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Socio‐Economic and Gender Differences in Post‐Secondary Pathways in the UK, Germany, and Australia

Tomaszewski, Wojtek; Dietrich, Hans; Henseke, Golo; Xiang, Ning; Schoon, Ingrid; (2025) Socio‐Economic and Gender Differences in Post‐Secondary Pathways in the UK, Germany, and Australia. Social Inclusion , 13 , Article 9601. 10.17645/si.9601. Green open access

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Abstract

This study investigates variations in school‐to‐work transitions (SWTs) by socio‐economic status (SES), gender, and socio‐cultural context. Leveraging data from three nationally representative longitudinal panel studies, we compare the experiences of young people coming of age in the 21st century (2011 to 2023) in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. We examine the role of different support systems that scaffold the SWT process along various post‐secondary pathways, including university, further education/vocational training, and employment tracks, with a particular focus on variations by parental education and gender. Utilizing longitudinal data from the Understanding Society Panel in the UK (<span class="fontstyle0"><em>N</em> = </span><span class="fontstyle0">15,692 observations), the German Socio‐Economic Panel (GSOEP; <em>N</em> = </span><span class="fontstyle0">5,464), and the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (</span><span class="fontstyle2"><span class="fontstyle0"><em>N</em> = </span> </span><span class="fontstyle0">5,759), we track synthetic cohorts born between 1993 and 1995 from ages 18 to 27 in the three countries. We employ linear probability models to conduct a cross‐national comparative analysis, identifying variations in post‐secondary pathways across the three country contexts. The choice of countries is motivated by their shared status as developed economies with distinct features in their SWT systems—contrasting the neoliberal deregulatory frameworks of Britain and Australia with Germany’s employment‐focused dual system. The findings reveal significant effects of parental education on post‐secondary transitions, as well as the differing roles of gender across various educational policy contexts. These results underscore the complexity of SWT when considered in different national settings. The insights generated by this analysis highlight the importance of dedicated policies to support low‐SES youth and promote gender equality in education and employment outcomes.</span>

Type: Article
Title: Socio‐Economic and Gender Differences in Post‐Secondary Pathways in the UK, Germany, and Australia
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.17645/si.9601
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.17645/si.9601
Language: English
Additional information: © Wojtek Tomaszewski, Hans Dietrich, Golo Henseke, Ning Xiang, Ingrid Schoon. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction of the work without further permission provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Keywords: Australia; cross‐national comparative analysis; gender; Germany; post‐secondary pathways; school‐to‐work transitions; socio‐economic status; UK
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10206679
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