School-to-work transition performance of ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘neutral’ vocational streams: a gender balance sheet for vocational education graduates in greece

Abstract

The issue of gender-related differences in the transition of secondary vocational education graduates from school-to-work is discussed, relative to ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘neutral’ curriculum choices, using findings from a national survey of graduates. The discussion explores this issue using matched employment and earnings as critical indicators. Comparisons are made with corresponding findings in a survey conducted by CEREQ for France. This article suggests that gender equity in entry and transition to labour market is a complex issue, when explored relative to gender-related choices of vocational streams and gender differences in transition performance. The findings were generally consistent with expectations, relative to the social context, which prevails in Greece. The evidence supports the French conclusion that, under certain conditions, non-traditional education and training can benefit young women in their school-to-work transition. On the other hand, unlike the French findings, data on some segregated training programmes show that female labour market performance is surprisingly favourable, especially for pre-vocational training courses, which have a stronger general education component in the curriculum than vocational education courses.