Mentoring at the transition to vocational training

In Germany, girls achieve better average results in their final school examinations and are more successful than boys in their college and university courses. It appears, however, that girls and young women are unable to take full advantage of their superior educational credentials when entering the job market. Women are faced with a narrower field of career choices and they tend to select occupations with lower salaries and fewer opportunities for career advancement. At the transitional point between college or university and work, job entry mentoring is often used to help people get jobs, but it is rarely used to support the transitions involving occupational training. This article presents the latter type by the example of the "occupational education" branch of the "Ada-Lovelace-Project", professional mentoring designed to encourage girls to choose a job in a scientific, technical or IT-related field. Special features, prospects and limitations of this form of mentoring will be described, and accounts of two studies currently in progress will be given. Adapted from the source document.