Perceptions of Upper Secondary Education: Second-year Students in Vocational or General Upper Secondary Education 2022

The survey charted the perceptions, experiences and opinions of second-year students in vocational or general upper secondary education regarding upper secondary education in Finland. Main themes included, among others, reasons behind the respondents' choice of upper secondary education, perceptions of how general and vocational upper secondary education are appreciated, and opinions on studying. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Skills Finland. First, students were asked how different factors affected their choice of upper secondary education (e.g. wanting to have a job with good pay, location of the school/education facility, parents' opinions). They were also asked what field they were studying, how interesting different educational paths had been for them personally when they had applied to upper secondary education (e.g. general or vocational upper secondary education, tenth grade) and how satisfied they were with their choice of education. Next, the respondents' plans after completing upper secondary education were examined (e.g. whether they planned to work straight away or study more). Finally, the respondents were presented with some attitudinal statements relating to, for example, whether they thought their upper secondary education would be useful in their future work and whether they would choose a different path of education if they could reapply. Background variables included the respondent's gender, response language, whether they studied in vocational or general upper secondary school, municipality of residence, region of residence (NUTS3), parents' highest level of education and occupation group.