Structure and Agency in Youth Transitions: Student Experiences of Vocational Further Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The school-to-work transitions of two samples of 16–19-year-old college students in the UK arc examined in terms of their vocational preparation and expectations of labour market entry. Current processes of vocational preparation are evaluated primarily from the perspectives of the young people themselves. The aims are to explore influences of structure and agency in young people's lives in the light of their perceptions of the ‘new vocational ism’ and to assess how much control they feel they have over the further education phase of the school-to-work transition. A multi-method approach involving a structured questionnaire and a series of semi-structured group interviews is used to try to discover something of the ‘lived realities’ of these young people. An important finding is that young people in a ‘depressed’ labour market appear to be at least as optimistic about finding employment, and also experience similar levels of independence and control, as a similar sample in a more ‘buoyant’ labour market. Provisional explanations for this optimism are outlined and some of the possible practical and theoretical implications arising from the data collected from these two samples are presented.