Young people with the lower secondary school leaving certificate – chances of progression to dual vocational education and training

Particularly for young people with the lower secondary school leaving certificate, dual vocational education and training continues to be “the route” to a vocational qualification. This makes it all the more significant to investigate how many such school leavers succeed in progressing to dual vocational education and training and how their chances of progression develop over the course of time. It is frequently the case in this regard that so-called arithmetical progression rates are calculated by using statistics as a basis for relating the number of those commencing training to the number of those completing general schooling. Nevertheless, there are a number of pitfalls in calculating such seemingly simple indicators. The issues that need to be borne in mind are explained below.