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Modeling Enrollment in and Completion of Vocational Education: The role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills by program type

Author

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  • Leslie S. Stratton

    (Virginia Commonwealth University)

  • Nabanita Datta Gupta

    (Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, Denmark)

  • David Reimer

    (Danish School of Education, Aarhus University)

  • Anders Holm

    (University of Western Ontario, Canada)

Abstract

We examine the role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills on enrollment in and completion of three types of vocational training (VET): education/health, technical, and business. Using two nine-year panels of Danish youths, estimation proceeds separately by gender, controlling for selection and right censoring. Cognitive skills are captured with math and language exam scores, non-cognitive skills with teacher-assigned grades. We find that all skills are inversely related to enrollment and math scores are positively related to certification for all VET programs. Language skills are, however, inversely related to completion for technical VET and non-cognitive skills are important only for business VET.

Suggested Citation

  • Leslie S. Stratton & Nabanita Datta Gupta & David Reimer & Anders Holm, 2017. "Modeling Enrollment in and Completion of Vocational Education: The role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills by program type," Economics Working Papers 2017-02, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2017-02
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    2. Celeste K. Carruthers & Christopher Jepsen, 2020. "Vocational Education: An International Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 8718, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vocational education; Enrollment; Vocational certification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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