Workplace learning raises students' clarity on post-school plans
Bank of Italy research finds that its school-to-work program increased students' clarity about post-school plans by 8 percentage points in the 2024/25 school year. Participation also strengthened intentions to continue studying and improved financial knowledge.
Clearer plans and stronger knowledge
Participation raised the probability of reporting clear post-school plans by 8 percentage points, or 16 percent relative to baseline, equivalent to 0.24 standard deviations.
Intentions to continue studying rose by 4 percentage points, or 6 percent, equivalent to 0.10 standard deviations.
Financial knowledge increased by 0.15 points on a 0–1 scale, a 30 percent gain and 0.58 standard deviations.
Knowledge of the central bank's functions rose by 0.17 points, or 26 percent, equivalent to 0.98 standard deviations.
Financial knowledge gains were larger among female students.
The researchers found no statistically supported differences in orientation effects by gender, school year or school type.
Robustness checks confirmed the main results.
Small groups under the microscope
Alessio D'Ignazio, Pietro Gaudenzi, Marco Rotili and Federico Squartini evaluate the Bank of Italy program using an experiment with pre- and post-program questionnaires.
After data cleaning, the sample comprises 1,333 students across 70 schools: 689 participants and 644 controls.
Groups of up to 12 receive a two-hour introduction, 25 hours of workplace training and a final presentation event.
More than 16,000 students have participated since 2016/17. Estimates using the broader sample of 2,622 students also confirmed the findings.
Intentions are not outcomes
The authors caution that participating schools may not represent Italian schools generally.
Orientation measures capture subjective intentions, not subsequent education or employment outcomes.
They call for longitudinal follow-up to establish whether clearer plans translate into actual choices.