Skill formation, career planning, and transitions : the last two years in a German lower track secondary school

In Germany, the entry into the labor market for students in the nonacademic tracks of secondary schools may take multiple pathways. Students graduating from lower track secondary schools (LTSS) face major problems in school-towork transitions, prompting the provision of intensive career guidance in school. In a case study for the City of Freiburg, this paper analyzes skill formation, career guidance, and the first transition after graduation for LTSS students in the late 2000s. We find that only about 10% of LTSS students start an apprenticeship immediately after graduation. Instead, about half of the LTSS students, typically those with better school grades, participate in additional general teaching (AGT) and rather enter further schooling than an apprenticeship. In addition, the majority of students with poor school grades continue with pre-vocational training. The latter group involves a large share of male students with a migration background. Our findings show a large heterogeneity among LTSS students, most visible in the division between students with and without AGT. Furthermore, characteristics observable at the end of grade 7 have a strong predictive power on the transition after graduation, and focusing career guidance on the immediate start of an apprenticeship after graduation may be misplaced

Additional career assistance and educational outcomes for students in lower track secondary schools

Based on local policy variation, this paper estimates the causal effect of additional career assistance on educational outcomes for students in Lower Track Secondary Schools in Germany. We find mostly insignificant effects of the treatment on average outcomes, which mask quite heterogeneous effects. For those students, who are taking extra cursework to continue education, the grade point average is unaffected and the likelihood of completing a Middle Track Secondary School degree falls. In contrast, educational outcomes improve for students who do not take extra coursework. Hence, the treatment causes a reversal of educational plans after graduation

Mobility across firms and occupations among graduates from apprenticeship

Distinguishing carefully between mobility across firms and across occupations, this study provides causal estimates of the wage effects of mobility among graduates from apprenticeship in Germany. Our instrumental variables approach exploits variation in regional labor market characteristics. Pure firm changes and occupation-and-job changes after graduation from apprenticeship result in average wage losses, whereas an occupation change within the training firm results in persistent wage gains. For the majority of cases a change of occupation involves a career progression. In contrast, for job switches the wage loss dominates

An electrochemically functional layer of hydrogenase extract on an electrode of large and tunable specific surface area

Electrode supports are generated by electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile fibers and subsequent coating of a thin electrically conductive TiO2 layer by atomic layer deposition. The supports are then functionalized with a [NiFe]-hydrogenase-containing membrane fraction from Escherichia coli and are characterized structurally and electrochemically. The hydrogenase suspension generates a micron-thick organic film around the fiber mat, which exhibits electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution. Furthermore, the electrode geometric surface area is varied systematically via the electrospinning procedure, which reduces the charge transfer resistance and increases the hydrogen evolution current density to >500 μA cm−2 at 0.3 V overpotential

Mobility across firms and occupations among graduates from apprenticeship

Distinguishing carefully between mobility across firms and across occupations, this study provides causal estimates of the wage effects of mobility among graduates from apprenticeship in Germany. Our instrumental variables approach exploits variation in regional labor market characteristics. Pure firm changes and occupation-and-job changes after graduation from apprenticeship result in average wage losses, whereas an occupation change within the training firm results in persistent wage gains. For the majority of cases a change of occupation involves a career progression. In contrast, for job switches the wage loss dominates