Changing places, changing tracks: Inter-school mobility among Czech secondary students

Most of the literature on student between-track mobility or school choice examines decision making in comprehensive systems or in tracked general education schools. In this article we present data on inter-school mobility (transfers) of upper secondary students in a differentiated educational system with academic, professional and vocational tiers and with a complex scheme of programmes and qualifications. This study is based on administrative microdata from the Czech school register merged with databases containing geographical information. We performed an explorative analysis of 4,533 events of school change with focus on the spatial aspects of VET student transfers. The preliminary results confirm the usefulness of this approach in studying the role school distance plays in programme and school choice.