Life design and decision making of vocational training students

Abstract

Vocational Training is adapting to the changes taking place in the information society. The successive education reforms have tried to improve the quality of students’ education and teachers’ teaching. The aims of this article are: a) to analyze the level of the students’ academic and professional information in order to make decisions in Intermediate and Advanced Vocational Training; b) to know the academic and professional expectations of the students; c) to analyze the personal, academic and professional aims prioritized by the students in their life design; d) to exam if there are differences in the life design and the decision making of the students according to sex and level of Vocational Training. Two hundred and fifty-one students in Intermediate and Advanced Vocational Training at four secondary school centres in Tenerife participated in this study. An adaptation of the Academic and Professional Guidance Questionnaire, designed by the Research Group in Educational and Vocational Guidance of the University of La Laguna, has been used in the research. The results show: 1) a significant association between sex and Vocational Training speciality, between decision making and Vocational Training level, and between employment expectations and Vocational Training level; 2) significant differences among the students’ information for decision making and among their life goals according to Vocational Training level. It is necessary to strengthen and to restructure the Guidance Department to address the vocational guidance of Vocational Training students.