Student pathways and work-related learning: Tackling the transition from education to work
Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy Public Seminar
This seminar will be presented by Dr Eva Kyndt, University of Leuven, Belgium.
It has been recognised that the current situation of young individuals embarking on their careers has become increasingly difficult since the economic crisis in 2008. When entering the labour market, young individuals are increasingly confronted with structural barriers in finding (high-quality) jobs as evidenced in the increasing levels of youth unemployment or underemployment. Both students and employers experience a gap between education and the labour market. Moreover, it has been stated that education is not able to keep up with the many changes on the labour market. Consequently, education and employers alike have recognised that next to (job-specific) competences and expertise, the ability and motivation to continue learning and developing after graduation and throughout the career is pivotal. As such, one of our key questions is if and how education can prepare students for work-related learning. During this seminar, I will present the work my research team and I have been doing on the transition from education to work at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). Next to several systematic literature reviews two quantitative longitudinal studies are ongoing. I will present our results concerning student pathways in Belgium as well as discuss transition outcomes of vocational education and higher education students. Special attention will be given to the relation between education and work-related learning. We examined if work-related learning after graduation was related to the development of personal resources within the final year of higher education (e.g. self-efficacy, motivation & employability) and the fit between education and work.