T0 and T2, the McNemar test, Fisher’s exact test, Wilcoxon test and Student’s t‑tests for paired samples were applied. Results: Complete longitudinal data were available for 33 students, corresponding to a follow-up rate of 33.7%. Over the course of the study program, a significant increase in the proportion of students classified as overweight or obese was observed. Dietary patterns also significantly deteriorated and a higher frequency of medical diagnoses was reported. In contrast, self-rated health remained largely stable. Conclusion: The university phase represents a critical period in the development of health-related behavior. Over the course of the study program, significant changes were observed in key health indicators. Despite these developments, self-rated health remained largely stable, suggesting a potential discrepancy between the objective health status and individual perception. These findings highlight the need for targeted health promotion strategies as well as for structural support systems within higher education institutions and future workplaces. © The Author(s) 2025.

Vocational high schools (BHS) constitute a popular school type in Austria and are particularly appealing to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. These five-year schools provide an alternative pathway to a general higher education entrance qualification, combining academic schooling with the “safety net” of school-based vocational training. Although BHS represent an important route into higher education, with approximately half of graduates entering higher education within three years, the other half do not, with many opting to enter the labour market directly. Drawing on rational action theory, this study examines the relationship between students’ social backgrounds (measured by parental education level), labour market prospects following graduation from BHS, and higher education enrolment. We analyse the further educational and labour market pathways of the entire 2016/17 cohort of Austrian BHS graduates, using unique data that combines several high-quality administrative registers. Descriptive analysis shows that transition rates to higher education vary considerably according to parental education. We employ logistic regression models to demonstrate that higher regional unemployment rates for the particular vocational qualification of BHS are associated with increased transition rates to higher education. In contrast with the assumptions of the “diversion thesis,” findings indicate that this effect does not vary according to the education of students’ parents. Consequently, BHS graduates with lower levels of parental education are equally likely to be deterred from pursuing higher education by the prospect of employment as those with higher parental education. © 2025 by the author(s).

Pathways to higher education through vocational upper secondary schools (VUSSs) are intended to increase permeability. However, in both VUSSs and general upper secondary schools (GUSSs), participation is socially selective. This article examined differences between GUSS and VUSS students in (a) the attainment of a higher education entrance qualification (HEEQ) and (b) the subsequent transition to higher education. Taking entry selectivity into account, we analysed the extent to which inequalities between GUSS and VUSS in both outcomes could be explained by differences in school achievement and educational considerations— namely, cost–benefit perceptions, expected success, and status maintenance motives. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; Starting Cohort 4), we selected a sample of individuals who entered upper secondary education in either VUSS or GUSS (N = 5032). Two binary dependent variables were used to indicate (a) the successful attainment of an HEEQ and (b) the subsequent transition to higher education (as opposed to vocational education and training). The results from logit models indicated that VUSS students were significantly less likely to obtain an HEEQ and progress to higher education. This association was smaller but still persistent when controlling for entry selection, school achievement, and educational considerations (AMEHEEQ = −0.047, AMEtransition = −0.150). However, when intake selection was considered in the logit models, school achievement and educational considerations during upper secondary education were insignificant in explaining why VUSS students were less likely than GUSS students to obtain an HEEQ and enter higher education. © 2025 by the author(s).

Law determines much of education, from early years through to higher education, both public and private, yet as a discipline it has rarely been expressly identified in British education research. This paper explores this paradox, through a mixed review: a chronological review of educational research journals published in Great Britain over 30 years (1995–2024), and a critique. 496 articles were identified, across 30 journals. The analysis shows: a slowly growing rise over this period; a special interest in Scottish Educational Review throughout; focused research in articles on policy (especially comparative and international studies), management and leadership, human rights, religions and non-religions, and special educational needs; a recent trend is on technology. The analysis then more critically considers how attention to legal issues can be better addressed through: better referencing and citation; more clarification of the differences between law and policy; attention to differences between home nations; the place of supranational human rights obligations and courts. It concludes by outlining the significance of a more explicit focus on law in research, notably for clearer, more durable impact. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.