Students’ Grit and Their Post-compulsory Educational Choices and Trajectories: Evidence from Switzerland

Albiez, Janine; Strazzeri, Maurizio; Wolter, Stefan C. (April 2024). Students’ Grit and Their Post-compulsory Educational Choices and Trajectories: Evidence from Switzerland (Discussion Paper Series 16945). Bonn: IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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We examine the association between the personality trait grit and post-compulsory educational choices and trajectories using a large survey linked to administrative student register data. Exploiting cross sectional variation in students’ self-reported grit in the last year of compulsory school, we find that an increase in students’ grit is associated with a higher likelihood to start a vocational education instead of a general education. This association is robust to the inclusion of cognitive skill measures and a comprehensive set of other students’ background characteristics. Moreover, using novel data on skill requirements of around 240 vocational training occupations, we find that grittier vocational education students sort into math-intensive training occupations. Similarly, students in general education with more grit select themselves more often into the math-intensive track. Finally, we do not find evidence that students with a higher grit have lower dropout rates in post-compulsory education.

Item Type:	Working Paper
Division/Institute:	School of Social Work > Institute for Social Security and Social Policy School of Social Work
Name:	Albiez, Janine; Strazzeri, Maurizio and Wolter, Stefan C.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) L Education > L Education (General)
ISSN:	2365-9793
Series:	Discussion Paper Series
Publisher:	IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Language:	English
Submitter:	Maurizio Strazzeri
Date Deposited:	26 Apr 2024 09:05
Last Modified:	26 Apr 2024 09:05
Uncontrolled Keywords:	non-cognitive skills, personality traits, grit, educational choices
JEL Classification:	D01, I20
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.21796
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/21796