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Field
Trial End Date
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Before
October 15, 2023
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After
October 15, 2024
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Field
Last Published
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Before
December 19, 2021 12:37 PM
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After
December 21, 2022 01:47 PM
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Field
Intervention (Public)
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Before
The intervention consists of two parts. The first part is a counseling program which mainly takes place at the class level, but which also contains some individual sessions. The second part takes place after the end of the school year and is an individual job search assistance program.
Part 1: Counseling program
In this counseling program, in each treated class, caseworkers provide general information about the employment prospects of the students, the students learn about the relevance of specific skills on the labor market, and they apply tools to define and to measure their own skills. Moreover, they learn how to search for a job, how to apply to a job, and how to present themselves in a job interview. The students will also meet employers in their local labor market and visit firms. These collective sessions are combined with individual sessions. In these individual sessions, the students discuss the professional project and their job search with the caseworker. They also have access to a psychologist who advises them in developing their professional project. Overall, this program consists of around 25 hours; around 20 hours for the collective sessions and around 5 hours for the individual sessions. This first treatment takes place from January 2022 to June 2022.
Part 2: Individual job search assistance program
In this part, the treated students get an intensified support with the possibility of mobilizing the services offered by the PES. This includes the proposal of job offers to the students and the recommendation of the students to potential employers. This might also include the placement of internships for the students. In this case, the caseworker would continue supporting the students during the internship in their job search process. The goal of this part of the program is to help the students to find a stable job. This second treatment will take place from mid-June 2022 until October 2022.
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After
The intervention consists of two parts. The first part is a counseling program which mainly takes place at the class level, but which also contains some individual sessions. The second part takes place after the end of the school year and is an individual job search assistance program.
Part 1: Counseling program
In this counseling program, in each treated class, caseworkers provide general information about the employment prospects of the students, the students learn about the relevance of specific skills on the labor market, and they apply tools to define and to measure their own skills. Moreover, they learn how to search for a job, how to apply to a job, and how to present themselves in a job interview. The students will also meet employers in their local labor market and visit firms. These collective sessions are combined with individual sessions. In these individual sessions, the students discuss the professional project and their job search with the caseworker. They also have access to a psychologist who advises them in developing their professional project. Overall, this program consists of around 25 hours; around 20 hours for the collective sessions and around 5 hours for the individual sessions. This first treatment takes place from January 2022 to June 2022.
Part 2: Individual job search assistance program
In this part, the treated students get an intensified support with the possibility of mobilizing the services offered by the PES. This includes the proposal of job offers to the students and the recommendation of the students to potential employers. This might also include the placement of internships for the students. In this case, the caseworker would continue supporting the students during the internship in their job search process. The goal of this part of the program is to help the students to find a stable job. This second treatment will take place from mid-June 2022 until October 2022.
The intervention will be repeated in 2023 with the same schools selected for the intervention in 2022 (the treatment status will not change over time) and with additionally selected schools.
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
October 15, 2022
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After
October 15, 2023
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Field
Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
We set up the experiment in 8 regions in France. In these regions, we have around 400 public vocational schools entering our experiment. The group of treated schools will consist of about 200 schools. The treatment in the schools will be delivered by around 50 counsellors employed by the public employment service (Pôle Emploi). Each of these 50 counsellors will be in charge of 4 schools.
Our starting points for the randomization are the local offices of the public employment service in the participating regions. For each local office, we identify the vocational schools which are reachable within less than 60 minutes by car. We select those local offices which have a sufficiently large number of vocational schools in their area (usually those with at least 8 vocational schools reachable within less than 60 minutes by car since each agency is in charge of 4 schools). For each of these schools, we observe the average share of students which have been employed 6 months after finishing the school in the years 2018 and 2019. Within schools we additionally observe this employment rate at the class level. Each class corresponds to one specific occupational degree.
In a first step, we randomly select schools to participate in the experiment. For this, we stratify schools by average employment rates of the graduates of previous cohorts. This stratification takes place within the schools which are allocated to the same public employment office.
In a second step, we randomly choose within each school half of the classes to participate in the experiment. For this, we stratify the classes by the employment rates observed for graduates who have chosen the same occupational track in the same school in previous years. Students in the selected classes will be offered to participate in the counseling program (part 1 of the intervention).
In a third step, we randomly choose half of the students who participate in the first part of the intervention. The selected students will be contacted by the counsellor of the public employment service and they will be offered to participate in an individual job search assistance program (part 2 of the intervention).
Students choose during the final year whether they want to prepare themselves for entering the labor market (professional track) or whether they want to go on with their studies (higher education track). Our intervention is designed for the first group of students (professional track). If possible, we will collect pre- and post-treatment information about the type of track the students have chosen.
We can distinguish four groups of students. First, we observe outcomes for students who are in the professional track in non-treated schools (group A). Second, we observe outcomes of students in the professional track in non-treated classes (group B) within treated schools. Third, we observe outcomes of students who participate in the group-level treatment and who were not assigned to the individual job counseling program (group C). Fourth, we observe outcomes of students who get the group-level treatment and who are offered the individual counseling program (group D).
Our design allows us to analyze different effects of the interventions:
(1) A comparison of groups D and C will allow us to estimate the additional effect of the individual counseling program compared to the group level program only.
(2) A comparison of groups D and B will give us an estimate of the joint effect of the group level treatment and the individual counseling program.
(3) A comparison of groups D and A will give us an estimate of the joint effect of the group level treatment and the individual counseling program without potential displacement and spillover effects within schools.
(4) A comparison of groups C and B will give us an estimate of the impact of the group level treatment on the outcomes.
(5) A comparison of groups C and A will give us an estimate of the impact of the group level treatment on the outcomes without potential displacement and spillover effects within schools.
(6) A comparison of groups A and B will give us insights about potential displacement effects of the treatment.
The feasibility of the comparisons (2) to (6) will depend on the availability of information about the type of track the students have chosen before the intervention has started (professional or higher education track). In case this information is not available, the corresponding comparisons will be based on all students (professional and higher education track).
We will additionally explore whether the displacement effects differ depending on whether the students in the non-treated schools are outside the labor pools of the labor agencies involved in the experiment. For this, we will divide the group A in two subgroups: Group A1 consists of students in non-treated schools outside the labor pools of labor agencies involved in the experiment, and group A2 consists of students in non-treated schools which are within the labor pools of labor agencies participating in the experiment. We will compare groups A1 and A2 with students in group B.
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After
We set up the experiment in 8 regions in France. In these regions, we have around 400 public vocational schools entering our experiment. The group of treated schools will consist of about 200 schools. The treatment in the schools will be delivered by around 50 counsellors employed by the public employment service (Pôle Emploi). Each of these 50 counsellors will be in charge of 4 schools.
Our starting points for the randomization are the local offices of the public employment service in the participating regions. For each local office, we identify the vocational schools which are reachable within less than 60 minutes by car. We select those local offices which have a sufficiently large number of vocational schools in their area (usually those with at least 8 vocational schools reachable within less than 60 minutes by car since each agency is in charge of 4 schools). For each of these schools, we observe the average share of students which have been employed 6 months after finishing the school in the years 2018 and 2019. Within schools we additionally observe this employment rate at the class level. Each class corresponds to one specific occupational degree.
In a first step, we randomly select schools to participate in the experiment. For this, we stratify schools by average employment rates of the graduates of previous cohorts. This stratification takes place within the schools which are allocated to the same public employment office.
In a second step, we randomly choose within each school half of the classes to participate in the experiment. For this, we stratify the classes by the employment rates observed for graduates who have chosen the same occupational track in the same school in previous years. Students in the selected classes will be offered to participate in the counseling program (part 1 of the intervention).
In a third step, we randomly choose half of the students who participate in the first part of the intervention. The selected students will be contacted by the counsellor of the public employment service and they will be offered to participate in an individual job search assistance program (part 2 of the intervention).
Students choose during the final year whether they want to prepare themselves for entering the labor market (professional track) or whether they want to go on with their studies (higher education track). Our intervention is designed for the first group of students (professional track). If possible, we will collect pre- and post-treatment information about the type of track the students have chosen.
We can distinguish four groups of students. First, we observe outcomes for students who are in the professional track in non-treated schools (group A). Second, we observe outcomes of students in the professional track in non-treated classes (group B) within treated schools. Third, we observe outcomes of students who participate in the group-level treatment and who were not assigned to the individual job counseling program (group C). Fourth, we observe outcomes of students who get the group-level treatment and who are offered the individual counseling program (group D).
Our design allows us to analyze different effects of the interventions:
(1) A comparison of groups D and C will allow us to estimate the additional effect of the individual counseling program compared to the group level program only.
(2) A comparison of groups D and B will give us an estimate of the joint effect of the group level treatment and the individual counseling program.
(3) A comparison of groups D and A will give us an estimate of the joint effect of the group level treatment and the individual counseling program without potential displacement and spillover effects within schools.
(4) A comparison of groups C and B will give us an estimate of the impact of the group level treatment on the outcomes.
(5) A comparison of groups C and A will give us an estimate of the impact of the group level treatment on the outcomes without potential displacement and spillover effects within schools.
(6) A comparison of groups A and B will give us insights about potential displacement effects of the treatment.
The feasibility of the comparisons (2) to (6) will depend on the availability of information about the type of track the students have chosen before the intervention has started (professional or higher education track). In case this information is not available, the corresponding comparisons will be based on all students (professional and higher education track).
We will additionally explore whether the displacement effects differ depending on whether the students in the non-treated schools are outside the labor pools of the labor agencies involved in the experiment. For this, we will divide the group A in two subgroups: Group A1 consists of students in non-treated schools outside the labor pools of labor agencies involved in the experiment, and group A2 consists of students in non-treated schools which are within the labor pools of labor agencies participating in the experiment. We will compare groups A1 and A2 with students in group B.
In 2023, we will repeat the experiment with the schools which have participated in 2022 and we will additionally include new schools. This will lead to around 650 public vocational schools entering our experiment in 2023. The group of treated schools will consist of about 325 schools. The treatment status of schools which already participated in 2022 will not change. The treatment in the schools in 2023 will be delivered by around 90 counsellors employed by the public employment service (Pôle Emploi).
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
1) Around 400 schools
2) Around 1,300 classes (on average 3.25 per treated school)
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After
1) Around 400 schools
2) Around 1,300 classes (on average 3.25 per treated school)
In 2023, we repeat the intervention with an increased sample size. The number of clusters in 2023 will be:
1) Around 650 schools
2) Around 2,100 classes (on average 3.25 per treated school)
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Field
Planned Number of Observations
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Before
Around 23,000 pupils in the treated schools, around 23,000 pupils in the non-treated schools (overall, around 46,000 pupils)
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After
Around 23,000 pupils in the treated schools, around 23,000 pupils in the non-treated schools (overall, around 46,000 pupils)
In 2023, we repeat the intervention with an increased sample. The number of observations in 2023 will be:
Around 37,000 pupils in the treated schools, around 37,000 pupils in the non-treated schools (overall, around 74,000 pupils)
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Field
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
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Before
1) 200 treated and 200 non-treated schools
2) Around 650 treated and around 650 non-treated classes in the treated schools
3) Around 11,500 students in the treated classes and around 11,500 students in the nontreated classes. We assume that around 50% of these pupils chose the professional track.
4) In the treated classes, we expect that half of the pupils get the group level treatment, and 25% students are additionally offered the individual counseling program. Which means around 5,750 students in group level treatment and 2,875 in individual counseling program (combined with the group level treatment).
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After
1) 200 treated and 200 non-treated schools
2) Around 650 treated and around 650 non-treated classes in the treated schools
3) Around 11,500 students in the treated classes and around 11,500 students in the nontreated classes. We assume that around 50% of these pupils chose the professional track.
4) In the treated classes, we expect that half of the pupils get the group level treatment, and 25% students are additionally offered the individual counseling program. Which means around 5,750 students in group level treatment and 2,875 in individual counseling program (combined with the group level treatment).
In 2023, we will use the same design and increase the sample size in the treatment arms proportionally to the increase in the overall sample size.
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