Andersen, Johan Hviid

Hansen, Claus D.

Labriola, Merete

Lund, Thomas

AimThe aim of this presentation is to examine the possible impact of work environment (and especially psychosocial work environment) on school dropout. The questions raised are: to what extent do psychosocial work environment and especially the social relations between young apprentices and their colleagues and managers play a role in dropping out of upper secondary education?MethodsA cohort of 3058 adolescents born in 1989 and a cohort of approximately 2000 young adults born in 1983 are used to examine the associations between work environment and subsequent dropout in upper secondary educational tracks utilising questionnaire data collected as part of the West Jutland Cohort Study (VestLiv) in 2004, 2007 and 2010/11. Dropout events were identified using the educational register at Statistics Denmark and in addition self-reported episodes of drop out considerations are included as well.ResultsPreliminary results show that social relations between apprentices and their colleagues as well as their manager are reported as being of importance when asking the respondents about their reasons for terminating an upper secondary educational track. 40% of the participants that considered dropping out indicated that ‘being treated badly by superior’ was part of the reason for doing so. Further analyses show that reporting repetitive and monotonous work tasks increases the risk of dropping out (OR: 1.74) and that reporting bad working climate at ones work place increases the risk of considering terminating once education by a factor 7 although this latter part of the analysis is based only on a smaller sample and for that reason may be imprecise.ConclusionThe results indicate that especially psychosocial work environment factors may play a role in the decision to terminate upper secondary educational tracks among adolescents and young adults. More studies are needed in order to confirm the associations observed here but if they are true more focus should be given to this area.<br/

    Aalborg UniversitetWork environment and school dropoutHansen, Claus Dalsgaard; Andersen, Johan Hviid; Lund, Thomas; Labriola, MeretePublication date:2014Document VersionEarly version, also known as pre-printLink to publication from Aalborg UniversityCitation for published version (APA):Hansen, C. D., Andersen, J. H., Lund, T., & Labriola, M. (2014). Work environment and school dropout: Whatare the effects of the psychosocial work environment? . Abstract from Workshop on "Young Workers andWellbeing at Work", København, Denmark.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            ? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access tothe work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: April 24, 2017Work environment and school dropout  What are the effects of the psychosocial work environment? Workshop on ‘Young Workers and Wellbeing at Work’ Wellbeing at Work, Copenhagen, May 26th 2014  Claus D. Hansen1 ; Johan Hviid Andersen2, Thomas Lund2,3,4 Merete Labriola2,3 1 Department of Sociology & Social Work, Aalborg University 2 Danish Ramazzini Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, Regional Hospital Herning, Herning, Denmark 3 MarselisborgCentret, Research & Development Public Health and Quality Improvement Central Denmark Region, Århus, Denmark 4 National Centre for Occupational Rehabilitation, Rauland, Norway Background School dropout in Vocational Education and Training  • ‘A dual education system’ - alternating between school-based learning and being an apprentice at a (private) firm. • Large focus on dropout from VET - especially dropout from the ‘basic programme’ (‘grundforløb’) (Koudahl 2005) • Large focus on lack of apprenticeships for continuing in the ‘main programme’ (‘hovedforløb’) (see e.g. Humlum & Jensen 2010) • Less focus on the nature of learning in the private firms (Tanggaard 2005) – and on the psychosocial work enviroment for apprentices (Undervisningsministeriet 2009) – no specific pedagocical requirements to take in apprentices. • Important because some reports point to bad ‘psychosocial work environment’ as an understudied problem (Koudahl 2005) – in contrast to work accidents among apprentices that have been more in focus recently (see e.g. Nielsen & Sørensen 2009, Rasmussen et al 2010, Nielsen et al 2012) The case of Asbjørn ‘Maybe it was a good idea to treat us properly!’ "I do not expect to be here after I graduate . ... I'm not crazy about the way you are treated as an apprentice, not at all - I think you get some shitty jobs ... I have to brew coffee for the others. I must sweep the floor. I think it 's all right to sweep, but I must also clean up after the others in the workshop. I can’t see anything reasonable in that an apprentice must clean up after the others in the kitchen on Fridays. When we get the rolls, then I put the butter in place, although I do not even use it. The others they just hurl their dishes in the sink , and I will make it right for them - it pisses me off! I can not see anything reasonable in that I should do these tasks just because I'm an apprentice. And I have said it to him [my manager], and he says, ‘That's life - to be an apprentice!’. But he hopes we will be there when we‘ve finished the apprenticeship. He can forget about it, I told him. I said to him that if he had aspirations that we should continue, it might be an idea to treat us properly. ... Of course it is an apprentice to drive the cars in the evenings and things like that, and of course, I also sweep and empty the bins if the ‘sweepboy’ (fejedreng) is not there, but I must go around and collect other people's shit they've thrown on the floor it. I like what I am doing, I love plate work, I like it so.” Wellbeing at work and turnover intentions • Psychosocial work environment (pswe) important for turnover intentions – changing job, retiring etc. (Griffeth, Hom & Gaertner 2000) • Dropping out of school is phenomenologically related to turnover (Ciftcioglu 2010) • Bad pswe would thus raise risk of dropping out – Especially those aspects of the pswe that has to do with the social relations between apprentive and manager/co-workers (because of the assymetric power relations) Aim of this presentation 1. Is work environment mentioned as an important reason for dropping out when asking VET students about their considerations for dropping out or their actual decision to drop out? And how important is it compared to other reasons? 2. Does psychosocial work environment factors reported while enrolled in a VET programme predict dropping out of school subsequently? Methods and Materials West Jutland Cohort Study - VestLiv • Birth cohort study of all adolescents living in Ringkjøbing County (in april 2004) born in 1989 (N = 3,681) and 1983 (N = 3,250). • 3 rounds of data for 1989 cohort (age 15, 18 and 21) and 2 rounds for 1983 cohort (age 20 and 27). • Self-reported information on school drop-out measured in round 3 and 2 respectively including questions 30 different reasons for dropping out/considering dropping out. • Linked to educational register with information on drop-out.  • Cox proportional hazards regression calculating hazard ratios for time to drop out measured in days from time of answering the questionnaire till date of dropping out. Results Most important reasons for dropping out among VET-students. Pct. How significant was the following reasons for your considerations/decision to drop out of your education?   (N = 380) Cohort No significance Small significance Average significance Big significance Very big significance Did not learn/develop enought 89 44 11 18 13 14   83 56 14 12 12 7 Lack of feedback from teachers 89 47 15 19 10 8   83 59 15 10 11 5 Found a different education 89 53 10 13 9 15   83 60 5 7 12 15 Too much homework 89 55 15 17 7 7   83 71 16 6 4 3 Manager treated me badly 89 60 11 11 5 14   83 61 7 10 8 15 Felt outside at the education 89 63 13 12 6 6   83 65 13 11 9 3 Economic problems 89 65 14 10 5 5   83 75 10 8 4 4 Trouble finding an apprenticeship 89 66 8 8 5 13   83 60 6 9 7 18 Relation to co-workers too bad 89 66 9 9 7 9   83 63 10 12 10 6 Physchological problems 89 67 7 7 6 11   83 77 6 9 4 4 Results Most important reasons for dropping out among VET-students. Pct. How significant was the following reasons for your considerations/decision to drop out of your education?   (N = 380) Cohort No significance Small significance Average significance Big significance Very big significance Did not learn/develop enought 89 44 11 18 13 14   83 56 14 12 12 7 Lack of feedback from teachers 89 47 15 19 10 8   83 59 15 10 11 5 Found a different education 89 53 10 13 9 15   83 60 5 7 12 15 Too much homework 89 55 15 17 7 7   83 71 16 6 4 3 Manager treated me badly 89 60 11 11 5 14   83 61 7 10 8 15 Felt outside at the education 89 63 13 12 6 6   83 65 13 11 9 3 Economic problems 89 65 14 10 5 5   83 75 10 8 4 4 Trouble finding an apprenticeship 89 66 8 8 5 13   83 60 6 9 7 18 Relation to co-workers too bad 89 66 9 9 7 9   83 63 10 12 10 6 Physchological problems 89 67 7 7 6 11   83 77 6 9 4 4 Results Psychosocial work-environment and school dropout Cox proportional hazards regression  1132 observations (participants enrolled on an education at the time of answering the 2010 questionaire) with 98 dropping out in an approximate 1 year follow-up (max 329 days).  313868 total days at risk  Tentative analysis using only 1989 cohort and only education at age 21 (autumn 2010) Results Psychosocial work-environment and school dropout Crude Hazard Ratio Adjusted Hazard Ratio Overall evaluation of education    Dissatisfaction with education 1.64 (1.35-1.99) 1.52 (1.17-1.97)    Subjective evaluation of academic skill (high = bad skills) 1.36 (1.07-1.73) 1.26 (0.94-1.66)    Considering dropping out (yes vs no) 2.54 (1.56-4.13) 1.83 (1.09-3.07) Factors at work    Being yelled at 7.73 (0.99-60.6) ---    Quantitative demands 2.32 (0.83-6.53) ---    Work pace 2.43 (1.27-4.63) 2.14 (1.07-4.27)    Wrong info from management 2.14 (0.84-5.48) ---    Bad work climate  9.41 (2.25-39.34) 8.85 (2.11-37.10)    Repititive work tasks 1.83 (0.98-3.43) ---    Heavy lifting 2.96 (1.57-5.57) 2.35 (1.20-4.59) Conclusions 1. Psychosocial work environment and especially the quality of the social relations between apprentices and co-workers/managers are important for drop out from VET when asking VET students themselves about their drop out  2. Prospective analyses show that work environment factors are associated with an increased hazard of dropping out in an approximately 1-year follow-up.  3. More focus should be given to improve the pswe of apprentices and help companies tackle the education of young workers better 

Work environment and school dropout:What are the effects of the psychosocial work environment?

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Work environment and school dropout:What are the effects of the psychosocial work environment?

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