School-to-Work Transitions in Bulgaria: Social Disparities and

Regional Differences

Research project, financed by a grant from the Swiss Contribution to the enlarged European Union and the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science

2012-2015

Principal Investigators

Collaborators

Prof. Dr. Christian Imdorf, Department of Social Sciences, University of BaselProf. DSc. Rumiana Stoilova, Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia

Prof. DSc. Pepka Boyadjieva (Sofia)Dr. Franziska Bieri (Basel)Assistant Petya Illieva-Trichkova (Sofia)Doctoral Student Lachezar Nyagolov (Sofia)

Project Overview

www.schooltowork.bg

Aims

The project aims at better understanding:

Challenges

Unemployment rates of young people (aged 15-24), 2014

Source: Eurostat

Challenges

NEET rates in Europe (15-29 year olds), 2012

Source: Eurofound (2012), NEETs – Young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe, Luxembourg, p. 29.

Challenges

Significant Regional Differences in Education and Employment

Study Components

Methodology

Main results

Social Origin and Educational Attainment

Main results

Inequalities in access to higher education

Source: European Social Survey, 2006-2010

Main results

Impact on social origin and gender on educational attainment

Educational structure of young people (15-29) in Bulgaria, by family income and gender

Source: European Social Survey, 2012

First 30%

31%-70%

71%-100%

Fam

ily in

com

e

Gender Segregation in Education

Using data from the Swiss youth panel survey TREE and the project’s School leaver survey, we investigate:

a) the extent of vertical educational permeability from VET to tertiary education; b) the propensity of gender-typed educational programmes; c) the relative likelihoods of VET versus general students to transition into gender typed/mixed tertiary programmes.

Main results

Accumulation of inequalities based on gender, ethnicity and class

Main results

Patterns of transition after secondary school (I)

Main results

Patterns of transition after secondary school (II)

Main results

Employability of graduates

Main results

Emigration as an alternative transition

Investigated were emigration intentions aimed at finding a job, actual emigration experience, and the role of emigration in the transitions from completion of formal education to a first job.•Men are more likely than women to plan to leave the country in order to find a job abroad•Women’s jobs abroad last longer than those of men•Holding a stable job lowers the intentions for work emigration•Lower education increases the likelihood of work emigration•The analyses focus only on those young people who have returned after their work migration experience•Place of residence is a strong predictor for intending to emigrate and actually emigrating

Conclusions and Policy Implications

Policy relevant questions and further research

•How will the completion of basic education after passing the 7th grade, envisaged in the new Pre-School and School Education Act, affect educational attainment of children from different social backgrounds and the educational level of the whole population? (Bulgaria will be the only country in the EU where basic education is completed after seventh grade)

•How will the introduction of the dual system shape horizontal differentiation and stratification of secondary education and gender segregation in education and employment?

•There is a pressing need for:timely evaluation and adequate monitoring mechanisms of ongoing reformsimpact analyses of the reforms and their main measureslongitudinal surveys in the sphere of education and labour market transitions

Research Output - Summary

Lessons learned

Outreach activities and contacts with policy makers:•Active promotion from the beginning•Focus on key issues – in our case: dual system – contacts with MES, MLSP, school principals.

Great potential of the Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme to develop international collaboration of Bulgarian and Swiss researchers with scholars from other countries:•Successful inclusion into Horizon2020 funded project Negotiate (2015-2018)

Based on the rich empirical information from the School Leavers Survey, we look to apply for an additional grant for:•further comparative analysis and publications •replicating the survey to investigate the effects of the economic crisis and recovery•a panel longitudinal study

Upcoming Conference

Education and Work: (Un-) equal Transitions with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe

organized by the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the University of Basel

When: Thursday-Friday, 24-25 September 2015Where: Sofia University, New Conference Room, North Wing

Presentations by 11 international and 9 Bulgarian scholars, panelists in two policy sessionsInvited are the stakeholders from NGOs, business, the Bulgarian government and the Swiss Embassy in Sofia.

Research output: Publications I

•Boyadjieva, P. & P. Ilieva-Trichkova (2015). Institutional Diversity and Graduate Employability: The Bulgarian Case. In Rosalind Pritchard, Matthias Klumpp and Ulrich Teichler (eds) Diversity and Excellence in Higher Education. Can the Challenges be Reconciled? Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, pp. 153-174. ISBN: 978-94-6300-171-7 (hardcover), 978-94-6300-170-0 (paperback).•Stoilova,R. (2015). ‘Social Background and Educational Opportunities’. In: Stoilova,R., Petkova,K., and Koleva,S. (Eds.) Knowledge as a Value, Scientific Knowledge as a Vocation. Iztok, Zapad. (in Bulgarian)•Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova (2015). ‘Higher Education and Social Trust: A European Comparative Perspective’ In: Popov, N. and A. W. Wiseman (Eds.) International Perspectives on Education and Society Series, Vol. 26 ‘Comparative Sciences: Interdisciplinary Approaches’. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. •Ilieva-Trichkova, P. and P. Boyadjieva (2014). Dynamics of inequalities in access to higher education: Bulgaria in a comparative perspective. European Journal of Higher Education 4(2): 97-117, DOI: 10.1080/21568235.2013.857946.•Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova (2014). Towards Understanding of Higher Education as a Public Good: Inequalities in Access to Higher Education and Trust in a Comparative Perspective. Special Issue on Civil society, Politics and Solidarity, Sociological Problems, pp. 18-36. ISBN: 0324-1572. •Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova (2014). ‘Dynamics of Inequalities in Access to Higher Education in Bulgaria: Place of Residence as a Social Differentiating Factor’. In: Koleva G. and D. Pickard (Eds.) City and village – the challenges of the 21st century. Omda: ISBN 978-954-9719-66-6 (ePub). (in Bulgarian)

Research output: Publications II

•Stoilova, R. (2014). Horizontal Segregation of Jobs - Consequences for Stratification. Sociological Problems 1-2: 192-220. (in Bulgarian)•Nyagolov, L. (2014) ‘The process of lifelong leaning in Bulgaria’. In: Dobrescu E. and M. Batar (Eds.) Imbatranirea Activa Studii si cercetari, Editura. Oscar Print: Bucharest. •Ilieva-Trichkova, P., R. Stoilova & P. Boyadjieva (2015). Regional Gender Differences in Vocational Education in Bulgaria. In Christian Imdorf, Kristinn Hegna and Liza Reisel (eds.) Comparative Social Research. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.•Ilieva-Trichkova, P. (2015). Social justice in access to higher education in Bulgaria. [Социалната справедливост в достъпа до висше образование в България]. In: R. Stoilova, K. Petkova, & S. Koleva, (eds). Knowledge as a Value, Scientific Knowledge as a Vocation. (pp. 159-180). Sofia: Iztok-Zapad. (In Bulgarian), ISBN: 978-619-152-611-6.•Stoilova, R. (forthcoming). ‘Middle Class in Bulgaria during the global financial crisis – social status and attitudes’. In: Kelian, M. et al. (Eds.) Middle class as a precondition of a sustainable society: fifteen years later. (in Bulgarian)•Stoilova, R.(2014). ‘Intersectionality – Roma women in Bulgaria’ In: Jakimova, M. et al. (Eds.) On the Steps of the Other. Prosveta Press. 116-129. (in Bulgarian).•Stoilova, R. (forthcoming). ‘The Welfare State in the Context of the Global Financial Crisis: Bulgaria – between financial stability and political uncertainty’. In: Schubert, K. de Villota, P. and J. Kuhlmann (Eds.) Challenges to European Welfare Systems. Springer Publishing.•Riebling, J., Stoilova, R., and D. Hofäcker. (forthcoming). ‘Habits or Frames? – Explaining Patterns in the Division of Paid and Unpaid Work in Germany, Bulgaria, France and Hungary’. In: Hofaecker, D. and T. Roosalu. (Eds.) Women’s employment in Eastern Europe. Palgrave MacMillan.•Bieri, F.; Imdorf, Ch., Stoilova, R., and P. Boyadjieva (under review). The Bulgarian Educational System and Gender Segregation in the Labour Market.

Research output: Academic conference Presentations I

•‘Emigration in the Perspective of the Transitions from Education to First Job in Bulgaria’ (Stoilova, R. and E. Dimitrova), 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association, Prague, Czech Republic, August 25-28, 2015.•‘Effects of the social origin on the educational decisions and the transitions from education to first job’ (L. Nyagolov), ISSK Workshop, Sofia, Bulgaria. August 18, 2015.•‘Is 5 equal to 5? Horizontal stratification of secondary education and students’ transitions after leaving high school’ (P.Boyadjeva and P. Ilieva-Trichkova), ISSK Workshop, Sofia, Bulgaria. August 18, 2015.•‘School to first work transition in Bulgaria: regional aspects’ (L. Nyagolov), The city and the village: the necessary balance in the modern world, Sofia, Bulgaria. December 3, 2014. • ‘Gender-specific Regional Differences in Vocational Education in Bulgaria’ (Stoilova, R., Boyadjieva P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova), Comparative studies of gender segregation in vocational education and training – Institutional and Individual Perspectives, NOVA Oslo, Norway. November 18-19, 2014.•‘The Process of lifelong learning in Bulgaria’ (Nyagolov, L.) Sociological Academy School for Active Ageing hosted by the Institute of Sociology, Romanian Academy of Sciences, Bucharest, Romania. September 22-26, 2014.

Research output: Academic conference Presentations II

•‘Studying Inequalities in Graduate Employability: Different Approaches, Old Problems and New Challenges’ (Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova) ECER 2014 The Past, the Present and the Future of Educational Research, Porto, Portugal. September 2-5, 2014.•‘Does Institutional Diversity in Higher Education Matter for Graduate Employability: The Bulgarian Case’ (Ilieva-Trichkova, P. and P. Boyadjieva) EAIR 36th Annual Forum Higher Education Diversity and Excellence for Society, Essen, Germany. August 27-30, 2014.•‘Administrative measures and programs to support the transition from education to employment and to reduce the youth unemployment in Bulgaria’ (Nyagolov, L.) Recognition of Non Formal Education -Youthpass, Istanbul, Turkey. August 1-8, 2014.•‘Education System and Gender Stratification in Bulgaria’ (Stoilova, R.) Academic Lecture: Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Norway. June 19, 2014.•‘School-to-work Transitions in Bulgaria: An Overview’ Bulgarian-Swiss Research Programme (BSRP) Midterm Meeting, Sofia, Bulgaria. May 22, 2014. •‘The Transition Process in Bulgaria and its Effects on the Young People’ (Nyagolov, L.) Youth in Transition Countries, Torun, Poland. May 8-9, 2014.

Research output: Academic conference Presentations III

•‘Assessment of the content, availability and comparability of the data for desk research in Bulgaria’ (Ilieva-Trichkova, P.) Youth in Transition Countries, Torun, Poland. May 8-9, 2014.•‘Middle Class and Welfare in Bulgaria’ (Stoilova, R.) Second International Conference on the Middle Class: The Middle Class as a Precondition of a Sustainable Society - Fifteen Years Later, Sofia, Bulgaria. December 3-4, 2013.•‘The heuristic potential of capability approach in studying social inequalities’ (Ilieva-Trichkova, P.) Second International Conference on the Middle Class: The Middle Class as a Precondition of a Sustainable Society - Fifteen Years Later, Sofia, Bulgaria. December 3-4, 2013.• ‘Expansion of Higher Education and Education-job mismatch: Data and Insights from Central and Eastern Europe’ (Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova) International Conference Central and Eastern Europe: Work, Employment and Societies between Transition and Change, Evry, France. November 21-22, 2013.

Research output: Academic conference Presentations IV•‘Dynamics of inequalities in access to higher education by type of residence in Bulgaria’ (Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova) City and Village – The Challenges in The 21-st Century, Sofia, Bulgaria. November 14-15, 2013.•‘Higher education and social trust: a European comparative perspective’ (Boyadjieva P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova) International Symposium on Comparative Sciences, Inaugural Session, Sofia, Bulgaria. October 8-11, 2013.•‘Higher Education and Well-Being: Educational inequalities and trust in a comparative perspective’ (Boyadjieva, P. and P. Ilieva-Trichkova) CHER Lausanne, Switzerland. September 9-11, 2013.•‘Does expansion and greater equity in higher education mean worse employability? A comparative perspective’ (Ilieva-Trichkova, P. and P. Boyadjieva) EAIR Forum Rotterdam, the Netherlands. August 28-31, 2013. •‘Education Systems and Gender Stratification in Bulgaria’ (Bieri, F.; Imdorf, Ch., Stoilova, R., and P. Boyadjieva) Career Orientations, Education Systems and Gendered School-to-Work Transition Conference. (organized by University of Basel’s Institute for Sociology and Center for Gender Studies). University of Basel, Switzerland. November 23-24, 2012.•‘Dynamics of inequalities in access to higher education: Bulgaria in a comparative perspective’ (Ilieva-Trichkova, P. and P. Boyadjieva) European Social Survey Conference, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus. November 23-25, 2012.

Additional Project Participants and Contributors

•Assoc.Prof. Haralampiev, Kaloyan (Sofia University)

•Prof. Petkova, Krastinka (Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge -

ISSK)

•Assoc.Prof. Kanoushev , Martin (New Bulgarian University)

•Assoc.Prof. Dimitrova , Elitsa (Institute for the Study of Population and Man)

•Boneva, Kateriana (PhD Student ISSK)

•Angelova, Radostina

•Krandeva, Nadejda (ISSK)

•Vladov, Vladimir (ISSK)

•Farkova, Mariana (ISSK)

•Kuscheva, Tinka (ISSK)

Our Contacts

Imdorf, Christian – University of Basel(christian.imdorf@unibas.ch)

Stoilova, Rumiana – ISSK, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences(Rumiana.Stoilova@gmail.com)

Bieri, Franziska – University of Basel(franziska.bieri@unibas.ch)

Boyadjieva, Pepka – ISSK, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences(pepka7@gmail.com)

Thank You For Your Interest!

www.schooltowork.bg