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The author argues that the language of education is being increasingly dominated by concepts from the market and industry and begins this chapter by briefly discussing the social significance of this new vocabulary. He suggests that the new language heralds the introduction of more industrialised forms of teaching and learning. This is seen as a justification for the reduction of public investment in education and training as it is claimed that the industrialisation of education will produce efficiency gains and increase individual responsibility for becoming employable. The author, however, argues that the common-sense technocratic explanation of the need for Western societies to become learning societies will lead to increasing social and economic polarisation. This argument is based on data that show that the low-skill and high-skill transition paths are drifting apart. The author argues that basic-skills education, retraining, and work-creation programs will lead to higher returns for society than expanding further education colleges and postsecondary institutions.

This chapter looks at the types of changes that appear to be taking place in the social construction of the life course that impinge on the modalities of youth transitions and the kinds of flexibilities that are demanded of individuals and forms of social organisations in 'knowledge societies'. The author suggests that there is a social reconstruction of the youth phase in the making which will lead to a new balance between formal and nonformal credentials and at the same time to more polarisation of life chances in the systems of education and employment. She suggests establishing community-based and case-centred vocational and career counselling to give support and orientation to young people.

The chapters of this book examine the school-to-work transitions in postindustrial service societies and the interrelationships between education and training arrangements in the structuring of job-entry processes. The book is based on the papers presented at a 1996 conference about 'new passages and uncertain destinations' and presents the results of comparative longitudinal studies from Canada, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. The papers are divided into the following three sections: Part 1 - Social origin, gender, and transition patterns; Part II - Education and labour markets: work experiences, skills, and credentials; and Part III - Changes in the social context of transitions. The chapters are: Introduction: transitions to employment in a cross-national perspective / Walter R. Heinz; Social and geographical mobility 20 years after high-school / Paul Anisef, Anton H. Turritin, and Zeng Lin; Diverse directions: young adults' multiple transitions / Victor Thiessen and E. Dianne Looker; New routes to employment: integration and exclusion / John Bynner; From education to employment: occupations and careers in the social transformation of East Germany / Ansgar Weymann; Adolescent part-time work and postsecondary transition pathways in the United States / Jeylan T. Mortimer and Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson; Multiple life-sphere participation by young adults / Lesley Andres; The subbaccalaureate labour market in the United States: challenges from the school-to-work transition / W. Norton Grubb; Creating new pathways to adulthood by adapting German apprenticeship in the United States / Stephen F. Hamilton and Mary Agnes Hamilton; Job entry patterns in a life-course perspective / Walter R. Heinz; Institutional networks and informal strategies for improving work entry for youths / James E. Rosenbaum; School-to-work transitions and postmodern values / Harvey Krahn and Graham S. Lowe; Education and employment in Great Britain: the polarizing impact of the market / Frank Coffield; From systems to networks: the reconstruction of youth transitions in Europe / Lynne Chisolm.

Relying on schooling and higher education to prepare young people for employment has led to a devaluation of occupations in the subbaccalaureate labour market (SBLM) and simultaneously devalued people who hold these jobs. Career prospects for people with no more than a high school education has worsened. 'A nation at risk' (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) recommended that all young people be enrolled in college preparatory courses. However, this did not take into account the different learning styles or motivations. A contrasting approach, with a variety of different learning opportunities, has been inspired by the German apprenticeship system, This chapter is based on longitudinal research in the United States analysing the results of a demonstration project aimed at testing the possibility of adapting the German-style apprenticeship system to the United States society.

In the United States of America (USA), with relatively little institutional support for young people as they complete their formal educations and embark on their careers, part-time employment during the high school years has become an integral part of the transition from school to work. This chapter examines three outcomes of adolescent work investment: education attainment; postsecondary work experience; and family outcomes. Data is used from the Youth Development Study (YDS) which was initially designed to assess the consequences of early work experience. Findings from this study suggest that young people manifest quite different patterns of initiation to work and the pattern of employment in adolescence matters for key markers of transition to adulthood.