Research summary - Understanding transitions to post-secondary education

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

Official title: Understanding transitions to Post-secondary education

Author of report: Kelly Campbell

Why this study

This research looked at at-risk youth between high school and post-secondary education (PSE). The goal was to understand the changing environment and social barriers they face. This research project gave qualitative insights that will:

• help frame the barriers, enablers, and outcomes of at-risk youth as they go from high school to PSE
• inform future policy development

This research project clarified:

• youth perceptions of post-secondary education
• the reasons behind them
• the types of solutions that might engage this audience
• how they would respond to identified interventions

What we did

We conducted open-ended interviews with youth to get insight into:

• their everyday life and practice
• the barriers they face to access education

We gave participants:

• the time and space to tell their story in their own words and in their own way
• minimal prompting or interference from the interviewer
• the chance to lead and guide the discussion

We interviewed 22 youth:

• from Kingston, Winnipeg and Calgary
• aged 16 to 32 years old
• with different risk factors and levels of education

The realities of the youth interviewed gave a study sample with characteristics of interest, including:

• Indigenous youth
• youth in care
• youth with dependants
• immigrant youth
• youth from low-income families including:
  • youth living below the poverty line
  • youth receiving provincial income assistance
• youth that had experienced homelessness
• youth diagnosed with mental health disorders

These youth also had varied levels of educational attainment, including youth:

• currently in high school
• who did not complete high school
• with some PSE
• that had graduated from PSE

What we found

The interviews gave key findings that helped us understand the barriers these youth face. We have included some highlights here.

Youth faced many barriers that added to the challenges to access PSE. We grouped these barriers as follows:

• social barriers like familial and cultural views of the value of PSE
• personal barriers such as:
  • mental health illness
  • the need of prioritizing dependents
  • a lack of preparedness
  • isolation or homesickness
• structural barriers such as:
  • access to information
  • lack of transportation
  • access to supports
• financial barriers like:
  • confusion or anxiety over student loans
  • unrealistic or assumptive scholarship requirements
  • access to funds to pay smaller fees
  • a general lack of financial literacy
  • financial mismanagement

Every youth we spoke with said community and community resources are important. They said:

• a diverse community is positive
• they need spaces which integrate, accept and understand them
• they need spaces and organizations that bring together specific groups of youth

Along with stronger community, youth need one-on-one support for success. Finally, for programs and opportunities available to at-risk youth to be a success:

• offer them for free
• make them easy for youth to get to and access

What it means

This research confirmed that supporting access to PSE is best when applied early. Helping at-risk youth starting in junior high school improves aspirations for PSE. It also reaffirmed that wraparound supports, such as mentoring and tutoring, play a critical role in helping at-risk youth:

• stay engaged in their education
• complete high school
• smoothly transition to PSE

We applied the youth perspectives from this research to a design thinking session with the ESDC Innovation Lab. The story sets that we created:

• helped participants understand the lives of these youth
• were key to the design of prototypes the government is testing to inform program policy development and supports for at-risk youth

Contact us

Learning Branch, Learning Policy, Partnerships and Services Directorate, Program Policy and Innovation Division.

Email: esdc.nc.sspb.research-recherche.dgpss.cn.edsc@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca