Perceptions of Vocational Education: Parents of Ninth-Graders 2018

The survey charted the perceptions and opinions of parents of ninth-graders regarding vocational education and their child's plans after completing lower secondary education. Main themes included, among others, the parents' opinions on studying and perceptions of how general and vocational upper secondary education are appreciated. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Skills Finland. Data collection was conducted by IROResearch. First, opinions on studying were examined with various attitudinal statements concerning, for example, whether the respondents thought that studying was interesting, that working was more interesting than studying, and whether they were interested in how their child succeeded in their studies. The respondents were asked whether their child would continue into upper secondary education after completing lower secondary school, how interesting they thought different paths of education were for their children (e.g. general or vocational upper secondary education, tenth grade) and which educational path they thought their child should choose after completing lower secondary education. Factors the respondents thought should affect their child's choice when applying to upper secondary education (e.g. wanting to have a job with good pay, location of the school/educational facility, parents' or the child's opinions) were also surveyed. If the respondents indicated that their child should choose vocational education or training after lower secondary school, they were asked which field of vocational education (e.g. humanities and arts, natural sciences, information and communication technologies) they thought would be suitable for their child. Finally, the sources of the respondents' information on vocational education, such as school in general, their child or TV/radio, were charted. Background variables included the respondent's gender, mother tongue, municipality of residence, region of residence (NUTS3), their own and their spouse's highest level of education and occupation group, and whether their child had received any special support in school during the past two years.

本调查描绘了九年级学生家长对职业教育及其子女完成初中教育后的规划的看法与观点。主要主题包括，但不仅限于，家长对学习的看法以及他们对普通教育和职业教育的高等教育如何被珍视的认知。该研究由芬兰教育和文化技能部委托，由IROResearch负责数据收集。首先，通过各种态度陈述来检验家长对学习的看法，例如，受访者是否认为学习是有趣的，工作是否比学习更有趣，以及他们是否对其子女在学习中取得成功感兴趣。受访者被询问他们的子女在完成初中教育后是否会继续接受高等教育，他们认为不同的教育路径（例如，普通或职业教育，十年级）对他们的子女来说有多有趣，以及他们认为子女在完成初中教育后应选择哪条教育道路。受访者还被调查他们认为应影响子女选择高中教育因素（例如，希望拥有高薪工作，学校或教育设施的位置，家长或子女的观点）的情况。如果受访者表示他们的子女应在初中教育后选择职业教育或培训，他们还被询问他们认为哪个职业教育领域（例如，人文学科和艺术，自然科学，信息和通信技术）适合他们的子女。最后，记录了受访者获取职业教育信息的来源，例如学校，他们的子女或电视/广播。背景变量包括受访者的性别，母语，居住市镇，居住地区（NUTS3），他们及其配偶的最高教育水平和职业群体，以及在过去两年中他们的子女是否在学校获得过任何特殊支持。