Abstract
The study aimed to identify the factors that lead students to avoid joining Vocational Education (VE) in Jordan. A pilot study was conducted, then a 39-item questionnaire was developed, and its validity and reliability were ensured. The reasons included were divided into personal, social, economic, educational and vocational domains. The questionnaire was administered to 1050 students of the 10th basic grade. Results showed that the factors included in the questionnaire contribute at a medium level to students’ avoidance of VE. The highest contributing factors were the vocational factors of which the most contributing factor was the nature of the jobs that they had to take up. The second was the domain of personal factors, the highest of which was the discrepancy between students’ academic ambitions and the nature of vocational work. The third was the social factors, the highest of which was the effect of peers and their academic orientations. The fourth in level were the economic factors with the fluctuating nature of the income for the prospective careers of those who join VE being of the highest influence. The least contributing domain was the educational domain with the negative image of vocational schools being of the highest influence. The study produced some recommendations to mitigate avoidance of VE. Key words: Avoidance of vocational education, vocational education, career choice.
Highlights
Thinking of selecting the educational stream is a vital issue for students especially at the end of the basic education stage that represents the medium that delivers the education inputs in its two academic and vocational branches representing its main outputs
Future holds a lot in the world of career, which means that there would be several careers that are different from those available today with new requirements that force individuals to change their careers several times during their practical life (Jeynes, 2007; Al-Masri, 2003; MacAskill, 2014)
The study results revealed that Vocational Education (VE) had a negative social status among the study sample with insignificant differences between males and females towards the social status of the VE
Summary
Thinking of selecting the educational stream is a vital issue for students especially at the end of the basic education stage that represents the medium that delivers the education inputs in its two academic and vocational branches representing its main outputs. Solutions related to curriculum included proposals that educational materials should keep up with modernity; allowing students to actively share in the implementation of the VE lessons in a way that fosters their attitudes and vocational tendencies; variation of the teaching methods of VE; in addition to enriching its curriculum by enhancing respect to manual work and to people doing such work; in addition to activating the promotion of the vocational work as an occupational choice for income; activating the role of parents and field visits to real workplaces for students in higher grades, making use of the participatory relations with the private sector and the international bodies to implement initiatives that serve vocational awareness; conduct continuous campaigns for vocational awareness, through Radio and TV. What are the vocational reasons which lead to students‟ avoidance of joining the VE?
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