eduPost16

EDUPOST16: The construction of post-16 educational opportunities. An analysis of post-compulsory educational transitions in urban settings 

Main investigator:  Aina Tarabini 

Reference: ReferenciaCSO2016 80004 

Participating in learning beyond age 16 represent a key issue in educational policy, both from aa human capital and from an equity perspective. International organisations, such as the OECD and the EU, identify the access and completion of post-compulsory education as the minimum threshold to guarantee social and labour inclusion. From an equity perspective, the entry to post-compulsory education becomes a key mechanism to avoid social exclusion. Moreover, the improvement of educational opportunities does not only depend on being enrolled in post-compulsory education but also on the type of study and the chances of success derived from it. 

In addition, it is important to take into consideration that educational opportunities in post-16 education are not equally distributed in different urban contexts. As it has been demonstrated by several international studies, schooling and social conditions in the neighbourhoods of larger cities, may frame young peoples’ further educational opportunities. Hence, having knowledge of the specificities of a particular local context in which educational opportunities are built is a fundament goal in order to design efficient educational policy to tackle Early School Leaving. 

The aim of the project is to explore how young peoples’ educational post-16 choices and transitions are constructed from a threefold approach: territorial, institutional and subjective. This analysis will be carried out in two cities: Madrid and Barcelona. The fact of choosing these two cities, with high levels of urban segregation and economic inequalities secures to explore territorial inequalities in depth. While much research has been developed in Spain on educational transitions, none of them addresses the topic from this comprehensive perspective. In order to achieve this overall objective, the project is structured in three main objectives: 1) to estimate the territorial inequality of educational opportunities and explore the “neighbourhood effect” in post compulsory education transitions in the cities of Madrid and Barcelona; 2) to explore the impact of the institutional role in relation to career guidance towards post-compulsory education; and 3) to understand the reasoning of young people’s choices, based on a in-depth analysis on how young people construct their “rationales” and “strategies” in relation to post-compulsory education. 

This integrated perspective will be developed from a mixed method approach. The use of statistical databases from both cities will permit to identify disparities in school dropout rates and the different post-compulsory options in each territory. In a second stage, a qualitative analysis will be developed in the selected schools and students, which will address the analysis of the different post compulsory education opportunities in these different territories from the institutional and subjective perspective. 

Understanding the process of configuration of educational opportunities in post-16 transitions represents highly valuable information for educational planning and policy-makers and for the development of sufficiently flexible strategies adapted to particular local context to reduce Early School Leaving. 

Project Length: 2016-2020 

Founding Source/s: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness 

Type: Competitive Project 

Webpage: https://edupost16.es/en/