The article illustrates the transitions between school, training and work of young, professionally qualified people in the light of the ongoing process of redesigning the system of secondary education and training. On the basis of information obtained by the experimental use of an inter-regional system of monitoring and evaluating the postqualification results, it analyses the employment position of young people who have concluded a professional training course as a matter of right and duty. In particular it examines the use of apprenticeships as a means of entering the world of work and some factors that, along with the educational preparation, lead to more or less successful results in the transitions of young people and their main mechanisms of inter-relation.only subscribers can see the full article