Almost nine out of ten high school students choose not to directly pursue a new education after graduating from high school. The percentage of young people taking a break after high school continues to be very high. In 2023, only 11 percent of high school students were pursuing a new education three months after completing their high school exams, according to data from a new report from Statistics Denmark.
The 11 percent is a record low for the entire period since 2008, and it represents a decrease of 15 percentage points compared to ten years ago. This is a significant drop in the past decade, but not entirely surprising, as stated by Noemi Katznelson, professor and director of the Center for Youth Research at Aalborg University.
“In many ways, it has become the norm for young people to do other things before continuing their studies. It’s a common path in youth life. You’re almost seen as a ‘try-hard’ if you continue studying directly. Today, those who need to explain themselves are the ones who want to start studying right away,” says Noemi Katznelson.
For a long time, there has been a focus from a political perspective on getting young people to start higher education more quickly. However, there is a clear balance in the desire to get young people started faster.
“There is a competition for young people from a political perspective. By all means possible, they want to speed up the pace for young people because they are needed in the job market,” says the professor. “But this could become a vicious cycle, as some of this is also a reaction to the high pace. The speed at which students start a new education varies depending on the type of high school education they have completed. In 2023, 13 percent of students from vocational high schools were pursuing a new education, while it was ten percent from general high schools. In comparison, in 2013, these figures were 37 percent and 22 percent respectively.”