Professor Ingrid Schoon, Institute of Education/University College London

2.00 to 3.30 pm, Thursday 4 December 2014, Library, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), 2 Dean Trench Street, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HE

Against the backdrop of the current economic crisis, this seminar examines the pathways available to young people after the completion of compulsory schooling, and how these options are shaped by family background, school experiences, and individual competences and expectations. By introducing a diverse pathways view, it is argued that there are multiple pathways leading to successful adaptations in the transition to adulthood. Young people have to carve their pathways to adulthood based on the resources and opportunities that are available to them. The research findings presented here question the assumption of universality in the timing and sequencing of the transitions to adulthood, and the role of potential support factors.

Ingrid Schoon is Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at the Institute of Education/University College London, and is also Research Director of the Department of Quantitative Social Science, and Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin. She is currently directing the international post-doctoral Fellowship programme PATHWAYS to Adulthood (funded by the Jacobs Foundation), is Co-Principal Investigator of the ESRC funded Centre for the Learning and Life Chances in  Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES). In her role as Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, she is conducting a project on the ‘Transition to Adulthood’.

She has published widely, including a monograph on ‘Risk and Resilience’ (2006) and two co-edited books on ‘Transitions from School to Work’ (2009 with Rainer, K. Silbereisen) and on ‘Gender Differences in Aspirations and Attainment (2014, with Jacquelynne Eccles), all published by Cambridge University Press.

The seminar is free to attend, but prior registration would be helpful: to register, please contact llakesevents@ioe.ac.uk