Project

Longitudinal study of the education and career pathways of young people with a VET diploma in health care

The longitudinal study on career pathways of health care assistants has now entered its third phase. The first phase of the study was conducted in 2010/2011. Data was collected during the third year of training. The second wave of data collection took place in the summer of 2012, one year after the health care assistants’ graduation.

Woman arrows
fotolia, edited by SFIVET

Trained health care assistants are the largest occupational group in the field of health care.  By providing a skilled workforce in health care and an important recruitment pool for tertiary-level health care professions, they play a crucial role in curtailing future labour shortages. At present, there is a lack of reliable information concerning the medium-term career and education pathways taken by this group. This project will therefore gather data on the career trajectories of health care apprentices five years after completion of their VET programme. The project will also analyse individual and institutional factors affecting advancement and outcomes (e.g. employment, training, interruptions and changes)  

Method

In the third wave data will be collected in the autumn of 2016, five years after the former health care apprentices’ completion of initial vocational education and training (online questionnaire including all the participants from the first survey, N= 2000). The career and education pathways as well as their determinants will then be analysed using quantitative descriptive and multivariate methods.

Practical benefits
By filling important information gaps, the study will enable the professional organisation for health care (OdASanté), cantonal education and health departments, trade associations and other actors involved in the provision of VET in health care to assess existing health care training. This information will also provide the basis for planning strategic measures to ensure an adequate supply of qualified health care workers.
 
Publications
Previous project descriptions and findings can be found here.

Publications
Presentations