Practical Matters: What young people think about vocational education in England, South Africa & the Netherlands
Project
Date: March 2010 - January 2011
Project
background
There is a widespread assumption that young people need to
engage in HE, rather than VET for their future progression in to
work and to improve their social and economic prosperity – thus
messages aimed at young people are skewed towards promoting HE
options rather than VET. The resultant poor perceptions of
vocational education can lead young learners to prematurely and
unfairly discount this route
Project overview and approach
The City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development has
conducted a small scale qualitative research project in England,
South Africa and the Netherlands to explore these and other related
issues. The project involved a series of focus groups surveys and
one-to-one interviews with young people between the ages of 14 and
20 years.
Key findings:
Young people value vocational education and
training, but often do not have a full understanding understanding
of the employment paths available to them
- Young people recognise the terms ‘practical learning’ and
‘skills’ more than ‘vocational education and training’. The
terminology used by policy makers, practitioners and researchers
does not correspond with what young people understand and use.
- Young people want to know their options and routes for
progression. Learners do not understand the learning pathways and
options available to them and want to know how they can
progress.
- Young people want to make informed, independent decisions. The
careers advice and guidance systems available are not giving young
people sufficient information with which to make an informed
decision.
- Young people have opinions on how to improve their education
system. Young people are a resource on which policy makers and
practitioners can draw, rather than constructing systems around
them into which they have little input.