Unequal civic development? Vocational tracking and civic outcomes in Germany

Savage, C. , Becker, M. and Baumert, J. (2021) Unequal civic development? Vocational tracking and civic outcomes in Germany. AERA Open, 7, (doi: 10.1177/23328584211045397)

Abstract

Vocational education and training (VET) is a common form of upper secondary school tracking in countries around the world. There are ongoing debates regarding the effects of this differentiation on academic and labor market outcomes; however, evidence on civic outcomes is lacking. Using a unique cohort study in Germany (N = 2461) and a doubly robust weighting approach with a rich set of baseline covariates to address selection bias, we estimated the effects of VET (relative to academic upper secondary school) on political interest, internal political efficacy, and intent to vote across 15 years of late adolescence and early adulthood. We estimated negative effects of VET on these civic outcomes, particularly as participants grew older. Implications for future research and VET policy are discussed.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research project was supported, in part, by the Tübingen Postdoctoral Academy for Research on Education (PACE) at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, Tübingen; PACE is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Savage, Dr Corey
• Authors: Savage, C., Becker, M., and Baumert, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Educational Leadership & Policy
• Journal Name: AERA Open
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 2332-8584
• ISSN (Online): 2332-8584
• Published Online: 23 September 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in AERA Open 7
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence
• Data DOI: 10.3886/E148182V1