Successful and Unsuccessful Educational Transitions in Adolescence. Evidence from the Swiss Youth Panel TREE

The dissertation is based on five journal articles and one book chapter, and aims at contributing to the understandig of antecedent conditions and correlates of (un)succssesful educational transitions in Switzerland. The dissertation addresses successful and unsuccessful educational transitions in adolescence by analysing both objective (enrolment, change, temporary dropout and graduation) and subjective (satisfaction, well-being) criteria of success. Three sets of influential factors are studies: students' school chievement, their social and cultural backround, and educational structures and contexts. The date dtem from the Swiss Youth Survey TREE. Overall the results contradict the image of the Swiss educational system portrayed by cross-cultural educational research, which emphasises the relative smoothness of school-to-work transitions in Switzerland. In contrast, results give evidence for multiple non-linear educational pathways and objectively as well as subjectively "unsuccessful" educational transitions. For normative educational transitions, results confirm strong effects of students' achievement, and their social and cultural backroung. Students' achievement and backroung did, however, only partly affect non-normative transitions. In addition, both factors had no influence on educational satisfaction, when controlling for educational context and learning settings. Taking into account the diverse antecedent conditions of different transition outcomes, it seems necessary to broaden unidimensional perspectives on career success and to develop a broader and more specific understanding of successful and unsuccessful educational transitions in adolescence. Standort: TREE-Bibliothek, E-Dokumente\Stalder_2009_Dissertation_Educational_Transitions.pdf ems 04.02.201