ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the gendered nature of school to work transitions, examining how young women and men experienced the transition process in the early 1960s. It examines the boys' and the girls' reflections on their education and their thoughts about work before they left school. The chapter reveals how the young people experienced the transition process in terms of reflections on school, thinking about work, finding and adjusting to work and thinking about the future. It places emphasis on their lived experiences of work and the transition process. The chapter examines the influence of career determinants at school and home. It looks at the long-term plans held by the respondents and considers the extent to which the prospect of marriage and motherhood impacted upon early career choices for the girls. The chapter concludes that although this cohort of school leavers did not face the later problems of unemployment, their transitions from school to work were often far from simple.
