‘she wants to be like her Mum?’ girls' experience of the school‐to‐work transition in the 1960s

Abstract

In the early 1960s researchers at the University of Leicester carried out a unique survey into the school‐to‐work transition experiences of nearly 900 young adults. The survey documented most aspects of the school leavers' lives; however, the majority of the data from this Young Worker Project remained unanalysed and unpublished for nearly 40 years. Recently 851 of the original interview schedules were uncovered and, as part of a broader ESRC‐funded project, re‐analysis has commenced. Little is known about the transition from school to work at this time and what research does exist has focused on the experience of boys. Using data from the original survey, which included interviews with 260 girls, this article examines the female experience of transition from school to work, concluding that gender played a significant role in influencing the way in which it was experienced.