Abstract

A longitudinal qualitative study of youth with different school careers and backgrounds during transition to vocational or academic education system will be presented. Initially, the presentation will give an insight of the empirical design of the longitudinal study. In a first phase the study explores the concepts and views of students and their teachers. The second and third phase of the study will consist of qualitative interviews with the same young adults and their instructors or lectures. The data of the first phase consists of 30 qualitative interviews with students and 18 qualitative interviews with teachers. The forthcoming results will show the fields the teenagers are going to enter after school and the development of their concepts and views after transition. Furthermore, the presentation will discuss how the methodological perspective of reconstructive school research can provide a deeper knowledge of students’ world. The findings could prove useful for improving vocational orientation programs at schools. Currently, such programs are disconnected from students’ everyday life and display little attention for their individual experiences.