Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Ten years ago, the findings from the OECD's first international study concerning the school performance of 15-year-old pupils (PISA Study 2000, see BAUMERT/SCHÜMER 2001) drew attention to the fact that, in Germany, educational opportunities are more closely tied to social background and nationality or ethnic origin than they are in comparable countries. Since then, the disparities in the levels of participation and achievement have once again become the focus of education policy and education science (see also, inter alia, BAUMERT/STANAT/WATERMANN 2006, BECKER/LAUTERBACH 2007, KRÜGER et al. 2010). The following two examples from the current National Report on Education (see Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2010) show how the inequalities in the German education system manifest themselves. For example, youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university in Germany and have at least one parent who has earned a university degree are much more likely to commence studies at a university than are youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university but whose parents have not earned a degree, even when these youths have earned equally good marks on their school-leaving examination. And children with an immigrant background⁰¹ are significantly more likely to end up in a Hauptschule (practical lower secondary school that emphasizes skill-based knowledge) when making the transition from primary school to level I secondary school than are children from families where immigration does not play a role, even when they have the same socio-economic status.

The sociology of education offers a number of different approaches (see BECKER 2009) to explaining the causes of social inequalities in educational opportunities. There is agreement that the transitions that take place in the course of the individual's education play a vital role in this connection (MAAZ/BAUMERT/TRAUTWEIN 2009). Important decisions regarding the next step in the individual's educational career have to be made at the various interfaces within the education system, particularly when progressing from the primary to the secondary level and when making the transition from general schooling to the vocational training system. These decisions depend on the individual's school performance, the selection mechanisms of the respective educational institution and the value the individual's family places on education. Based on decision-making and action models for individual education behaviour, the reason for the differences seen between social strata in education-related decisions is that parents - and the individual youths themselves as well at a later point in time - judge the advantages and disadvantages of long-term investments in education differently, depending on their social status (see BECKER 2009).

Explanations for social inequalities in education often differentiate between the primary and secondary effects of social background.⁰² Primary background effect is the term used for the direct influence that social class has on children's / youth's skills development and is reflected in the class-specific differences in scholastic performance (see  MAAZ/BAUMERT/TRAUTWEIN 2009). "As a result of their upbringing, the conditions in their family and the purposeful support they receive, children from higher social strata are more likely to acquire skills and motivation that are of advantage in school and vocational training" (BECKER 2009, p. 106). Children from higher social strata consequently tend to perform better in school and are much more likely to be successful in school and later in vocational training than children from families with a lower social status.

The subjective assessment of the costs and benefits of alternative education options which provides the basis for the decision whether to pursue a particular form of education varies according to social class. This is considered to be a secondary effect of social background (see BECKER 2009). The fact that parents want to put their children in a position to maintain the social status they have achieved plays a key role here. Thus, parents in the middle and upper social strata in particular must invest considerable amounts in their children's education to ensure that their children do not suffer a decline in social class. However they consequently also rate the benefits of their investments in education very highly. By comparison, in the lower social strata, children do not necessarily have to receive a higher level of education to maintain their parents' social status. From these parents' point of view, obtaining a higher level of education would incur disproportionately high costs with no guarantee that they would receive a return on their investment. In addition, it can be observed that many parents with lower levels of education are quite reserved about higher secondary education and university studies. In many cases, they fear that their children might become alienated from them if they take up such an educational pathway. This means in a nutshell that when it comes to decisions about a child's education, the higher the parents' social status, the more likely it is that parents will strive to ensure a higher educational career for their children. These differences in parents' decisions on their children's future educational pathways can be observed even when there is no difference in the children's school performance (see BECKER 2009).

In the German education system, the transition from the primary level to the secondary level is considered to be one of the most important for the course of the individual's educational career. This decision is strongly influenced by the parents' wishes (in addition to the child's school performance) and less by the child's wishes (see KLEINE/PAULUS/BLOSSFELD 2009). The individual's school performance and level of motivation play an increasing role in later decisions regarding their education, particularly in connection with the transition to vocational training or university studies. However, it can be assumed that parents continue to have a relatively strong influence on these decisions as well.⁰³

Viewed from the perspective of the individual's entire life, social inequalities in educational opportunities develop over the long term (see HILLMERT 2009). They begin with differences in the "starting conditions" that are determined by the parents' social status and already exist when the child enters the education system (primary effects of social background). Then there are inequalities which arise during the individual's years in the education system as a result of the different education decisions that are made depending on the parents' social status (secondary effects of social background).⁰⁴ When examining a particular "interface" in educational careers - such as the transition from secondary school to the vocational training system, as is the case here - it is always, according to HILLMERT, a good idea to differentiate: "The primary social differentiation lies in the respective 'starting conditions' (skills, formal educational qualifications), in other words, in the respective differences that develop up to this stage, whereas the secondary differentiation describes the differences upon making the transition to the next stage" (HILLMERT 2009, p. 227f.).

In addition to educational inequalities which can be traced to social background, there are also important differences that are related to gender and immigrant status. For example, women are considered to be the winners of the expansion of the German education system that began in the mid-1960s. Girls had previously been disadvantaged by the education system and subsequently made disproportionate use of the educational opportunities opened up by the massive expansion of Germany's Realschulen (intermediate secondary schools) and Gymnasien (upper secondary schools) (see HRADIL 2005). As a result, young women have markedly better secondary school qualifications than young men do today and therefore ought to have clear advantages in the transition from secondary school to the vocational training system. Nevertheless, it is well known that the share of young women who undergo in-company vocational training is significantly smaller than the share of young men (see GERICKE/UHLY 2010). As a result, they are considerably underrepresented in what is, in quantitative terms, the most important vocational education pathway that leads to full vocational qualification. Complete compensation is not achieved through training programmes at a full-time vocational school - which are chosen more frequently by women than by men (see BEICHT/GRANATO 2010). It is unclear to what extent women's lower level of participation on in-company vocational training is due to the differences between men and women in their occupational preferences or to gender-based differences in the opportunities they have to access training.

Young people with an immigrant background are among the losers in the education system. Most of these individuals are the children or grandchildren of immigrant workers (so-called "guest workers"), immigrants from Eastern Europe who claim German ancestry (Auswanderer), asylum seekers or refugees who came to the Federal Republic of Germany in the years since the 1960s. Many children from such families had very disadvantageous prerequisites for attending school and had particularly poor educational opportunities in school (see HRADIL 2005). The number of youths with an immigrant background who either do not earn school-leaving qualification or complete lower secondary school at the most is still disproportionately high today. The difficulties that youths of foreign origin have continue at a massive level in their transition to vocational training. This is by no means solely due to poorer school-leaving certificates (see BEICHT/GRANATO 2009, DIEHL/FRIEDRICH/HALL 2009, KUHNKE/MÜLLER 2009, SKROBANEK 2009).

In light of this, this article will examine, on the basis of data from the BIBB Transition Study (see the remarks regarding the methodology used), how strongly differences arising in connection with social background (in other words, the parents' education level and socio-economic status) are felt on the "threshold" from secondary school to the vocational training system. In keeping with HILLMERT (2009), the starting conditions - in other words, the youths' educational qualifications upon leaving the general secondary school system 0 will be examined first. The statistical correlations between the level of school leaving certificate earned and the individual's social background will then be ascertained. The (statistical) effects that social background has on the transition to the vocational training system will then be analysed in two steps. The first step will examine the extent to which the decision to undergo in-company vocational training is dependent on the individual's social background, in other words, to what extent secondary effects of the individual's social background (according to BECKER und HILLMERT) play a role in this connection.⁰⁵ This is followed by an examination of how social background affects the individual's success in making the transition to vocational training that leads to full vocational qualification. One example of this would be the parents' provision of assistance.⁰⁶ The multivariate analyses conducted in this connection took into account not only social background but also the youths' educational background, in other words, the starting conditions which were already strongly influenced in their prior educational development by the interplay between the primary and secondary effects of social background. These starting conditions differ by gender and immigrant status to a relatively large degree. In order to determine whether the level of school-leaving qualification and social background had the same or perhaps different effects on the transition processes between secondary school and the vocational training system in the respective group of persons, the analyses were conducted with corresponding differentiations.

Remarks regarding the methodology used in the BIBB Transition Study
A total of 7,230 youths who were born between 1982 and 1988 were surveyed for the BIBB Transition Study. The survey was conducted from June to August 2006 using computer-assisted telephone interviews. The survey included Germans and foreign nationals whose proficiency in German was sufficient to participate in the survey. The study used a retrospective longitudinal survey which covered the respondents' entire educational and occupational biographies, starting will their general schooling. The data were based on a representative sample and were adjusted to the structures of the population by weighting them according to key attributes on the basis of official statistics (see BEICHT/FRIEDRICH/ULRICH 2008).

The analyses presented here take into account only those respondents who had left the general school system before 2006 and for whom there was consequently information available on their subsequent educational development. Approximately 5,500 respondents, including more than 1,000 individuals with an immigrant background, fulfilled this requirement.

The question of whether an individual has an immigrant background was determined "indirectly": It was presumed that an individual does not have an immigrant background when he/she is a German national, learned only German at home as a child and his/her parents were born in Germany. It was assumed that those individuals who do not satisfy all three of these requirements have an immigrant background.

Of the school leavers between the ages of 18 and 24 who were included in the analysis, 48% were female and 23% had an immigrant background (weighted findings).

This article is organised as follows: It begins by briefly outlining the (statistical) effects that the social background of the school leavers covered by the analyses had on the level of formal qualification they had earned by the time they completed their general schooling. This is followed by an account of the education plans the respondents had at the end of their general schooling. It then examines the extent to which the individual's social background influenced his/her decision to seek an in-company training place. This is followed by a brief description of the strategies the individuals used in their efforts to find an in-company training place. And finally, this article takes a look at the level of success in landing an in-company vocational training place and determines how strong the effects of social background are in this connection. It closes with a summary and a conclusion.

In the analyses presented here, the youths' social background is depicted using three different attributes of their parents. The first is the father's occupational status⁰⁷, which provides insight into the family's socio-economic standing. The parents' (highest) level of secondary education completed and vocational qualifications - and thus the parents' human capital (see BAUMERT/STANAT/WATERMANN 2006) - were also taken into consideration. These attributes are closely connected with one another, as the correlations shown in Chart 1 indicate. For example, there is a strong positive correlation between having a parent with a university degree and having a father with a highly-skilled occupation. In the same way, there a relatively strong correlation between, for example, the individual's lack of a school-leaving certificate and having parents who have not completed formal vocational training.

Chart 1 shows the close connections between social background and the youths' level of schooling upon leaving the general school system.⁰⁸ It turns out, for example, that a disproportionately large share of youths whose two parents have not earned a school-leaving certificate or completed formal vocational training or whose father has a low-skill occupation earns a lower secondary school leaving certificate at the most. Youths from families in which at least one parent has earned qualification to enrol in a university or a university of applied sciences in Germany or has earned a degree from a university or university of applied sciences, or whose father has a highly-skilled occupation are particularly likely to complete their secondary schooling with qualification to enrol in a university or a university of applied sciences.

It also turns out that compared to youths who do not have an immigrant background; youths with an immigrant background tend to come from families with a lower social status: It is more likely that their parents have not completed any form of formal vocational training and their father has a low-skill occupation. Young immigrants also have substantially less favourable school-leaving qualifications.

Table 2 shows that young women are more successful than young men in the general secondary school system today.⁰⁹ More young women than young men earn an intermediate school leaving certificate or qualification to enrol in a university or university of applied sciences. It is not only young German women who complete markedly higher levels of secondary education than their male counterparts. The same applies to young women with an immigrant background who have taken a clear lead over young male immigrants.¹⁰

Slight differences according to gender and immigrant status could also be observed in the marks earned on the school leaving certificates: The average mark for young women was 2.6. At 2.8 the average mark for young men was not quite as good. Young female immigrants as a group had an average mark of 2.8 compared to the 2.6 average mark earned by young women of German descent. Male immigrants had an average mark of 2.9 while young men without an immigrant background had an average of 2.8.

Youths' school leaving certificates and marks constitute the individual's (formal) qualifications and thus their starting conditions when embarking on the transition to the vocational training system (see Introduction).

Upon completing their general secondary schooling, 80% of all youths intend to start a training programme that leads to formal vocational qualification or take up studies at university (see BEICHT/GRANATO 2009). A noticeable difference can particularly be seen between the education plans of school leavers who have earned qualification to enrol in a university and those who have not, as Table 3 shows. Youths who have not earned qualification to enrol in a university are most likely to seek an in-company training place. This is particularly the case among youths who have earned no more than a lower secondary school leaving certificate. Among this group, young men are more likely than young women to seek an in-company training place.¹¹ There are no formal restrictions on admission to "dual" vocational training (which combines part-time vocational schooling with practical work experience). In reality however, the selection process is conducted by the enterprise that provides the training and each enterprise has its own requirements for applicants' past school performance. The number of youths seeking vocational training at a full-time vocational school (including vocational training for the civil service) is much smaller. In this case, young women are substantially more interested in this type of training than young men are. An intermediate secondary school leaving certificate is usually required for learning an occupation at a full-time vocational school. Most youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university - and consequently who have the entire range of educational options to choose from - plan to study at university. Comparably few opt for in-company vocational training, with young women outnumbering young men in this case.

Less than 20% of all school leavers do not plan to immediately start a vocational training programme that will lead to formal vocational qualification. In such cases, youths who have not earned qualification to enter university often consider, for example, attending a programme at a full-time vocational school where they can obtain partial vocational qualification or a specialised vocationally-oriented upper secondary school - often with the intention of first earning a higher level of school leaving certificate than what they already have. Upon completing their general schooling, some youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university first devote some time to gaining personal or occupational orientation.¹²

After completion of general schooling, the education plans of young men and women with and without an immigrant background deviate somewhat from one another, even when broken down by the level of school leaving certificate earned. For example, compared to their German counterparts, young immigrants who have earned an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate are less likely to seek an in-company vocational training place. Instead they tend to target training at a full-time vocational school or do not plan to start a vocational training programme immediately.

To what extent do the plans a youth has for his future education upon completing his general schooling depend on his level of school leaving qualification and his social background? And what differences can be seen based on gender or immigrant status? The following study concentrates on the decision whether to seek an in-company training place. Multivariate analyses (binary logistic regression models) in which not only the attributes of the individual youth's qualifications (school leaving certificate, marks) but also the attributes of his/her respective social background (parents' level of education and vocational qualification, father's occupational status) were included as possible determinants (see Chart 4).¹³ Moreover, the region in which the individual is resident (western states and eastern states) was taken into account as control variable, in addition to the attributes Gender and Immigrant Background.¹⁴ Using logistic regressions, it was possible to identify the independent effect of each individual attribute because all the other variables were controlled correspondingly. Except in the case of an aggregate model for all school leavers (Model 1), separate models were also calculated for women and men (Models 2 and 3) and for youths with an immigrant background and youths who do not have an immigrant background (Models 4 and 5) in order to examine whether the variables School Leaving Qualification and Social Background differ according to gender or immigrant status.

Based on the findings from these analyses, the following effects could be ascertained in the decision whether to seek an in-company training place:

• As expected, in the case of the individual youth's qualification, the level of the school leaving certificate has a very strong influence: Interest in starting in-company vocational training is considerably less among individuals who complete their general secondary schooling with an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate than among individuals who have earned a lower secondary school leaving certificate at the most. The inclination to undergo in-company vocational training is even less among individuals who have earned a higher level of school leaving certificate (qualification to enrol in a university, qualification to enrol in a university of applied sciences). This observation applies not only to all school leavers (see Model 1) but also to young men and youths with or without an immigrant background (see Models 3 to 5). Young women constitute an exception: In this group, young women with an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate are just as interested in taking up in-company vocational training as young women with a lower level of school leaving certificate are (see Model 2).
  Poorer marks foster the decision to seek a training place among all youths, regardless of their gender or whether they have an immigrant background (see Models 1 to 5).
  This is probably due primarily to the fact that youths whose marks are not so good and who have not earned qualification to enrol in a university are less inclined to continue their education (such as at a commercial college or secondary technical school or by learning an occupation through a training programme at a full-time vocational school). In addition, youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university but whose marks are not so good are less inclined to study at university than their counterparts with better marks are. The reason in both cases: They feel they have less chances of success.
   
• Looking at social background, the parents' level of education has a marked influence on whether their children decide to seek an in-company training place: When the father and mother have completed lower secondary school at most, their children are generally much more likely to aim for an in-company training place than when one or both parents has/have an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate (see Model 1). This effect is also evident among young men and among youths who do not have an immigrant background (see Models 3 and 5), but not however among young women or youths of foreign descent (see Models 2 and 4). In comparison, when at least one parent has earned qualification to enrol in a university, a youth is much less likely to seek in-company vocational training (see Models 1 to 5).
  The parents' level of vocational qualification has the following influence: Youths who have one parent who has had academic training are generally less likely to take up in-company vocational training than youths whose parents completed non-academic vocational training (see Model 1). This applies to young men and to youths of German origin (see Models 3 and 5) but not however to young women or to youths with an immigrant background (Models 2 and 4).
  The father's occupational status also plays a role: It is much less likely in all categories that children from families where the father has a highly-skilled occupation will opt to seek a training place than children whose father has a mid-level occupational status (see Models 1 to 5). Youths with an immigrant background tend to a very strong degree to seek in-company vocational training when their father has a low-skill occupation (see Model 4).
   
• An examination of the attributes Gender and Immigrant Status (when all other attributes are controlled) reveals the following influences:
  In comparison to young men, young women 0 both with and without an immigrant background 0 are less likely to seek in-company vocational training directly following completion of their general secondary schooling (see Models 1, 4 and 5).¹⁵ This is due primarily to the fact that more young women plan to undergo training for an occupation at a full-time vocational school.
  Upon completion of their general secondary schooling, youths with an immigrant background are less likely to undergo in-company vocational training than their counterparts who do not have an immigrant background (see Model 1). This effect is not however significant in the models that are broken down by sex (men and women) (see Models 2 and 3).
  

It can be said that the decision to seek in-company vocational training upon completion of general secondary schooling depends to a very large degree on the level of secondary schooling the individual has completed and the marks that the individual earned 0 in other words, on the "starting conditions" that the individual has when commencing the transition to vocational training (see Introduction). School leavers with a poor educational background are particularly interested in undergoing "dual" vocational training (which combines part-time schooling with practical work experience). This is due, first and foremost, to the fact that vocational training programmes offered by full-time vocational schools usually require an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate and studies at a university require qualification to enrol in a university or qualification to enrol in a university of applied sciences.

However, social background also has a marked influence the individual's choice of path for their further education: For example, youths are much less likely to seek an in-company training place when their parents have high education levels and a high socio-economic status than youths whose parents' level of education and socio-economic status are lower 0 even when both groups have the same educational background. This confirms (albeit in the opposite direction) the findings of other studies which substantiate that secondary effects of social background (in other words, education decisions that differ according to socio-economic status due to differences in the assessment of the benefits that the respective education path offers (see Introduction)) have an extremely strong influence on access to universities (see BECKER/HECKEN 2007, MAAZ 2006). According to this, persons from the working and lower middle classes who have earned qualification to enrol in a university are particularly deterred from studying at university by the anticipated cost of studying at university and therefore tend to opt for vocational training instead (see BECKER/HECKEN 2007).

Youths who aim for an in-company training place after completing their general secondary schooling have been faced with a tight vocational training market for some time now.¹⁶ The German vocational training market offers many school leavers somewhat unfavourable prospects (see BEICHT/FRIEDRICH/ULRICH 2008, BEICHT/GRANATO 2009, 2010, EBERHARD/ULRICH 2010). These youths have to be active on a number of levels when seeking a training place if they are have any chance of starting vocational training without a delay despite the market situation. The following section provides an overview of the types and scopes of the strategies youths use when seeking an in-company training place (see Chart 5).¹⁷ 

Well over half of all school leavers who seek an in-company training place register with the relevant employment agency18 ¹⁸  as seeking a training place.  Employment agencies have the task of helping youths who have the fundamental knowledge and attitudes required for successful vocational training with their efforts to find a training place and, if possible, place them in vocational training that is suited to their inclination, aptitude and capabilities. Youths with poorer marks are more likely to use the services offered by their local employment agency whereas school leavers who have earned qualification to enrol in a university tend to forego this avenue. Youths whose mother and father have earned formal vocational qualification are also less likely to turn to an employment agency. Many more young women - with an immigrant background or with no immigrant background - use the services of an employment agency than young men do. The same applies to young men with an immigrant background in comparison to young men of German descent.

Nearly three-quarters of the youths seeking a training place look for vacancies on their own in newspapers, the internet or other media. Youths with an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate and, particularly, youths with a higher level of school leaving certificate use this option much more than youths with a lower level of school leaving certificate. Young women - particularly young women of German descent - use the various media much more than young men do when looking for a training place.

Approximately one out of every eight youths place an advertisement in the newspaper or internet as part of their efforts to find an in-company training place. This is done by a comparatively large number of school leavers with a lower secondary school leaving certificate or less and by youths from homes in which neither the father nor the mother have earned formal vocational qualification or a university degree. Young immigrants also use this option relatively frequently. Apparently youths who have particular difficulties finding a training place especially opt to place advertisements.

More than 70% of the youths seeking an in-company training place have parents, other relatives, acquaintances and friends who help them establish contact with enterprises that provide in-company vocational training. School leavers who have earned a lower secondary school leaving certificate or less or who have poor marks on their school leaving certificate particularly make use of this type of assistance, whereas youths who have earned qualification to enrol in a university tend to (can) forego it. Compared to youths of German descent, youths with an immigrant background - particularly young women with an immigrant background - received considerably less such support from their private circles.

More than 90% of all school leavers who want to undergo vocational training send written applications to training companies (enterprises that provide in-company vocational training). The share of school leavers with a lower level of school leaving certificate who do this is however smaller than the share of school leavers with an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate. Youths seeking a training place submit an average of 28 applications. This number is markedly higher for young women than for young men. When the applicants have an immigrant background, no difference can be observed between the sexes. In other words, young women and young men with an immigrant background are equally likely to send applications. Many school leavers give consideration to more than one occupation when looking for a training place. They apply for an average of three to four recognised occupations that require completion of formal vocational training. In this connection, only relatively small differences can be observed here between young men and young women or between youths with an immigrant background and youths who do not have an immigrant background.

One out of every four youths who seeks an in-company training place applies for training places in enterprises that are located more than 100 kilometres away from their home.¹⁹ The willingness to move elsewhere is much greater among young women than it is among young men. More than four-fifths of the youths seeking a training place go to interviews. The share of young women with an immigrant background who go to interviews is however smaller than it is among other youths. Youths go to five or six interviews on average. Young women as a whole go to somewhat more interviews than young men do.

In summary, it can be said that school leavers make considerable efforts to find an in-company training place.²⁰  Young women are even more active and more flexible than young men in this connection. Youths with an immigrant background are particularly active in several ways. Youths with no more than a lower secondary school leaving certificate often draw on the help of family or friends, and are not as likely to actively seek a training place in various media. They also apply in writing less often than youths with a better educational background.

Despite intensive efforts, not all youths by far who want to undergo vocational training succeed in starting vocational training promptly following completion of their general schooling. In the years since the mid-1990s, making the transition from secondary school to training that leads to full vocational qualification has become more difficult and, especially, protracted (see EBERHARD/ULRICH 2010, BEICHT/FRIEDRICH/ULRICH 2008). To date, this has been primarily due to a shortage of training places. However, some youths additionally do not yet have the fundamental knowledge and attitudes required for successful vocational training when they leave secondary school. Approximately one out of every three school leavers who has not earned qualification to enrol in a university first attends one or more programmes provided through the "transition system" which offer only partial rather than full vocational qualification (see BEICHT 2009). The majority of these youths originally intended to start vocational training immediately after completion of their general secondary schooling.

How successful are school leavers with their search for a training place? In the following section, the level of their success in making the transition from secondary school to the vocational training system is measured by whether the individual starts vocational training and how long the transition process lasted. The amount of time it takes to make the transition to the vocational training system and the likelihood that the individual makes this transition was calculated with the help of the Kaplan-Meier method.²¹ A period of three years following completion of the general secondary school system was observed for this. The analysis first examined the transition to in-company vocational training and covered only youths who intended to undergo this type of vocational training. When looking for a training place, women in particular consider - additionally or only - occupations that are taught at full-time vocational schools. For this reason, the analysis was then expanded to include all youths who sought in-company vocational training or a training programme at a full-time vocational school. In this part of the analysis, success is defined as the commencement of in-company, extra-company²² or school-based vocational training.

Out of the young women who looked for an in-company training place following completion of their general secondary schooling, only 47% had started in-company vocational training within a period of one year. By contrast, this figure was 63% for young men (see Chart 6, left section).²³ Over the course of three years, only 68% of these young women started in-company vocational training, compared to 82% of their male counterparts. Thus young women have a substantially harder time finding in-company vocational training than young men do. The differences observed here remain virtually constant over time.

When placement in every form (in-company, extra-company and school-based) of vocational training is examined, transition rates are considerably higher, particularly for young women (see Chart 6, right section). The primary reason for this is that young women have very good chances of finding a training place in the vocational school system, particularly due to their better school leaving certificates. For this reason many of them also opt for this form of vocational training when their efforts to find an in-company training place have been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, school-based vocational training does not completely cancel out young women's poorer prospects. Even after three years, their placement rate for in-company, extra-company and school-based vocational training is still five percentage points lower than it is for young men.

Analyses that are additionally broken down by immigrant status show that young men of German descent have by far the greatest success making the transition to in-company vocational training (see Chart 7, left section). Young women of German descent have considerably poorer prospects. However, young women with an immigrant background are the least likely of all to find an in-company training place. Compared to them, young men with an immigrant background fare noticeably better. When all forms of vocational training are taken into consideration, the level of success in making the transition to the vocational training system rises, particularly among young women of German descent (see Chart 7, right section). Nonetheless, their placement rates still do not quite match those of men of German descent. Young immigrants are much less likely to receive in-company, extra-company or school-based vocational training, whereby hardly any difference could be observed between the sexes.

Following this explanation of the differences between young men and women who do not have an immigrant background and young men and women with an immigrant background in the level of success they have in making the transition to the vocational training system, this article will now examine how and to what extent youths' school leaving qualification has an effect upon their transition to the vocational training system and whether and to what extent the effects of social background can be demonstrated in this connection as well. Here once again, multivariate analyses (Cox regression models) were conducted (see Chart 8). These analyses make it possible to determine the independent influence that the individual attribute has on the rate of transition to the vocational training system, with each of the other respective variables examined here being controlled. A period of three years following completion of the general secondary school system was also observed in this case. The attributes of the individual's qualification (level of school leaving certificate, marks) and social background (parents' level of education and vocational qualification, father's occupational status) were included in the regression models along with the attributes Gender and Immigrant Background. In addition to the social background, open communication in the individual's family was also taken into account.²⁴ Other attributes were additionally included which, according to theoretical presumptions and existing analysis findings (see BEICHT/FRIEDRICH/ULRICH 2008), could have an influence on the transition to the vocational training system. These involve an attribute for the youth's level of social integration and three training market-related attributes (see Chart 8).²⁵ Models were calculated for placement in in-company vocational training (Models 1 to 3) and placement in every form (in-company, extra-company and school-based) of vocational training (Models 4 to 6) for all youths who were seeking a training place (Models 1/4) and the broken down by women (Models 2/5) and by men (Models 3/6).

Based on the findings from these analyses, the following factors were seen to have an influence on the individual's success in making the transition to vocational training:

• Looking at the individual's level of qualification, school leavers with an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate have markedly better chances of quickly starting in-company vocational training or starting a vocational training programme that leads to full vocational qualification than do youths who have earned a lower secondary school leaving certificate at most. This is the case for both young women and young men (see Models 1 to 6). By contrast, qualification to enrol in a university or to enrol in a university of applied sciences is not necessarily conducive to finding an in-company training place or starting a vocational training programme at a full-time vocational school. In fact, this level of qualification had a negative effect for young men (see Models 3 and 6). This initially surprising finding can be explained first and foremost by the fact that many young men with qualification to enrol in a university first have to do compulsory military or alternative community service upon completing their general secondary schooling. This delays their transition to the vocational training system.²⁶ The findings generally indicate that poor marks substantially reduce the individual's chances of making a quick transition to in-company vocational training or a vocational training programme that leads to full vocational qualification (see Models 1 to 6).
• The following is of particular note in connection with social background: Compared to homes in which both the father and mother have earned formal vocational qualification, coming from a home in which neither parent or just one parent has completed formal vocational training has a negative impact across the board on an individual's chances of making the transition to the vocational training system (see Models 1 to 6). This effect is not significant however for young women who seek in-company vocational training (see Model 2).
  On the other hand, the level of the parents' secondary school leaving certificate and the father's occupational status do not have any significant impact on the individual's chances of making the transition to the vocational training system.
  All in all, open, problem-oriented communication in the home has a positive impact on a youth's chances of landing an in-company training place or making the transition to any form of vocational training (see Models 1 and 4).
• The following effects can be discerned for the attributes Gender and Immigrant Status:
  Compared to their male counterparts, young women have significantly less chances of making the transition to in-company vocational training. This cannot be explained by the other determinants (see Model 1). Their chances of success are also less when all forms of vocational training are examined (see Model 4).
  Even when all other attributes are controlled, youths with an immigrant background have substantially less chances of starting in-company vocational training or a programme that leads to full vocational qualification than do youths who do not have an immigrant background (Models 1 and 4). This clearly applies to male immigrants (see Models 3 and 6) but is not significant for young female immigrants in connection with in-company vocational training (see Model 2).²⁷

To summarise, it can be said that the individual's likelihood of making the transition to in-company vocational training or a programme that leads to full vocational qualification is strongly influenced by the school leaving certificate he/she has earned 0 in other words, by their starting conditions upon entering the transition process (see Introduction). An individual's chances are particularly favourable when they have earned an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate and good marks. On the other hand, a higher level school leaving certificate does not have a positive effect because not all school leavers by far who have earned qualification to enrol in a university immediately find a training place which matches their 0 usually ambitious 0 occupational expectations.

Social background also has an effect on the transition to the vocational training system. The findings from the analyses indicate that parents who have completed formal vocational training can help their children better and more effectively with deciding on an occupation and finding a training place. On the other hand, it is possible that many fathers and/or mothers who have not earned formal vocational qualification lack the knowledge and contacts needed to facilitate their children's access to vocational training.

The likelihood of finding vocational training is less for young women than it is for young men.²⁸  The reasons for this cannot be identified on the basis of the data from the BIBB Transition Study which were used for the analyses. The fact that young women undergo vocational training in a very narrow range of "typical women's occupations" in the service field (see KROLL 2010) and face very strong competition over training places in these occupations probably plays an important role in this connection. In contrast, male school leavers who seek a training place are spread over a substantially larger number of production and service occupations for which altogether more training places are available. Thus, young women's poorer prospects would be attributable primarily also to the gender-specific segmentation of structures in Germany's dual vocational training system.

The reasons for this remain unclear. Studies point to various factors (see  DORSCH-SCHWEIZER 2004, GRANATO/ SCHWERIN 2008, KRÜGER 2001, PUHLMANN 2006, SCHITTENHELM 2007, SOLGA/PFAHL 2009, TRAPPE 2006). The discussion on this examines whether and to what extent "typical women's occupations" actually reflect young women's preferences when choosing an occupation and whether and to what extent young women adjust to the chance and opportunity structures in the vocational training market while in the process of deciding on an occupation (KRÜGER 2001). A further factor could be the lack of support within the individual's family and also at school when young women trying to decide on an occupation consider an industrial or technical occupation that requires completion of formal vocational training. The selection processes in the enterprises providing in-company vocational training might also play a role here because there is the chance that these processes are strongly influenced by a tendency to think in terms of certain gender-specific roles (DIETZEN 2002).

School leavers with an immigrant background have significantly fewer chances of finding a training place than school leavers with no immigrant background. Their lower level of academic qualification and their less favourable social background act as a brake on their success in making the transition to the vocational training system. However, even when all these factors are taken into account, an immigrant background still has an independent negative effect. Therefore, there apparently must be further factors, above and beyond the attributes that have been examined here, which have an effect and are related to immigrant status but cannot be identified with the data used for these analyses. Based on other studies, insufficient educational guidance and a less intensive search for a training place can be ruled out as possible explanations because these types of differences are not evident between youths with an immigrant background and youths who do not have an immigrant background (see BEICHT/GRANATO 2009, DIEHL/FRIEDRICH/HALL 2009). Current studies likewise indicate that a lack of social networks and poorer language skills do not play a crucial role (see DIEHL/FRIEDRICH/HALL 2009). Thus, all the previously very common explanations for the fact that youths of foreign descent have substantially less chance of making the transition to the vocational training system have since been disproved or do not stand up to scrutiny as sole reasons for this situation. The selection processes used in training companies for choosing applicants for training places could possibly play a decisive role. According to a Swiss study, the decision logics at work in the selection of suitable applicants could have an enormous negative influence on the chances young people with an immigrant background have for accessing in-company vocational training (see IMDORF 2010).

Distinct differences in the transition from secondary school to the vocational training system can be observed based on social background. The individual's level of formal qualification upon leaving the general secondary education system 0 in other words, his/her starting conditions for the transition to vocational training 0 vary considerably, depending on family background. A disproportionately large number of youths whose parents have attained a high level of education and whose father has a high occupational status earn qualification to enrol in a university or qualification to enrol in a university of applied sciences. Conversely, a particularly large proportion of children from more socially-disadvantaged families in which education is less important does not earn more than a lower secondary school leaving certificate. It can be assumed that these differences arise from the interaction between primary effects of social background (influence that the home exerts on skill development) and secondary effects of social background (influence on decisions regarding the individual's education). Additional effects of the individual's level of qualification and social background also become important at the threshold to vocational training.

First of all, vocational training plans at the end of general secondary schooling vary greatly, depending to a very strong degree on the level of school leaving qualification the respective individual has earned: The vast majority of school leavers who have earned qualification to enrol in a university and good marks plan to study at university, while youths who have not earned qualification to study at university for the most part strive for in-company vocational training, particularly when their marks were not so good. This of course is due primarily to the differences in admission requirements for the different types of training. The individual's social background however also plays a role in decisions regarding vocational training: Youths from better-educated homes with a higher social status are less likely than youths from a less favourable social background to seek in-company vocational training, even when there is no difference in their level of school leaving qualification. This is also the case when they have not earned qualification to enrol in a university. The findings thus indicate that secondary effects of social background (different assessments of the benefits that the individual education path offers) play a role in decisions regarding the individual's future educational/vocational path. These effects further reinforce the tendency for the dual vocational training system to recruit trainees from the middle and lower classes.

Despite intensive efforts to find a training place, many youths who want to undergo vocational training do not succeed in starting in-company vocational training or even a school-based programme that leads to full vocational qualification promptly following completion of their general schooling. Some have still not been able to start vocational training even three years after completing their secondary schooling. Success in making the transition to vocational training (the amount of time it takes to make the transition and the likelihood that the individual makes this transition) depends to a large extent on the individual youth's school leaving qualification. The prospects tend to be poor when the individual has earned no more than a lower secondary school leaving certificate and his marks were not good. Prospects are particularly good when the individual has earned an intermediate secondary school leaving certificate and good marks. Social background however also has an influence on the individual's chances of making the transition to vocational training: Youths whose father and mother have earned formal vocational qualification have particularly good chances, regardless of their level of school leaving qualification. In such families, the parents' own experience with vocational training, in other words, their "contact" with vocational training apparently enables them to effectively support their child's search for a training place. It is evident that this is less the case in families where one or both parents has/have not earned formal vocational qualification.

Junge Frauen Young women earn better school leaving certificates and better marks in the general secondary school system than young men do. Not as many young women as young men want to undergo in-company vocational training upon completion of their general secondary schooling. On the other hand, young women are more likely than young men to aim for vocational training at a full-time vocational school. Although they have better school leaving qualifications, female school leavers' prospects of landing an in-company training place are substantially worse than their male counterparts' chances. When all forms of vocational training are taken into account 0 in other words, not only in-company vocational training but also school-based and extra-company vocational training 0 young women's chances of making the transition to the vocational training system approach the level seen among young men, but are still not as good.²⁹ Thus in many cases the problems for young women who do so well in the general secondary school system begin at the threshold to vocational training. This is particularly the case for women who have not earned qualification to enrol in a university and are dependent on non-academic training paths. It is well known that after crossing the "second threshold" to employment young women are faced with further disadvantages in the form of lower earnings and poorer prospects for promotion. Women's success in the general education system should consequently not make us forget the continued disadvantages they face in the vocational training and employment systems.

Compared to youths of German descent, young immigrants already have substantially fewer chances in the general education system. This is reflected in lower levels of school leaving certificates and poorer marks. Male immigrants fare worse here than female immigrants. Once they leave the general secondary school system, a very large proportion of youths with an immigrant background 0 just like youths who do not have an immigrant background 0 strives to undergo dual vocational training. Their chances of finding an in-company training place are however significantly worse than those of their counterparts of German descent. The options offered by school-based and extra-company vocational training improve young immigrants' chances of accessing vocational training somewhat, particularly for young women. Despite this, substantial differences still exist in comparison to male and female youths of German descent. Although their less favourable educational background clearly makes the transition to vocational training more difficult for young immigrants, this is by no means the only reason for their poor chances of finding a training place. Less favourable social conditions 0 in other words, the parents' lower levels of secondary schooling and vocational training and the father's lower occupational status 0  also do not suffice as an explanation for this. The precise factors that lead to the much less lower level of success among young people with an immigrant background in making the transition to the vocational training system could not be determined to date.

Conclusion: For youths who come from socially disadvantaged families or families in which immigration plays a role, disadvantages accumulate in the course of their education. In many cases, an individual's prerequisites are already poorer even before he enters the general school system. Problems and unfavourable decisions regarding the individual's future education then follow during the years of general schooling. These youths' starting conditions are often very unfavourable when they reach the threshold to the vocational training system. Dual vocational training is often the only opportunity they have to earn full vocational qualification because there are no formal restrictions on admission to this type of training. Youths must however compete with others on a vocational training market where training companies select applicants for training places on the basis of their past performance and tend not to give those youths a chance whose performance has not been as good, particularly youths with an immigrant background. As a result, 31% of all young adults with an immigrant background in the 20-to-30-year-old age cohort currently have not earned formal vocational qualification, more than double the proportion seen among their counterparts who do not have an immigrant background (13%) (see Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2010). In light of the imminent massive shortage of young skilled workers, enterprises will have to reconsider whether they should continue using the same criteria for selecting applicants for their training places. Due to the current demographic trend, trade and industry will be dependent on the entire potential workforce in the future. It should therefore be in enterprises' particular interest to make sound vocational training available to all young people if possible, including those who are less talented. The individual's descent and gender should not play a role in this connection.