Hannah Kitchen, Project Leader of Above and Beyond: Transitions in Upper Secondary Project at the OECD presents at the webinar Moving up into upper secondary on the 23 November 2023

1. Policy pointers for equitable, effective and
personalised upper secondary transitions
Webinar « Moving up into upper secondary: understanding and
supporting young people’s strengths, talents and ambitions »
Hannah Kitchen, Above and Beyond: Transitions in Upper
Secondary Education
Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD
23 November 2023

2. What is an effective transition?
What is a smooth transition into upper secondary?

3. 75
80
85
90
95
100
% enrolment rates at theoretical transition age (first year of USE) in 2020 enrolment rates one year before theoretical transition age (last year of LSE) in 2019
Not all young people make the transition into upper secondary
Enrolments in education before and at theoretical age of transition into upper secondary education
Source: OECD 2023

4. 75
80
85
90
95
100
% enrolment rates at theoretical transition age (first year of USE) in 2020 enrolment rates one year before theoretical transition age (last year of LSE) in 2019
Not all young people make the transition into upper secondary
Enrolments in education before and at theoretical age of transition into upper secondary education
Source: OECD 2023

5. One year after transition, some young people are still in lower
secondary education
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Belgium
(14)
Netherlands…
Colombia
(15)
Costa
Rica…
Luxembour…
Germany
(16)
Portugal
(15)
Denmark
(16)
Austria
(14)
Slovak…
Spain
(15)
Chile
(14)
Mexico
(15)
Estonia
(16)
Latvia
(16)
Czech…
Australia
(16)
United…
Greece
(15)
Türkiye
(14)
Hungary
(15)
Poland
(15)
Lithuania
(17)
Italy
(14)
Ireland
(16)
Switzerland…
Finland
(16)
Slovenia
(15)
France
(15)
Israel
(15)
United…
New…
Sweden
(16)
Korea
(15)
Canada
(15)
Norway
(16)
Japan
(15)
Iceland
(16)
enrolment rates in ISCED 2 enrolment rates in ISCED 3 not ISCED 2 not in ISCED 3
Share of students enrolled in lower or upper secondary education one year after transition age
Source: OECD 2023

6. What is an effective transition?
What is a smooth transition?

7. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition – 1. Entry
1. Entry
• 32 systems set requirements
for entry and use academic
information to check
• 10 systems promote students
automatically

8. Strict entry requirements might be associated with repetition at the end of
lower secondary
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
%
Lower secondary Last grade of lower secondary
Share of repeaters
Source: OECD/UIS/Eurostat 2021

9. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition – 1. Entry
Objectives
• Promote high rates of upper
secondary participation
through high transition rates
• Identify and support
students where needed
• Set standards to guide
learning in lower secondary
education
Policy pointers
• Automatically promote all
students
• Use academic information to
monitor achievement
• Identify student needs and put
in place support during upper
secondary

10. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition – 2. Programmes
1. Entry
General
VET
• 21 systems use academic
information to place students
• 5 systems use teacher/school
recommendations to place
students
• All OECD systems give
students choice for
placement to varying extent

11. Transition systems risk amplifying and perpetuating social inequities
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
% of students enrolled in VET
Advantaged Disadvantaged
Source: PISA 2018 Note: 2012 data used for Austria
Enrolment of 15-year-old students by socio-economic status in VET and general education

12. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition – 2. Programmes
Objectives
• Responds to diversity in
student interests
• Responsive to student
aspirations, talents and
strengths
Policy pointers
• Draw on a broad range of
information to support
student placement – academic
achievement, teachers’ views,
student views
• Begin student guidance early
• Information is accessible and
up to date

13. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition – 3. Subjects,
Specialisations & Programmes
Entry
General
VET
Subjects
Specialisatons
Levels

14. What is an effective transition?
Three points of transition
– 3. Subjects, Levels & Specialisations
Objectives
• Respond to student diversity
• Provide choice for students
• Provide direct pathways into
diverse jobs/alignment with
labour market needs
Policy pointers
• Encourage greater transparency
on how decisions should be made
• Student guidance on options and
how they link to future pathways

15. Transition Recommendation
• Monitor learning outcomes
• Ask teachers for their views
• Inform students about possible pathways
• Students access up-to-date data on jobs for different pathways
• Teachers and/or guidance counsellors meet students and their
guardians to discuss options together

16. What is an effective transition?
Transition recommendation
Orientation Levels
Subjects
VET
VET 2,
3…
General
General Maths
Social Science
Language
Science
Humanities
Arts
Construction
Hospitality
Natural
sciences
Advanced Maths
General National
language
General National
language
Specialisations