The role of host companies in the transition of apprentices to tertiary education and working life - a longitudinal study
This SNSF-funded research project takes a closer look at how workplace training conditions at host companies influence subsequent educational and career trajectories of their apprentices. This will be achieved by linking information from a national survey on the costs and benefits of workplace training for host companies with longitudinal data on their apprentices.
Despite the great importance of dual VET within the Swiss education system, we still know relatively little about the impact that various workplace training conditions at host companies have on the subsequent educational and career trajectories of young people.
Researchers will first examine whether the workplace training conditions at host companies are determinant factors in successful completion of apprenticeships (i.e. on apprenticeship contract terminations and (un)successful outcomes of the qualification procedure). Then analysis will be carried out to determine whether workplace training conditions affect the decision to pursue tertiary education (e.g. obtain a federal vocational baccalaureate and enrol in a university of applied sciences) and whether workplace training conditions also affect successful entry into the labour market.
Researchers will review existing research literature on the workplace training activities of host companies and will observe the educational and career trajectories of apprentices. This should help to shed light on workplace training conditions that are particularly conducive to successful outcomes.
In a survey conducted by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on the costs and benefits of workplace training for host companies, around 5,700 companies provided information on their workplace training costs, how workplace training is organised and what workplace training strategy they use. In this study, information on workplace training conditions will be combined with the FSO’s statistics showing the subsequent educational trajectories of former apprentices. In this manner, it will be possible to link these trajectories with the workplace training conditions that these apprentices encountered.