By Jacquie Beaulieu
The OISE Pathways to Education and Work research team would like to introduce you to our research, which investigates the nature of pathways within postsecondary education and between postsecondary education and the labour market. Since our formation as a research team, we have been occupied with several substantial research projects, which we’ve outlined below.
1) Pathways to Education and Work in Ontario and Canada
With funding from the Ontario Ministry for Training, Colleges and Universities through the Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF), our first research project examined the extent to which students stay within the same field of education when they undertake a second postsecondary education qualification, and the links between fields of education and occupations. Using data collected from the 2013 National Graduates Survey (NGS), the project compared similarities and differences between Ontario and all of Canada.
Our results suggest that links between qualifications within the same field of education are weak, as are links between fields of education and occupations. Most students change their field of study when pursuing a second postsecondary education qualification; second field choice also varied depending on whether pathways were within or between colleges and universities. Similarly, the links between fields of education and occupations were quite weak. This varied between fields of education; while the links between fields of education and occupations were weak overall, they were tighter for fields of education comprising regulated occupations, such as Health. We considered the implications for policy, the role and purpose of qualifications, and design principles for pathways.
We have now completed this research and you can browse the full report here.
2) A Decision-Making Tool and Framework for Ontario’s Credit Transfer System
With funding from the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT), one of our current projects investigates the extent to which students use current articulated transfer pathway policies across Ontario’s postsecondary institutions. The project analyzes and compares transfer pathway data sets which includes ONCAT data; student transfer rates from the 2013 NGS; and, the 2013/2014 College Graduate Satisfaction Survey.
Our results suggest that students underuse most articulation agreements between institutions. For students who do transfer, the largest share come from institutions within commuting distance. The findings from this project are informing the development of a ‘decision-making tool’ for Ontario postsecondary institutions. The tool is designed for the following purposes: 1) to support decisions on the nature and type of educational pathways that are needed, 2) whether pathways should be in the same or different fields of education, 3) how to determine priorities in developing pathways, and 4) the types of policies and practices that will support student access, transfer, transition and success.
We continue to refine this research; the first draft of our report has been submitted to ONCAT and we are currently organizing a seminar with critical stakeholders in the province to receive feedback on the decision-making tool.
3) Qualifications: The Link Between Educational and Occupational Pathways and Labour Market Outcomes
With funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada this research investigates the nature of pathways within postsecondary education and between postsecondary education and the labour market. This research builds upon our previous OHCRIF project by scaling up our examination to include more detailed provincial analyses. We are also exploring implications for the purpose and design of qualifications, educational pathways, policy and relationships between educational institutions and social partners (employers, unions, professional and occupational bodies including regulatory authorities, and government).
This research contributes to an emerging theoretical framework on the relation between qualifications and the labour market. It has implications for governments’ and institutions’ policies and practices, for the design and structure of qualifications and educational pathways, for improving connections between qualifications and the labour market, and for building stronger links between education and its social partners in the labour market. It will provide a new framework for considering matches between qualifications, skills and jobs by theorizing the nature and purpose of qualifications, educational pathways and their links to the labour market.
We are currently working on the first two phases of this larger four-phase research project. In the first phase of this project we are developing case studies for each of Canada’s provinces regarding the history and structure of educational pathways, qualifications and labour markets to facilitate national comparisons.
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