Rethinking research on the education transitions of youth in the 1990s

Abstract

There is a vast array of research in the two fields of education and youth studies that deals with issues of transition, and which has shared a common acceptance of a developmental image or model of transition that assumed a predictable linear pathway leading to an end-point defined in terms of arrival at or achievement of adult status. As a result of the widespread economic and social changes of the past 25 years this type of redictability and achievement has been called into question. There is thus a need to re-examine prevailing assumptions and models of transition to account for the actual experience of the present generation of young people. This article is based on this concern. It begins with an assessment of the mainstream perspectives on transition, examines some alternative approaches, provides an exploratory discussion of the changed circumstances of transition in the 1990s, and finally discusses the methodological implications of rethinking research on education transitions in the future. The analysis articulates a theoretical concern about the inappropriateness of conventional policy settings and the need to broaden the scope of our research to allow for a greater diversity of ‘life-patterns’ more compatible with young people's experience than the prevailing imagery of pathways.