Student pathways
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Selected geographical area: Canada
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4.56 years
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Average time to graduation for college-level diploma students aged 15 and older - Canada
(2017/2018)2.54 years
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- 1. Ability in Mathematics and Science at Age 15 and Program Choice in University: Differences by Gender ArchivedArticles and reports: 81-595-M2013100Geography: CanadaDescription:
Past research has revealed that young women are more likely to enter postsecondary programs that have lower returns in the labour market, such as the arts, humanities and social sciences. Young men, conversely, tend to enrol in and graduate from programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), which generally have greater labour market returns. Factors such as academic interests, achievement test scores, and high-school marks can affect later university program choice. Using the linked Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) - Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, the current paper examines the relationship between mathematics and science test scores at age 15 and first program choice in university, with a focus on differences in ability in mathematics and science by gender. Generally speaking, the results reveal that the intersection of gender and ability does matter; even young women of high mathematical ability are less likely to enter STEM fields than young men of similar or even lesser mathematical ability. This implies that something other than pure ability is affecting young women's likelihood of entering STEM programs in university.
Release date: 2013-12-18 - Articles and reports: 81-004-X201100411594Description:
A typical and direct path to postsecondary education involves high school graduates completing high school in May or June of any given year and then entering postsecondary education in September, resulting in a typical gap of about three months or less. However, not all young people follow this direct path, choosing instead to delay the start of postsecondary studies. This article summarizes the main findings of a recent research report that measured median delay times between high school graduation and starting a first postsecondary program and identified the factors associated with either speeding up or slowing down this transition.
Release date: 2011-12-14 - Articles and reports: 81-004-X201100211490Description:
Previous analysis based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) has shown that reading proficiency, as measured in the Programme for the International Student Assessment (PISA) at age 15, is strongly associated with both high school graduation and postsecondary participation. This article uses the most recent data from YITS, collected when youth were age 25, to examine educational, labour market, income and family formation outcomes associated with reading proficiency levels on PISA at age 15. The intent of the analysis is to identify any life-path differences that were associated with reading proficiency levels at age 15. The analysis is descriptive and exploratory in nature. Further analysis is needed to identify causal relationships in the data.
Release date: 2011-06-27 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2011090Geography: CanadaDescription:
Not all high school graduates who attend a post-secondary institution go immediately after completing their diploma. An ever-increasing number of Canadian youth choose to remain out of the education system for a period of time prior to re-entering. A great deal of what we know about a gap year comes from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom. Who delays and for how long are, however, two questions that remain to be answered in the Canadian context. The current paper uses all five cycles of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to address the scant attention paid in the Canadian literature to the delay of the start of a post-secondary degree or diploma. Kaplan Meier results show that the median length of time between high school graduation and start of the first post-secondary (PSE) program is 4 months; however, this appears to be substantially longer for males, First Nations youth, Anglophones, youth from Ontario and youth whose parents have low levels of educational attainment. Equally influential were characteristics during the high school years. For example, youth with low marks, who worked many hours in paid employment while in high school, who skipped classes regularly, who took part in a lot of extracurricular activities not organized by the school, and whose close friends said they were not planning on going to PSE had median gap times between high school graduation and the start of postsecondary studies that were much longer than the average. Cox Proportional Hazard models confirm the robustness of several of the descriptive findings, including the effects of gender, province of high school, parental education, working during high school, marks, extracurricular activities, and the education plans of close friends.
Release date: 2011-05-25 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2010087Geography: CanadaDescription:
This report examines the link between educational pathways and labour market outcomes of youth from all 5 cycles of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS-Cohort B). The educational pathways are organized according to three major criteria: (1) No postsecondary education, (2) Direct route to postsecondary education, and (3) Indirect route to postsecondary education. Data from Cycle 5 of YITS, when youth were aged 26 to 28, provide a relatively complete examination of labour market outcomes as rising rates of participation in postsecondary education in Canada have led to a delay in entry into the labour market for many young adults. The current report focuses on two labour market outcomes full-year employment and annual earnings' at two different time points -- 1 to 2 years and 5 to 6 years after respondents have left school on a full-time basis. Results highlight the positive influence of a university education on labour market outcomes, especially several years after leaving school. Moreover, there is some weak evidence to suggest that university graduates who delayed going to a postsecondary program were more likely than their counterparts who had not delayed to be employed several years after leaving school.
Release date: 2010-12-17 - Stats in brief: 81-599-X2010005Description:
This fact sheet looks at the proportion of young adults who have ever left high school without a diploma, and, among them, at the proportions who have returned to get a high school diploma and who progressed to postsecondary education. Knowing about the progress of these students helps us consider their needs and understand the value of second-chance programs.
Release date: 2010-04-29 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2009075Geography: CanadaDescription:
The analysis for this report is based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The survey was designed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. YITS is a longitudinal survey, which collects information on educational and labour market pathways of a sample of young Canadians in the 18 to 20 age group in 1999. Respondents were asked to provide a range of information on their education and employment experiences as well as information on their personal characteristics. They were interviewed four times since the implementation of the survey, in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In this report, the data used are from the five cycles and describe where they stood in their school to work pathway in December 2007 when they were 26 to 28 years of age.
Release date: 2009-07-09 - Stats in brief: 81-600-X2009004Geography: CanadaDescription:
This is one of four fact sheets in a series using major Statistics Canada data sources relating to the education and training of workers in health and related occupations. This fact sheet provides information on the evolution over time of the career aspirations of two groups of youth who were part of the longitudinal Youth in Transition Survey. It also examines whether expectations translated into corresponding educational paths and matching careers outcomes.
Release date: 2009-05-01 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2008070Geography: CanadaDescription:
The analysis for this report is based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The survey was designed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. YITS is a longitudinal survey, which collects information on educational and labour market pathways of a sample of young Canadians in the 18 to 20 age group in 1999. Respondents were asked to provide a range of information on their education and employment experiences as well as information on their personal characteristics. They were interviewed four times since the implementation of the survey, in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In this report, the data used are from the first four cycles and describe where they stood in their school to work pathway in December 2005 when they were 24 to 26 years of age.
This report is a follow-up of a previous study of postsecondary participation (Shaienks and Gluszynski, 2007) which found that the overall postsecondary dropout rate was 15%. That rate however, differs across all types of institution and by demographic, family and school characteristics. This paper explores the impact of those characteristics on participation, graduation and dropping out of different types of postsecondary institution.
Three new variables were developed to account for the type of institution attended by the student and the status in each of them. The university status, the college status and the other postsecondary status allow us to determine independently the outcome of participation in the different types of institution and profile graduates, continuers and especially drop outs according to their specific characteristics.
Release date: 2008-11-03 - 10. High School Dropouts Returning to School ArchivedArticles and reports: 81-595-M2008055Geography: CanadaDescription:
Dropout rates, defined as the proportion of 20 to 24 year-olds without a high school diploma and not attending school, have been trending downward. Data from the Labour Force Survey shows that the rate for men fell from 21% in 1990/1991 to 14% in 2004/2005; for women, the rates were 16% in 1990/1991 and 9% in 2004/2005. Many dropouts later return to school, taking advantage of the 'second-chance' educational opportunities offered by provinces and institutions across Canada.
This report uses data from the Youth in Transition Survey to analyze the determinants of the return-to-school. The analysis finds that dropout rates are lower among young women than among young men and that, if they do dropout before completing high school, young women are also more likely to return to school than young men.
Young male and female dropouts are influenced by different factors in their decision to return to school. For young male dropouts, two of the strongest predictors of the decision to return to school are their parents' education and having taken, in high school, a mathematics course designed to prepare them for postsecondary studies. Young men who dropped out in their last year of high school were more likely to return to school than their counterparts who had dropped out earlier. For young women, time elapsed since leaving school is the most influential factor. However, young women who left school due to personal reasons (most often, pregnancy) are 30% more likely to return than other female dropouts.
Release date: 2008-04-09
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Analysis (20)
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- 1. Ability in Mathematics and Science at Age 15 and Program Choice in University: Differences by Gender ArchivedArticles and reports: 81-595-M2013100Geography: CanadaDescription:
Past research has revealed that young women are more likely to enter postsecondary programs that have lower returns in the labour market, such as the arts, humanities and social sciences. Young men, conversely, tend to enrol in and graduate from programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), which generally have greater labour market returns. Factors such as academic interests, achievement test scores, and high-school marks can affect later university program choice. Using the linked Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) - Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, the current paper examines the relationship between mathematics and science test scores at age 15 and first program choice in university, with a focus on differences in ability in mathematics and science by gender. Generally speaking, the results reveal that the intersection of gender and ability does matter; even young women of high mathematical ability are less likely to enter STEM fields than young men of similar or even lesser mathematical ability. This implies that something other than pure ability is affecting young women's likelihood of entering STEM programs in university.
Release date: 2013-12-18 - Articles and reports: 81-004-X201100411594Description:
A typical and direct path to postsecondary education involves high school graduates completing high school in May or June of any given year and then entering postsecondary education in September, resulting in a typical gap of about three months or less. However, not all young people follow this direct path, choosing instead to delay the start of postsecondary studies. This article summarizes the main findings of a recent research report that measured median delay times between high school graduation and starting a first postsecondary program and identified the factors associated with either speeding up or slowing down this transition.
Release date: 2011-12-14 - Articles and reports: 81-004-X201100211490Description:
Previous analysis based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) has shown that reading proficiency, as measured in the Programme for the International Student Assessment (PISA) at age 15, is strongly associated with both high school graduation and postsecondary participation. This article uses the most recent data from YITS, collected when youth were age 25, to examine educational, labour market, income and family formation outcomes associated with reading proficiency levels on PISA at age 15. The intent of the analysis is to identify any life-path differences that were associated with reading proficiency levels at age 15. The analysis is descriptive and exploratory in nature. Further analysis is needed to identify causal relationships in the data.
Release date: 2011-06-27 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2011090Geography: CanadaDescription:
Not all high school graduates who attend a post-secondary institution go immediately after completing their diploma. An ever-increasing number of Canadian youth choose to remain out of the education system for a period of time prior to re-entering. A great deal of what we know about a gap year comes from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom. Who delays and for how long are, however, two questions that remain to be answered in the Canadian context. The current paper uses all five cycles of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to address the scant attention paid in the Canadian literature to the delay of the start of a post-secondary degree or diploma. Kaplan Meier results show that the median length of time between high school graduation and start of the first post-secondary (PSE) program is 4 months; however, this appears to be substantially longer for males, First Nations youth, Anglophones, youth from Ontario and youth whose parents have low levels of educational attainment. Equally influential were characteristics during the high school years. For example, youth with low marks, who worked many hours in paid employment while in high school, who skipped classes regularly, who took part in a lot of extracurricular activities not organized by the school, and whose close friends said they were not planning on going to PSE had median gap times between high school graduation and the start of postsecondary studies that were much longer than the average. Cox Proportional Hazard models confirm the robustness of several of the descriptive findings, including the effects of gender, province of high school, parental education, working during high school, marks, extracurricular activities, and the education plans of close friends.
Release date: 2011-05-25 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2010087Geography: CanadaDescription:
This report examines the link between educational pathways and labour market outcomes of youth from all 5 cycles of the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS-Cohort B). The educational pathways are organized according to three major criteria: (1) No postsecondary education, (2) Direct route to postsecondary education, and (3) Indirect route to postsecondary education. Data from Cycle 5 of YITS, when youth were aged 26 to 28, provide a relatively complete examination of labour market outcomes as rising rates of participation in postsecondary education in Canada have led to a delay in entry into the labour market for many young adults. The current report focuses on two labour market outcomes full-year employment and annual earnings' at two different time points -- 1 to 2 years and 5 to 6 years after respondents have left school on a full-time basis. Results highlight the positive influence of a university education on labour market outcomes, especially several years after leaving school. Moreover, there is some weak evidence to suggest that university graduates who delayed going to a postsecondary program were more likely than their counterparts who had not delayed to be employed several years after leaving school.
Release date: 2010-12-17 - Stats in brief: 81-599-X2010005Description:
This fact sheet looks at the proportion of young adults who have ever left high school without a diploma, and, among them, at the proportions who have returned to get a high school diploma and who progressed to postsecondary education. Knowing about the progress of these students helps us consider their needs and understand the value of second-chance programs.
Release date: 2010-04-29 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2009075Geography: CanadaDescription:
The analysis for this report is based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The survey was designed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. YITS is a longitudinal survey, which collects information on educational and labour market pathways of a sample of young Canadians in the 18 to 20 age group in 1999. Respondents were asked to provide a range of information on their education and employment experiences as well as information on their personal characteristics. They were interviewed four times since the implementation of the survey, in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In this report, the data used are from the five cycles and describe where they stood in their school to work pathway in December 2007 when they were 26 to 28 years of age.
Release date: 2009-07-09 - Stats in brief: 81-600-X2009004Geography: CanadaDescription:
This is one of four fact sheets in a series using major Statistics Canada data sources relating to the education and training of workers in health and related occupations. This fact sheet provides information on the evolution over time of the career aspirations of two groups of youth who were part of the longitudinal Youth in Transition Survey. It also examines whether expectations translated into corresponding educational paths and matching careers outcomes.
Release date: 2009-05-01 - Articles and reports: 81-595-M2008070Geography: CanadaDescription:
The analysis for this report is based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). The survey was designed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. YITS is a longitudinal survey, which collects information on educational and labour market pathways of a sample of young Canadians in the 18 to 20 age group in 1999. Respondents were asked to provide a range of information on their education and employment experiences as well as information on their personal characteristics. They were interviewed four times since the implementation of the survey, in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In this report, the data used are from the first four cycles and describe where they stood in their school to work pathway in December 2005 when they were 24 to 26 years of age.
This report is a follow-up of a previous study of postsecondary participation (Shaienks and Gluszynski, 2007) which found that the overall postsecondary dropout rate was 15%. That rate however, differs across all types of institution and by demographic, family and school characteristics. This paper explores the impact of those characteristics on participation, graduation and dropping out of different types of postsecondary institution.
Three new variables were developed to account for the type of institution attended by the student and the status in each of them. The university status, the college status and the other postsecondary status allow us to determine independently the outcome of participation in the different types of institution and profile graduates, continuers and especially drop outs according to their specific characteristics.
Release date: 2008-11-03 - 10. High School Dropouts Returning to School ArchivedArticles and reports: 81-595-M2008055Geography: CanadaDescription:
Dropout rates, defined as the proportion of 20 to 24 year-olds without a high school diploma and not attending school, have been trending downward. Data from the Labour Force Survey shows that the rate for men fell from 21% in 1990/1991 to 14% in 2004/2005; for women, the rates were 16% in 1990/1991 and 9% in 2004/2005. Many dropouts later return to school, taking advantage of the 'second-chance' educational opportunities offered by provinces and institutions across Canada.
This report uses data from the Youth in Transition Survey to analyze the determinants of the return-to-school. The analysis finds that dropout rates are lower among young women than among young men and that, if they do dropout before completing high school, young women are also more likely to return to school than young men.
Young male and female dropouts are influenced by different factors in their decision to return to school. For young male dropouts, two of the strongest predictors of the decision to return to school are their parents' education and having taken, in high school, a mathematics course designed to prepare them for postsecondary studies. Young men who dropped out in their last year of high school were more likely to return to school than their counterparts who had dropped out earlier. For young women, time elapsed since leaving school is the most influential factor. However, young women who left school due to personal reasons (most often, pregnancy) are 30% more likely to return than other female dropouts.
Release date: 2008-04-09
Reference (1)
Reference (1) ((1 result))
- 1. Youth in Transition Survey - Project Overview ArchivedSurveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 81-588-XDescription:
The Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) is a longitudinal survey designed to provide policy-relevant information about school-work transitions and factors influencing pathways. YITS will provide vehicle for future research and analysis of major transitions in young people's lives, particularly those between education, training and work. Information obtained from, and research based on, the survey will help clarify the nature and causes of short and long-term challenges young people face in school-work transitions and support policy planning and decision making to help prevent or remedy these problems.
Objectives of the Youth in Transition Survey were developed after an extensive consultation with stakeholders with an interest in youth and school-work transitions. Content includes measurement of major transitions in young people's lives including virtually all formal educational experiences and most labour-market experiences. Factors influencing transitions are also included family background, school experiences, achievement, aspirations and expectations, and employment experiences.
The implementation plan encompasses a longitudinal survey for each of two age cohorts, to be surveyed every two years. Data from a cohort entering at age 15 will permit analysis of long-term school-work transition patterns. Data from a cohort entering at ages18-20 will provide more immediate, policy-relevant information on young adults in the labour market.
Cycle one for the cohort aged 15 will include information collected from youth, their parents, and school principals. The sample design is a school-based frame that allows the selection of schools, and then individuals within schools. This design will permit analysis of school effects, a research domain not currently addressed by other Statistics Canada surveys. Methods of data collection include a self-completed questionnaire for youth and school principals, a telephone interview with parents, and assessment of youth competency in reading, science and mathematics as using self-completed test booklets provided under the integration of YITS with the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). A pilot survey was conducted in April 1999 and the main survey took place in April-May 2000. Interviews were conducted with 30,000 students aged 15 from 1,000 schools in Canada. A telephone interview with parents of selected students took place in June 2000.
The sample design for the cohort aged 18-20 is similar to that of the Labour-Force survey. The method of data collection is computer-assisted telephone interviewing. The pilot survey was conducted in January 1999. In January-February 2000, 23, 000 youth participated in the main survey data collection.
Data from both cohorts is expected to be available in 2001. Following release of the first international report by the OECD/PISA project and the first national report, data will be publically available, permitting detailed exploration of content themes.
Release date: 2001-04-11
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