Education and social outcomes for young people: promoting success

This project aims to investigate the role of general education and vocational education and training in the determination of social benefits for individuals. It focuses in particular on health and civic and social engagement as possible social benefits of education. A number of studies have shown that the attainment of educational qualifications, or years of education, impacts on individuals' health, their degree of engagement with society, the way in which they interact with their families and society well-being in general. This research has focused on the direct effect of education, generally ignoring the 'kinds' of educational attainment that lead to particular social benefits and, more importantly, studies have not focused clearly on the potential channels for the transmission of these educational effects to wider social outcomes.

This project builds upon these understandings through empirical research on the role of general education and vocational education and training in the determination of social outcomes for individuals during their school to work transition in England and Germany. Our theoretical grounds for undertaking this project are solid, with background work having been undertaken by leading economists, sociologists and psychologists in the area of the wider benefits of education. We also differentiate between the attainment of academic or vocational qualifications in two different educational systems (England and Germany) in order to address the potential institutional forms of support that complement the formation of particular social outcomes in these countries. This will be achieved through cross-country comparative analyses.

The project uses two unique longitudinal datasets, the SOEP and the BHPS, which include yearly information on individuals over the age of 16 years since the late 1980s/early 1990s respectively. An innovative approach will be used to select the cohort of young people and identify their educational trajectories and transitions into the labour market. The analysis will differentiate between young people who have followed an academic route and those who have followed a vocational route. The study also includes a focus on important economic, social and psychological indicators that can be used to quantify the possible mechanisms by which education can lead to social outcomes.

After an intense data management period, which includes identifying and classifying educational trajectories and linking educational trajectories to labour market trajectories, the researchers from Germany and England will develop structural equation models to identify the main channels for educational effects on particular social outcomes. Results will be analysed in the light of possible recommendations for policy and practice.

The project will be based at the Centre for International Education (CIE) in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex working collaboratively with the Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ) at the Universität Duisburg-Essen. As institutional hosts of the bid, CIE has a large network of collaborators which comprise international organisations (UN organisations, The World Bank, OECD), national government, national and international NGOs, and IAQ's networks include amongst others national and regional governments, international organisations, universities and other scientific research centres trade unions and employers' associations

Dissemination of project findings is particularly important not only for the UK and German governments, but also for less developed countries given that the 2012 UNESCO Global Monitoring Report will focus on skills development and include programmes that have succeeded in supporting economic and social benefits. With its strong reputation in international education and development, CIE has the capacity to disseminate (via website, email list, former and current students) results of this project to a wide audience. The Institute for Work, Skills and Training, as a centre for interdisciplinary and international comparative research in the social sciences and with its particular focus on employment, welfare systems, skills and training, will also disseminate project findings via student and university networks and via its website. The Institute has created its own web report series (the IAQ-Report) with a wide audience of both social scientists and practitioners from local associations and governments.

Members of the research team have strong institutional networks and have worked previously for European and international organisations which can support the dissemination of findings. In 2009, the team worked on a CEDEFOP supported project looking at the social benefits of vocational education and training for individuals in Europe completed in February 2011. Our proposed project builds directly on the results obtained in this previous study and aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms for the transmission of the social benefits in England and Germany.

A range of policy environments need to be informed about the mechanisms for educational effects and members of the team have institutional networks to achieve this. In particular, Ricardo Sabates has worked on several projects funded by the Department for Education in England, was a senior research fellow at the National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (NAICE) and a consultant for the Independent Commission on the Future of Adult Learning in England. Thomas Haipeter worked on several projects funded by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BiBB) and by trade unions on qualification topics. We will work closely with both of these organisations throughout the study and by doing this we hope to directly inform both civil servants and NGOs working with practitioners and policy.

In addition, we aim to disseminate the results of our research to both learning providers and young people. In England, we will work with the National Youth Agency and sister bodies to provide information on the social benefits of learning and articles to youth workers and agencies. We will develop a publication with key useful information for youth workers, on why education can influence on individual's health, wellbeing and social engagement. In Germany, we will link with trade unions and learning providers to promote the aspects of education that are relevant to healthier and more actively engaged youth. To reach a wider audience of youth, we will produce a short video clip for YouTube on the social benefits of education. This video will provide examples for differences in social outcomes in Germany and England, academic versus vocational learning, using results from the project.