Professional education

A vocational choice or an escape for youngsters in transition?

Abstract

The underlying dimensions of student vocational choices during the transition for secondary education have been receiving considerable attention in the psychology and education domains. In the present study, we compared students enrolled in professional education courses with students enrolled in general secondary education courses in several dimensions, namely socioeconomic status (SES), previous school performance, self-concept of competence, and professional interests. The sample consisted of 150 Portuguese students, aged between 17 and 28 years old (M = 19.21; SD = 2.55). The instruments used were a sociodemographic survey, the Competence Self Concept Scale, and the Self Directed Search. The comparison between vocational training students and regular courses students revealed differences between them, with the former group presenting on average lower SES, a school pathway with more indicators of failure and higher mean results in the dimension of problem solving of competence self-concept. Professional education students revealed also higher mean results in the realistic, entrepreneurial and conventional dimensions of professional interests.