Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributing Authors
- Preface
- Introduction: Transitions to Employment in a Cross-National Perspective
- Part I Social Origin, Gender, and Transition Patterns
- Part II Education and Labour Markets: Work Experiences, Skills, and Credentials
- Part III Changes in the Social Context of Transitions
- 10 Institutional Networks and Informal Strategies for Improving Work Entry for Youths
- 11 School-to-Work Transitions and Postmodern Values: What's Changing in Canada?
- 12 Education and Employment in Great Britain: The Polarizing Impact of the Market
- 13 From Systems to Networks: The Reconstruction of Youth Transitions in Europe
- References
- Index
13 - From Systems to Networks: The Reconstruction of Youth Transitions in Europe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributing Authors
- Preface
- Introduction: Transitions to Employment in a Cross-National Perspective
- Part I Social Origin, Gender, and Transition Patterns
- Part II Education and Labour Markets: Work Experiences, Skills, and Credentials
- Part III Changes in the Social Context of Transitions
- 10 Institutional Networks and Informal Strategies for Improving Work Entry for Youths
- 11 School-to-Work Transitions and Postmodern Values: What's Changing in Canada?
- 12 Education and Employment in Great Britain: The Polarizing Impact of the Market
- 13 From Systems to Networks: The Reconstruction of Youth Transitions in Europe
- References
- Index
Summary
This chapter addresses two linked questions about the directions of contemporary European social change processes. First, what kinds of changes appear to be taking place in the social construction of the life course that impinge on the modalities of youth transitions? Second, what kinds of flexibilities are demanded of individuals and forms of social organization in “knowledge societies,” a term gaining increasing currency in both theoretical and policy discourses on the nature and implications of economic and social change for education, training, and employment?
To date, public sphere debate has focused on how to promote change at the level of individuals themselves (how to become more innovative, adventurous, autonomous, enterprising, qualified, and so on). There is considerable room, however, for institutional and organizational change toward forms of openness and flexibility that can both facilitate active citizenry and assist people to meet the increasingly complex circumstances in which they must plan and carry through their education training and their paid working lives.
It would be implausible to argue that the risks and difficulties people experience in initial (and increasingly, recurring) education-to-employment transitions are either caused or might be resolved by the withering away of institutionalized arrangements for managing these processes. Such arrangements clearly vary between European countries: Some national-cultural traditions display quite highly structured transition management systems, whereas others have developed looser frameworks in this respect.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From Education to WorkCross National Perspectives, pp. 298 - 318Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
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