TY: JOUR T1 - The vet success paradox: between employability and continuation of studies A1 - Nogueira, Sara A1 - Traqueia, Ana A1 - Barbosa, Belém A1 - Costa, Fernando A1 - Dias, Gonçalo Paiva A1 - Filipe, Sandra A1 - Melo, Ana Isabel A1 - Rodrigues, Carlos A1 - Santos, Cláudia Amaral N2 - Despite the existence of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes allowing dual certification (general school and vocational diplomas), the main aim of vocational courses is arguably the insertion of young people in the labour market. Still, there is a diversification of pathways for upper secondary vocational students, including continuing studies at a tertiary level. In fact, international statistics point to the increased number of vocational students that choose to pursue studies at a higher level, encouraged, among several motivations, by the quest for social mobility. Despite the relevance of this theme, studies that explore students? pathways after the completion of upper secondary vocational education are still scarce. To fill this gap, the paper synthesizes and reviews literature contributions with the purpose of identifying the factors that explain the adoption of each of the pathways (working, continuing to study or neither) by upper secondary education VET students. As a result, the article discusses a list of factors associated with career choices after completion of VET secondary studies and proposes a set of questions for future research. Overall, this paper shows that VET deserves urgent consideration by researchers and offers valuable insights for academics, students, parents and decision makers alike. UR - https://ria.ua.pt/handle/10773/28928 Y1 - 2020 PB - No publisher defined