OECD (2000)

Participation in and Completion of Secondary Education
In most countries vocational education is school-based, although in
Denmark, Germany and Switzerland every second upper secondary student is
enrolled in programmes that have both school-based and work-based
elements.
Participation and completion of post-secondary non-tertiary programmes
Some educational programmes straddle the boundary between upper
secondary and post-secondary education from an international point of view,
even though they might clearly be considered upper secondary or postsecondary
programmes in a national context. Although their content may not
be significantly more advanced than upper secondary programmes, they serve
to broaden the knowledge of participants who have already gained an upper
secondary qualification. The students tend to be older than those enrolled at
the upper secondary level.
Some post-secondary
programmes can be
considered similar
to what is offered at
the upper secondary
level elsewhere.
Such programmes are here classified as post-secondary non-tertiary
programmes. Typical examples of such programmes would be trade and
vocational certificates in Canada and the United States, nursery teacher
training in Austria and Switzerland or vocational training in the dual system for
holders of general upper secondary qualifications in Germany. In most
countries, post-secondary non-tertiary programmes are vocationally oriented
and open up access to further education at the tertiary level.
C2
In about half of OECD countries a significant proportion of upper secondary
graduates choose to complete a post-secondary non-tertiary programme,
either instead of or in addition to tertiary education. In the Flemish Community
of Belgium, Hungary and Ireland more than 20 per cent of a typical age cohort
complete a post-secondary non-tertiary programme (see Table C2.3).
Gender differences in completion rates
The balance of educational attainment among men and women in the
adult population is unequal in most OECD countries (Indicator A3): historically
women have not had sufficient opportunities and/or incentives to reach the
same level of education as men. Women are generally over-represented
among those who did not proceed to upper secondary education and
underrepresented at the higher levels of education.
Among older age
groups, women have
lower levels of education
than men…
However, these differences are mostly attributable to the large gender
differences in the attainment of older age groups and have been significantly
reduced or reversed among younger age groups.
… but for younger
persons the pattern
is now reversing.
Today, graduation rates no longer show significant differences between
men and women in many countries (Table C2.2). In 15 out of 20 OECD countries
for which upper secondary graduation rates are available by gender, graduation
rates for women exceed those for men, and in Canada, Finland, Ireland,
Portugal and Spain by over 10 percentage points. In Austria, Turkey and
Switzerland, by contrast, graduation rates for men exceed those for women by
more than 10 percentage points. The gender ratio for upper secondary
programmes designed to lead to further tertiary-type A education (ISCED 3A)
favours women even more.
Today, graduation rates
for women exceed those
for men in most
countries.
© OECD 2000
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