New opportunities or reinforced disadvantages?Variation in returns to low-achieving school leavers' participation in pre-vocational training measures - Extension: Dropping out of VET programs (Short: N.O.R.D. 2)

在许多国家，成绩差的离校生参加职业教育和培训方案被认为是使他们继续接受教育、提高他们的受教育程度、从而增加他们未来就业机会的第二次机会。然而，参加职业教育与培训计划是否真的提供了第二次机会，不仅取决于能否参加定期的职业教育与培训计划（如正在进行的项目N.O.R.D. 1)还取决于是否成功完成了常规的职业教育与培训计划。职前培训措施被视为提高就业技能的追赶方案，也被视为防止成绩差的青年退出正规职业教育与培训方案的一种手段。然而，问题仍然是开放的，是否是这样。N.O.R.D.的主要研究问题。因此，2个项目是：（1）为什么成绩差的离校生比受过中等教育的离校生更有可能退出常规的职业教育与培训计划？(2)关于参加职前培训措施的声称目标，参加职前培训措施是否会影响成绩差的青年退出职业教育与培训方案的风险，如果是，对谁有影响，为什么？成绩差的离校生被定义为那些离开普通学校和学习障碍特殊学校而没有学位或只有（高级）初中学位的人。我们将特别关注不同的选择过程，职业教育与培训辍学的异质性和职业教育与培训计划辍学的原因。我们将采用逐步回归和分解方法相结合的匹配方法来解释差异VET辍学风险的离校程度（研究问题1）和参与职前措施（研究问题2），分别。该项目不仅从政策的角度来看是有意义的，而且还将提高我们对职业教育与培训方案辍学的过程和原因的理解，从而提高我们对抵消或减轻教育不利因素积累的配置的理解。

In many countries, low-achieving school leavers participation in vocational education and training (VET) programs is considered a second chance to keep them in education, to raise their educational attainment, and thereby to enhance their future employment opportunities. However, whether participation in VET programs really provides a second chance not only depends on access to regular VET programs (as studied in the ongoing project N.O.R.D. 1) but also on successful completion of regular VET programs. Prevocational training measures, considered as catching-up programs enhancing employability skills, are also seen as a prevention of low-achieving youths dropping out of regular VET programs. Yet, the question is still open whether this is the case. The main research questions of the N.O.R.D. 2 project are therefore: (1) Why are low-achieving school leavers more likely to drop out of regular VET programs than intermediate-educated school leavers? (2) And concerning the claimed goals of participation in prevocational measures, does participation in prevocational training measures impacts on low-achieving youths risks of dropping out of VET programs and if so, for whom and why? Low-achieving school leavers are defined as those who left regular schools and special schools for learning disabilities without a degree or with only a (advanced) lower secondary school degree. We will pay particular attention to different selection processes, the heterogeneity of VET dropouts and the causes of dropping out of VET programs. We will employ a matching approach combined with stepwise regressions and decomposition methods to explain differences in VET dropout risks by school-leaving degree (research question 1) and participation in prevocational measures (research question 2), respectively. The project is not only of interest from a policy perspective but will also improve our understanding of the processes and causes of dropping out of VET programs and thus of configurations counteracting or alleviating the accumulations of educational disadvantages.