Preparatory programmes and the transition to upper secondary education

Preparatory programmes are programmes for young people who have not completed upper secondary education and who lack the qualifications to start. What is the significance of these programmes in terms of whether young people subsequently commence (and complete) upper secondary level education? The Danish National Centre for Social Research has examined this question in this report. One of the main conclusions is that, with the existing system, extending the scheme generally will not have a positive effect. Definitely not if the objective is to give young people who are not ready to take an education the qualifications required to commence and complete upper secondary level education. There are, however, somewhat weak indications that preparatory programmes at production schools increase young peoples' chance of being admitted to upper secondary level education. Similarly, it cannot be ruled out that preparatory programmes may have a positive influence on the educational choices of young people. About 43% of young people who have accepted a preparatory programme commence on upper secondary level education the year after, and 16% move on to employment. However, this may not solely be due to the young people having participated in a preparatory programme. The study by the Danish National Centre for Social Research is based on data from 402,020 young people who left primary and lower secondary school in the period from 2005 to 2010. Of these, 53,907, corresponding to 13%, participated in at least one preparatory programme. The study was commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Education.