IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v13y2025a9555.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional Disparities, Geographical Marginality, and Educational Pathways: A Study on Upper Secondary Education in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Cantalini

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy)

  • Nazareno Panichella

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy)

  • Andrea Pietrolucci

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy)

  • Moris Triventi

    (Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan, Italy)

Abstract

This study examines the role of geographical location for educational outcomes in Italy, analysing variations between “central” and “marginal” areas in high school enrolment, dropout rates, and academic track placement. Drawing on data from the Italian Labour Force Survey (2005–2014) and INVALSI (2017–2018 and 2018–2019), the findings indicate that geographical marginality is only moderately associated with educational outcomes, especially in comparison to the more pronounced South–North divide. The analysis of non‐enrolment reveals notable regional variations. In marginal areas of the North, non‐enrolment in five‐year secondary programmes is often offset by a higher prevalence of enrolment in three‐year vocational schools. Conversely, the findings suggest a “protective effect” of marginality in southern regions, where students in marginal areas exhibit lower dropout rates and a higher likelihood of enrolling in the academic track compared to their peers in central areas. The results indicate that in the South, geographical marginality accentuates the dichotomy between non‐enrolment and academic track enrolment, particularly favouring the choice of enrolling in a lyceum over other options.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Cantalini & Nazareno Panichella & Andrea Pietrolucci & Moris Triventi, 2025. "Regional Disparities, Geographical Marginality, and Educational Pathways: A Study on Upper Secondary Education in Italy," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:9555
    DOI: 10.17645/si.9555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9555
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.9555?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian Bell & Jack Blundell & Stephen Machin, 2023. "Where is the Land of Hope and Glory? The geography of intergenerational mobility in England and Wales," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 73-106, January.
    2. Oesch, Daniel, 2013. "Occupational Change in Europe: How Technology and Education Transform the Job Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199680962, Decembrie.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wiedner, Jonas & Giesecke, Johannes, 2022. "Immigrant Men’s Economic Adaptation in Changing Labor Markets: Why Gaps between Turkish and German Men Expanded, 1976–2015," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 176-205.
    2. Wojciech Hardy & Roma Keister & Piotr Lewandowski, 2016. "Technology or Upskilling? Trends in the Task Composition of Jobs in Central and Eastern Europe," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2016-40, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Dec 2016.
    3. Joern H. Block & Christian O. Fisch & Mirjam van Praag, 2017. "The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behaviour and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 61-95, January.
    4. Jean Philippe Décieux & Alexandra Mergener, 2021. "German Labor Emigration in Times of Technological Change: Occupational Characteristics and Geographical Patterns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Chrisp, Joe & Garcia-Lazaro, Aida & Pearce, Nick, 2023. "Technological chance and growth regimes: Assessing the case for universal basic income in an era declining labour shares," FRIBIS Discussion Paper Series 01-2023, University of Freiburg, Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS).
    6. Federico Podestà, 2016. "Do Big Governments Promote Trade Liberalization? A Long-Term Analysis of 18 OECD Countries, 1975-2000," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2016-02, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    7. Piotr Lewandowski & Roma Keister & Wojciech Hardy & Szymon Gorka, 2017. "Routine and ageing? The Intergenerational Divide In The Deroutinisation Of Jobs In Europe," IBS Working Papers 01/2017, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    8. Lewandowski, Piotr & Keister, Roma & Hardy, Wojciech & Górka, Szymon, 2020. "Ageing of routine jobs in Europe," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    9. Li, Yu & Kesharwani, Rajkamal & Sun, Zeyi & Qin, Ruwen & Dagli, Cihan & Zhang, Meng & Wang, Donghai, 2020. "Economic viability and environmental impact investigation for the biofuel supply chain using co-fermentation technology," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    10. Torben Krings, 2021. "‘Good’ Bad Jobs? The Evolution of Migrant Low-Wage Employment in Germany (1985–2015)," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(3), pages 527-544, June.
    11. Richard Disney & John Gathergood & Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi, 2020. "Does homeownership reduce crime? A radical housing reform in Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp1685, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Islem Khefacha & Rabiaa Romdhane & Haykel Haj Salem, 2024. "Unveiling the relationship between entrepreneurial aspirations and prosperity: An international panel study using GEM data," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 421-449, March.
    13. Nazareno Panichella & Stefano Cantalini, 2023. "Is Geographical Mobility Beneficial? The Impact of the South-to-North Internal Migration on Occupational Achievement in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(5), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Thewissen, Stefan & Rueda, David, 2016. "Automation and the Welfare State: Technological Change as a Determinant of Redistribution Preferences," INET Oxford Working Papers 2016-02, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    15. Bertha Rohenkohl, 2019. "Intergenerational Income Mobility in the UK:New evidence using the BHPS and Understanding Society," Working Papers 2019017, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    16. Alvaro von Borries & Markus Grillitsch & Karl-Johan Lundquist, 2024. "Structural transformation, the knowledge economy, and the geography of low-income work," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 285-308.
    17. Orazio Attanasio & Áureo de Paula & Alessandro Toppeta, 2020. "Intergenerational Mobility in Socio-emotional Skills," NBER Working Papers 27823, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Italo Colantone & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Kohei Takeda, 2024. "Trade and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Theory and Evidence from the U.S," Working Papers 2024.29, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    19. Andrea Salvatori, 2018. "The anatomy of job polarisation in the UK," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Hunt, Jennifer & Nunn, Ryan, 2019. "Is Employment Polarization Informative about Wage Inequality and Is Employment Really Polarizing?," IZA Discussion Papers 12472, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:9555. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.