Thwarted Transition? School-to-work Transition Pathways among Young People in Non-academic Track Secondary Schools During the Coronavirus Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Young people in non-academic track secondary educational settings ('Hauptschule' and 'Realschule') are more affected by uncertainties in their transition from school to vocational education and training. The Coronavirus pandemic reinforces this situation by having major effects on the labour market. The paper is based on a cohort study with two parallel longitudinal samples (2017/18 and 2019/20). It aims to analyse how the trajectories and future worries of young people in non-academic track educational settings have changed due to the pandemic and what role personal resources and social background indicators play in this process. The results show that during the pandemic 1) both migrants and young women struggle more with worries about their future, and 2) personal resources, such as vocational goal orientation, become more important for continuity and autonomy in the process of career choice.