Transitions into post-compulsory education: the choices of youth in the Ticino

Abstract

In comparison to other Swiss cantons, youth in the Ticino choose less frequently to join vocational education after compulsory education. This article presents a pilot study on the transition from lower to upper secondary education in the canton Ticino. Different forms of transition and problematic issues compared to those in vocational education are under scrutiny.
Based on the Career Decision Difficulties Questionnaire, data from 170 students have been collected on their vocational aspirations and choices, motives, criteria and difficulties at the end of the fourth year of lower secondary education. In addition, parents, career counsellors, head masters and teachers have been interrogated. The data from two surveys (end of lower secondary school, six month later) refer to potential interventions in the process of vocational choice in the education context: on the organisational-institutional level as well as on the content-methodological