How key transitions influence school and labour market careers of descendants of Moroccan and Turkish migrants in the Netherlands

Most educational research examines school outcomes at certain stages or at the final stage of the school career. This article looks at the entire school career and the transition to the labour market. It focuses on key transitions to identify the educational institutional arrangements that either help or hinder school and labour market success among the most disadvantaged groups in the Netherlands: young people of Moroccan and Turkish descent. The Dutch educational system is one of the most complicated school systems in Europe. Consequently, parents and children have to make many ‘choices’ when navigating it. Many of these key ‘choice’ moments are selection points, either because they are not real choices but dependent upon a teacher’s recommendation or because parents and pupils need a great deal of information about the school system in order to make a choice. This usually results in inequalities for the most disadvantaged groups. Because selection is disguised as ‘choices’, the structural inequalities of the Dutch school system are not usually perceived as blocking mechanisms for disadvantaged students     

The questionable role of higher education as an occupational screening device

Employers optimally pursue activities which facilitate the coordinating of employee characteristics and the requirements of the job. One allegedly important employee characteristic is the level of education. Employees with higher levels of education are rewarded with higher wages than employees with lower levels. This may occur if higher levels of education make an employee truly more productive or if because of an employer's beliefs only those individuals with higher levels of education are allowed to enter the higher paying positions (occupational screening).The above propositions are testable, depending crucially upon the theoretical model employed for determining occupational choices. We shall compare the implications of two possible occupation choice models: (1) enter the job which offers the highest lifetime income, (2) enter the job which offers the highest level of overall satisfaction. We estimate these two models using the NBER-TH data sample. By distributing our estimated results and the actual distribution of occupations over the education levels of high school, some college and BA we can see if more or less people are expected to enter specific occupations at each education level. Support for screening exists if more people are expected in high status occupations at low education levels than are actually in those occupations.When comparing the estimated results for each model we see different outcomes emerge. The latter indicates that screening does not exist while the former does. We present arguments as to why we feel that the second model is the more correct and appropriate and, consequently, why we feel that education is not an effective screening device.     

Doctor/Nurse,Teacher/Caretaker: Children's Gendered Choice of Adult Occupation in Interviews and Role Plays

Abstract

A social constructionist analysis is used here to examine London primary school children's job choices in interview discussions and role play groups. Children's selections are compared according to gender, and according to the different interactive environments in which they made them. By analysing their responses this paper investigates which gendered constructions appeared to prevail, and the ways in which children explain their ideas. Previous studies of children's occupational choices have found their responses to be gender‐stereotypical. This paper shows that in their interviews the children in this study chose a diverse selection of jobs, which were less gender‐stereotypical than found in previous studies. However, a clear dichotomy remained between the attributes of the jobs chosen by the different genders, and few children chose jobs traditionally performed by the opposite sex. Moreover, in their role play groups children's constructions of gender and adult occupation often appeared different, and sometimes more gender‐stereotypical, than those in the interviews.     

大学生职业生涯规划实施刍议

职业生涯规划，关系着一个人是否能在社会环境中找到自己的正确定位、充分发挥自己的潜能、走向成功。它是大学生迈入社会，实现自己人生抱负的关键一步。结合高等学校实际，文章提出了大学生进行职业生涯规划时应遵循的相关理论，阐述了大学生职业生涯规划的具体步骤和实施内容，从理论和实践2个层面探索了大学生职业生涯规划的具体指导方法，并对大学生职业生涯规划与企业员工职业生涯规划二者进行了比较。     

Making a good career choice: A decision-analytical intervention to enhance proactive decision-making and career choice self-efficacy in high school students

At the end of high school, teenagers must deal with the first life-changing decision of determining what to do after graduation. For these decisions, adolescents need to be able to make good choices. However, most schools have not yet implemented decision trainings into their curricula. A new intervention called “KLUGentscheiden!” was developed to train complex decision-making in high school students to close this gap. The intervention targets three key components of good decision-making: envisioning one's objectives, identifying relevant alternatives, and comparing the identified alternatives by a weighted evaluation. We assumed that successfully training those decision-analytical steps should enhance self-perceived proactive decision-making skills. In addition, the training should also enhance self-assessed career choice self-efficacy. The intervention was evaluated in a pseudorandomized control study including 193 high school students. Compared to a control group, the intervention group significantly increased proactive decision-making skills and career choice self-efficacy. Although different long-term evaluations are still pending, the KLUGentscheiden! intervention provides an important tool to train complex decision-making in high-school students. It also has the potential to apply to other career choices of young individuals, such as choosing majors, a final thesis, a job, or a field of work.     

Does an Emphasis on the Concept of Quantum States Enhance Students' Understanding of Quantum Mechanics?

Teaching physics implies making choices. In the case of teachingquantum physics, besides an educational choice – the didactic strategy – another choice mustbe made, an epistemological one, concerning the interpretation of quantum theory itself. Thesetwo choices are closely connected. We have chosen a didactic strategy that privileges the phenomenological-conceptualapproach, with emphasis upon quantum features of the systems, instead of searching for classicalanalogies. This choice has led us to present quantum theory associated with an orthodox, yet realistic,interpretation of the concept of quantum state, considered as the key concept of quantum theory,representing the physical reality of a system, independent of measurement processes. The results of theimplementation of this strategy, with three groups of engineering students, showed that more than a halfof them attained a reasonable understanding of the basics of quantum mechanics (QM) for thislevel. In addition, a high degree of satisfaction was attained with the classes as 80% of thestudents of the experimental groups claimed to have liked it and to be interested in learning more about QM.     

2009届工程机械专业毕业生就业状况调查及分析——以湖北交通职业技术学院为例

通过对湖北交通职业技术学院工程机械专业2009届毕业生就业状况的统计和分析,在毕业生在就业过程中对就业形势、毕业后的选择、毕业后选择就业的主要原因、就业考虑的主要因素、求职中困扰学生的主要因素、认为工作难找的原因、期待工作的地点、当前毕业生就业中存在的主要问题、用人单位最看重毕业生哪个方面和对就业指导学生的要求等十个方面对毕业生进行调查和分析,分析结果可以为毕业生就业提供参考。     

从思想政治理论课的调查问卷中拷问高职大学生的就业核心能力

就业的本质是社会对求职者素质的需要和认可。大学生是否具备社会需要和认可的素质便成了就业的重要因素。在我国经济正处于快速发展、各行各业都需要大量人才的时期,大学生出现就业难显然不是正常现象;而素质的缺失是就业难的关键因素。笔者试图从一份思想政治理论课的调查问卷中拷问大学生的素质,以期在思想政治理论课的教学中培养大学生的就业核心能力,提高他们日后在就业市场的竞争能力。     

Site Selection within Comparative Case Study and Ethnographic Research

In reading numerous comparative accounts that use case studies or ethnographies of schools and classrooms, it is evident that insufficient concern is often given to the choice of research sites. Far too often it seems that researchers settle for research sites to which they can easily gain convenient and ready access rather than thinking through the implications of particular choices. The result is that there are too many comparative case studies where the choice of both the countries involved and the more micro-sites and case studies do not appear to be closely related to any theoretical objectives of the study. It is recognised that when selecting sites, researchers have to consider the time, financial and personal costs involved in conducting fieldwork in what might be distant and inconvenient locations. Additionally, and obviously, ethnographic and case study research can only proceed where access has been achieved, and this is not always straightforward. But, however difficult access may be, it is crucial that obtaining access is not seen as the primary consideration in selecting an appropriate site. The argument will be illustrated with examples from the author's current comparative research on schools for religious minorities in the Netherlands and England.     

高校毕业生为何“有业不就”——基于理性选择理论的解读

当前大学生就业难问题严峻,但是却有人“有业不就”。文章运用理性选择理论分析发现：物质资本、人力资本和社会资本对“有业不就”有着一定的影响;毕业生出于经济利益、工作满足及情感满足等目的而选择“有业不就”;当前的户籍制度和雇佣制度制约着高校毕业生的行动。高校毕业生“有业不就”是一种理性行动。     

Hazardous occupations, illness, and schooling

This initial study of the direct and indirect effects of schooling and direct effects of occupational hazards on health uses a recursive model involving choice of occupation that depends on schooling. Although the model represents only one possible conceptualization and the data on health are not the most desirable, evidence is found that occupational hazards have a strong influence on health independent of education and earnings. In addition, it is found that schooling has no direct effects on work hours lost due to illness and no indirect effects through choice of a safe job. The unimportance of schooling in affecting health may be partially explained by the limited sample which includes only blue-collar employees in very risky occupations.     

Developing 14–19 education: meeting needs and improving choice

The recent UK government Green Paper proposes reform for the supply side of 14–19 education, establishing four key goals. This article focuses on the first of these goals: meeting needs and improving choice. The article draws on research on sixth form colleges, general further education colleges and schools. It argues that employers, one of the two groups highlighted in the Green Paper, are a relatively weak force in shaping provision. The second group, young people, are more powerful due to current funding incentives. It presents evidence which suggests that colleges and schools perceive both practical and attitudinal difficulties in collaborating to meet needs by offering flexible routes and a distinctive range of choices. A long history of intervention in the supply side has not achieved widening participation nor equity amongst the choices offered. A more radical approach to influencing the demand side may be needed.     

Differentiation and social selectivity in German higher education

In this paper we investigate social selectivity in access to higher education in Germany and, unlike most previous studies, explicitly devote attention to semi-tertiary institutions such as the so-called universities of cooperative education. Drawing on rational choice models of educational decisions we seek to understand which factors influence upper secondary graduates from different social backgrounds in their choices of diverse tertiary institutions in Germany. We find that scholastic performance, expected job security, study duration, monetary costs and preferences for study content considerably contribute to the creation of socially selective choice patterns of post-secondary careers. The characteristics of semi-tertiary institutions—such as universities of cooperative education that combine firm-based training with tertiary education—constitute a potential alternative that could reduce inequities in access to higher learning.     

Enrollment projection models for institutional planning

This paper examines alternative techniques for projecting freshman enrollment in specific academic departments. Departmental enrollment projections provided by four different projection models are compared to actual departmental enrollments at a selected institution. Two of the models use only historical data, while the other two models are sensitized to current developments as indicated by the expressed major choices of prospective freshmen. The use of discriminant analysis to establish differential enrollment probabilities is also explored.Although different models do a better job for different curricular departments, the smallest mean squared error across all departments was obtained with the simplest projection technique. The use of the preliminary major choice of prospective freshmen did not improve departmental projections, and the student characteristics explored in this study did not differentiate enrolled from non-enrolled students adequately enough to improve enrollment projection accuracy.Based on the results obtained at this one institution, therefore, it would appear that simple and straightforward projection models can be as useful as complex and sophisticated models.This is an expanded version of an earlier paper read at the 1971 Association of Institutional Research Forum in Denver, Colorado.     

试论大学生敬业精神及其培养

敬业精神是做好本职工作的重要前提和可靠保障,敬业精神是克服职业领域种种问题的需要。大学毕业生无论是选择就业,还是创业,首先学会的应该是敬业。大学生应从以下几方面加强敬业精神的培养：首先要从学习上培养敬业意识,其次要增强组织纪律观念,对工作心存敬畏和感激之心,养成“工作中无小事”的工作习惯,最后以高度的责任感认真履行好自己的岗位职责。     

Walking in your footsteps: Sibling spillovers in higher education choices

This paper studies spillovers from older to younger siblings in higher education choices. Exploiting discontinuous admission rules generated by Chile’s centralized admission system to higher education, we identify strong sibling spillovers in the choice of college. Having an older sibling enroll in a given college increases by 42% the probability of enrolling in that institution. In contrast, we find no effect on major choices. We show evidence suggesting that sibling spillovers in college choice are mainly driven by siblings deriving benefits from attending college together.     

Prevalence of,and Factors Associated with,Unemployment among Graduates: Evidence from Tanzania

Unemployment in Tanzania and many other sub-Saharan African countries has remained one of the daunting challenges in these nascent economies. Drawing on secondary sources, this article reviews and analyses the employment barriers tanzanian graduates face, with a view to discussing possible counter-strategies. the article reveals barriers to employment which include the choice of field of study, job–skills mismatch, ineffective career guidance, lack of confidence and poor communication skills, ineffective labour market information system (LMIS) and gaps in the employment policy. It argues that addressing these barriers requires deliberate efforts to inform prospective graduates about various occupation options through career guidance. there is a need to review university training curricula in order to incorporate key generic skills like communication and entrepreneurship. this will steer graduates towards self-employment amidst an almost saturated formal labour market. Indeed, a thorough assessment by higher learning institutions of the labour market needs vis-à-vis training programmes is crucial.     

Adding scents to symbols: using food fragrances with deafblind young people making choices at mealtimes

This article is written by Heather Murdoch, research consultant for the Seashell Trust, Anne Gough, deputy headteacher at Royal School Manchester/Seashell Trust, Eileen Boothroyd, consultant for the Seashell Trust, and Kate Williams, a creative perfumer for Seven (PZ Cussons). It describes the use of food fragrances with deafblind students who are making lunchtime meal choices. The fragrances were added to picture symbols or objects of reference used to represent different menu options. A multiple case study, mixed methods design was used to evaluate three students' choice‐making before and after the introduction of the fragrances. Case study was chosen because of the complex and diverse needs created by deafblindness and because the project was an exploratory study of a new approach. The methods included semi‐structured interviews with students' 1:1 keyworkers and other staff, direct and videotaped observations of students' choice‐making, and written diary records of students' food choices and responses. The findings are necessarily tentative but support the use of food fragrances to assist students' understanding of mealtime choice‐making and their engagement with the process. The practicalities of using olfaction to support other sensory inputs are discussed, together with priorities for future research and practice in this area.     

‘Go somewhere,do something’. How students responded to the opportunity to complete an unstructured,five-day,wilderness solo in the Cantabrian Mountains,Northern Spain

This study explored the response of 28, second year undergraduate students to an innovative approach to a five-day solo. Periods of solitude are more likely to lead to positive outcomes when they are freely chosen than when they are programmed as part of a course. The extent to which a programmed solo can be ‘freely chosen’ by the individual is traditionally perceived as being constrained by logistic, safety and group needs. This study describes a solo, delivered as a required part of a core academic module, in which these perceived limitations were challenged. It describes an attempt to empower students to make their own choices about the nature of their solo experience and risk management. The study evaluates the extent to which individual students felt that they had freedom of choice; the choices they made and the outcomes of their solos. An intrinsic case study approach was used to explore the choices made by all students before, during and immediately after their solo as well as the more considered responses of 14 students eight months later. The data suggest that the pre-solo mindset was the most important factor in determining positive outcomes for participants and that offering students the opportunity to take responsibility for the structure of their own solo increased the likelihood that this would be achieved.     

Rats remember not wisely but too well

Rats were trained in a three-alternative spatial delayed matching-to-sample task in a starburst maze. Samples consisted of rewarded forced choices of one arm, and retention was indicated by rats’ returning to that arm after a 90-sec delay. If a rat made an error on its first choice, it was returned to the start compartment and allowed a second choice. Unlike in previous experiments with this task, all three arms were available during the animals’ second choices. The rats tended to perseverate in their second choices by returning to the arm that they had erroneously visited on their first choice. In Experiment 1, the accuracy of second choices following first-choice errors was below chance during the first block of sessions, when a 90-sec delay intervened between the first choice and the second choice, and at chance during the second block of sessions, when a short (5–6 see) delay intervened between first and second choices. In Experiment 2, long-delay and short-delay sessions were randomly presented to naive subjects. Similar results were obtained. In both experiments, the tendency to repeat the erroneous first choice was greater when long delays separated the two choices than when short delays were used. The results suggest that rats make their first-choice errors because they erroneously encode or remember the location of the sample and that they base their second choices on the same erroneous-memory. The increase in perseveration at long delays implies some kind of rehearsal-like mechanism that slows forgetting of the memory controlling the first choice.